I’ve been experiencing some super annoying irritation on my hands lately. Cracks in the lines of my palms and rawness in between the fingers. This has been making everything much more challenging because of the pain I feel in doing the most normal chores. Just getting my hands wet would burn like crazy and leave me crying waiting for the tingling and intense itch to calm down. Because of this symptom, I’ve been keeping my hands as dry as possible, using loose fitting plastic gloves to do anything (chopping up veggies, brushing my teeth, washing up my body). The skin is trying so hard to form a new layer and every time it gets wet it’s just ripped off, left exposed and oozy 😔
October was thankfully a pretty great month for me! It had been a full month since I had been in Florida and my body had finally acclimated to my new environment. It took me a minute for my body to calm down from the stress that I was experiencing from the month before. Upon coming to Florida from New York, I was packing, getting my things together trying to not stress out on the day to day chores and such and my skin was already in a state, so of course it just started to get worse. When I got to Florida on the first of September, I was going through crazy insomnia, on and off oozing, chills and feverish symptoms. It wasn’t until the end of September that I started to feel a lot better. My sleep slowly started to improve, the skin that I was shedding (MASSIVE amounts at that) was becoming less and less and my oozing was calming down. I was experiencing oozing on my legs so badly that I was sticking to my sheets 😦
Great news….I reached over $1,000 on my fundraiser last week! I’m so thankful for the love and support from everyone who has donated and shared my campaign! I just need a bit more help to fully reach my goal and any donations would be awesome! I have so many ideas for this site and how to further this passion of mine of helping other eczema sufferers. Please check out the link below for more info on the fundraiser 🙂
*p.s. if anyone needs support, tips and advice on naturally healing, feel free to email me at eczema.holistic.healing@gmail.com for “health coaching” support! ❤
This month is a milestone for me, 3 years free from the chains of topical steroid addiction!
I’m not sure exactly what day I started giving up the medications and enduring the withdrawal process, but it was definitely sometime in March of 2012 (I have 26 years steroid use, topical and injections plus chemo in 08′ for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma). When I first started, I had no desire to document, I didn’t want to even see myself in the mirror much less have actual photos of the hell I was experiencing. In the end I’m glad that I started taking photos, doing hard core research on detoxification/holistic healing, and putting my findings on this site :).
At my current state I’m doing REALLY well!!!
Only areas still working on restoring are my feet.
No oozing on my feet (the oozing on the rest of my body ended a LONG time ago).
My sleep can still be random. It’s not that my feet are insanely itchy, it’s more so that I’m just always thinking!! Mainly about cool things to do on this site lol. Most nights I fall right to sleep for a few hrs then I’m awake for a few, (slightly itchy sometimes) then back again to sleep. I do find relief when I drink my golden turmeric milk or if I take some extra proteolytic enzymes. These remedies help to take down the inflammation and itching when I go to bed. It would be amazing to sleep through the night with no interruptions. Soon enough though, soon enough 😉
The huge flaking I was having on my feet are down to light, thin flakes and minimal at that! The redness and inflammation is down significantly as well! I can stand for longer periods of time without any swelling or pain!
The blistered sore on the bottom of my left foot is healing nicely, due to this great antioxidant micro algae lotion I’ve been using, not only on the blister but all over my feet. I have two clients whom I’ve been coaching who have been using the lotion and finding awesome relief in it as well!… A blog post on that soon to come 🙂
As long as this wonderful healing keeps up, I have no doubt that by the end of the month (hopefully even sooner) I’ll be out and about, without pain from wearing socks and shoes! Whooo hooooo!
Things that I’ve been doing that have been helping my healing along…
REBOUNDING – Since my feet have been getting better and better, I’ve made it up to bouncing for 20 minutes on my rebounder! I just turn on some great dance music, and jump away! I’ve even been able to work up a good sweat which is great for getting some of those toxins out. Doing this fun exercise will stimulate the lymph system and get the blood circulation going which is very important to promote healing.
MICRO ALGAE LOTION – The antioxidant lotion that I mentioned above has been a game changer! It goes on silky smooth and instantly locks in the moisture. It doesn’t leave me itchy once I put it on like how coconut oil sometimes does… it’s actually very soothing and cooling. It has even been minimizing the thickness on my feet, and I know that will take a while to smooth out. This lotion is also known to help with the discolouration, so I’ll be looking forward to continually use it to help that along. Here are just some of the healing ingredients in this lotion: Organic Micro algae, organic aloe vera water, organic virgin coconut oil, jojoba oil, Beta Glucan, neem oil, rosemary oil & lemon peel oil. If you are interested in this lotion, and want to know more, just send me an email at eczema.holistic.healing@gmail.com !
KEEPING UP WITH PLANT BASED DIET & WHOLE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS – I’ve been eating vegan for months now, about since October and I know this is the diet for me. I have so much more energy when I get my nourishing fruit smoothies in every morning and my nutient dense green “dranks” at night! Like I mentioned above, the golden turmeric milk has been awesome at bringing down the inflammation in my skin, and has been a great natural sleep aid. I love coming up with new recipes and have been learning so much about food and how it can be healing for the body, there’s no way I’ll be going back to the SAD diet (Standard American Diet). The supplements I’ve been taking have kept my digestion working at an optimal level, and have been so nourishing at promoting healing for my body.
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It’s been a long journey with many ups and downs. Months of being homebound at times, and months of living a pretty normal life. It can only get better and better from here on out! I’m so thankful for this whole experience because it has opened my eyes up to so much and has shown me that my body is capable at transforming itself and that healing from this awful disease is possible! Thanks for reading and allowing me to share this milestone with you all!
Stay strong eczema warriors! Restoration is on the horizon, just make sure you’re listening to your body and giving it all the wonderful things it needs to heal ❤
I had the wonderful pleasure of being a guest on my good friend Abby’s Eczema Podcast!
She is a registered Holistic Nutritionist and she is doing amazing work on her website, Prime Physique Nutrition. Abby interviews people in the field of healthy living who offer information, advice, personal accounts on eczema and natural alternative ways for healing. I had the great opportunity of sharing my journey with her on her most recent podcast.
This podcast was filmed in December 2014, and the only updates that I have since then is that my diet has transitioned to a completely plant based vegan diet, I’ve implemented some rebounding exercises to help with blood circulation & stimulating the lymph system and that the state of my feet are doing much better than when this was shot a few months ago!
I had such a great time being interviewed and sharing what I’ve learned with Abby. She’s such an inspiration in how she has battled through her eczema to come out on the other side of it all and become a Holistic Nutritionist to help others! I’m thankful for having this experience, and being able to connect with such an wonderful person. 🙂
I haven’t taken a good close up photo of myself in quite awhile, and since my face has been so great I decided to celebrate that!
My skin has been doing really great lately… literally from my ankles up are clear and doing very well. I’m still experiencing some itchness on my hands, lower part of my arms and lower part of my legs, but its becoming less and less in severity as I heal. I keep telling myself, “it’s just my feet left, just my feet! Keep on pushing, continue staying faithful and positive.” It’s amazing when I look back to photos, especially from 2009 when I was at my lowest point as far as physical and mental health. I had months of chemo behind me, my hair was super short from chopping it off due to some of the hair loss I was experiencing, I barely had any eyebrows from scratching them off, my skin was brittle, super dry & itchy, dark and gray. I had lost a significant amount of weight… the lowest I’ve ever been and I was just so unhappy with life, but trying to force on a smile. You can see more photos of my transformation on the My Story page. Now my skin is better than ever, (although its still got a tiny bit more to go) and I know that besides withdrawing from the topical & injected steroids, implementing my plant based diet and whole food supplements have helped in assisting healing. My skin is so much healthier, my gut health is amazing, the whites of my eyes are brighter, my hair is stronger and shinier and even my nails are stronger! I attribute this all to living holistically and feeding my body the best possible nutrients to heal through this process. 🙂
Currently, I’m still sticking it out at home… my feet are still in recovery mode (still slightly oozy, swollen at times, and I have this super painful sore on the BOTTOM of my foot… ugh) which makes it hard to put on socks and shoes because they will confine my foot to a tight space and irritate them which will set back the progress I’ve made thus far. Although this is the current situation I’m in, I’m still pushing through everyday, and giving thanks for this process. I’ve seen the transformation with my own eyes, and I have pictures to prove it… just that alone gives me gratitude. It shows that as everyone likes to say, “healing happens” it just takes time… but when you can look back and see the transformations… it’s just amazing!
So yea, I’ve been feelin’ myself a lil, and I wanted to show off my most recent photo of myself! ❤
Overtime, I’ve truly learned to accept the process, surrender to it and keep the faith. In this I’ve learned to love myself in whatever state I’m in at the moment, and know that I will only be better and better as time goes on!
I had this ridiculously annoying itchiness going on all around my mouth for most of October. I noticed the irritation early on as you can see in the first photo (Oct 8th). It was just red and inflamed, and slowly started to calm down and become super dry. I was applying coconut oil on it multiple times a day (as well as shea butter) just to ease up the dryness, but it’s like that area just kept drinking it up as quickly as I would apply it. I thought that I would try a remedy I had done in the past… mixing organic ground turmeric powder with organic virgin coconut oil. It makes this bright orangey yellow paste and it can be used on dry, scaly skin. I also used it in the corners of my mouth because I was experiencing cracking as well. I used this mixture before a few years ago on oozy spots on my foot, but it was too intense for these areas, I’ve learned to keep those open, oozy areas dry so they can heal and scab over… pretty much like “moisture withdrawal” which I’ve found to help with letting the body heal on its own. This mixture is so amazing at healing, the dryness and flaking was gone within a week! Turmeric and coconut oil are such potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antibacterial foods, that they can heal up any skin issue very quickly! Along with using this paste I would take a break and use just coconut oil. The mixture did tingle a little bit once I applied it, but subsided rather quickly. I think it was because the turmeric has such powerful healing properties, and because there were fine cuts underneath the flakes. I’m experiencing such smoothness around my mouth now, I know I will use this remedy in the future! Along with doing this mixture, I was regularly oil pulling with the organic virgin coconut oil, which I find really helps to keep the skin on my face pretty clear and flake free. **Cool facts: Turmeric is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine and you can find turmeric face mask remedies to heal acne, eczema, rosacea and to help aid in skin rejuvenation!
October 8, 2014 – Facial skin pretty good, just around my mouth is irritated (itchy, dry & red). It’s shiny because I put coco oil on it. Still some darkening around my eyes.
October 21, 2014 – Super annoying dry irritation around my mouth.
October 21, 2014 – Small cut under my lip on the left side that drove me crazy.
October 21, 2014 – Around my mouth has been a trouble area for sometime, but this dryness was being extra stubborn. It’s probably taking its time to heal because I would constantly use Desonide (steroid ointment) on it. UGH!
October 21, 2014 – Turmeric paste of a dash of ground organic turmeric and a spoonful of organic virgin coco oil. Mix and use on dry, scaly areas (I wouldn’t recommend putting on oozy, wet areas, those need to stay dry so it can scab over). Super healing, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory & antibacterial, just beware it stains like crazy! 😉
October 21, 2014 – Turmeric Face!! Slathered coco & turmeric paste, beware of staining!
October 22, 2014 – My paste is healing up my irritated mouth nicely! A few flakes waiting to fall off.
October 23, 2014 – Clearing up nicely! No more flakes, just some bumpiness!
October 25, 2014 – This paste works!! Still slightly red, but no more flaking, cracking or irritation!
October 25, 2014
October 28, 2014 – I mainly used the turmeric paste, but also took breaks and just moisturized with coco oil.
November 3, 2014 – Still clear and smooth around my mouth, that turmeric paste worked!
November 3, 2014 – Still super clear and smooth! Still some discolouration around the mouth, but that will fade away in time.
UPDATE!!!
I had posted this blog entry into the itsan.org forums and a few people had tried it out and found awesome results!! This just shows how powerful healing with food can be!
Here are their accounts….
Hi Jen, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been using turmeric topically on my feet after reading your blog post and wanted to give a big thank you! The coconut oil wasn’t moisturising enough so I’m melting it into cocoa butter instead and I’m not healed of course but my feet are finally seeing improvement after 8 months! I’m now seeing turmeric used as body scrub, face masks and all sorts and I’m looking forward to trying it out elsewhere. I’ve been clear mostly for 5 months now.
Once again Jen, thanks so much!
-Hayley
Hey Jen – Your tip is great! The backs of my knees were like scary swiss cheese – when you tear open not-yet-healed skin so you have sores within sores, so to speak. I went one up on your mix and added manuka honey (good for wounds, also highly antibacterial action) to the turmeric & coconut oil paste. Slathered it on last thing at night, covered with a non-sticky gauze for wounds, wrapped it all with elastic crepe bandage and then used micropore tape to make sure the bandage didn’t shift while sleeping.
2 nights of this mix and the sores are now healed up and flaking. Skin is pink underneath but not open wounds and not even very raw, which is great for only 2 nights worth of the healing mix….I’d say this is as fast as I’d have gotten with Elomet, which is pretty amazing! (Of course, I probably should have tried the tight wrapping much earlier to avoid scratching at night, so that’s some of it too.)
-Andrea
Thanks Jen, this is working for me too.
The skin between my fingers was broken and crusty and I had been putting cotton wool balls or cloth between my fingers to keep them apart.
I mixed turmeric with sesame oil, just because it’s an oil I had at hand. I reckon any oil would work. Smeared this on the webbing between my fingers once a day and in two days the skin is no longer broken.
I haven’t needed the cotton wool balls or cloths in the past couple of days. Yeah!
I had planned to put an update with pics of the month of September, but if anyone is interested, they can check out my pics in the PHOTOS section where I have the progress documented by each month. So I guess I’ll just go into how I’m currently doing, physically and emotionally as I’m now in my 32nd month of topical steroid withdrawal…
So I’ve been going on the http://www.itsan.org forums a lot lately, and it’s been helping to talk to others that are going through this topical steroid withdrawal process as well. Everyone is all trying to just relieve themselves of this horrendous disease called eczema, and reading about others struggles and journeys helps to put it all in perspective, lets me know that I’m not alone in this, and helps to make me feel like there is a community of supporters all rooting for one another. I was feeling reaaaalllly crappy this past week from going through yet another bad flare this summer and was feeling like venting. The response I recieved from the other members was so encouraging and filled with love that I instantly felt better, and it gave me the boost to keep on keepin’ on. I encourage anyone struggling with withdrawing from topical steroids, to check out the site, and join the forum. There’s a lot of great info that’s being shared on there, and the community of other TSWers makes you feel like you’re not the only one in the world struggling right now 🙂
So this is my very first post! I was trying to wait and post once all of my pages were complete, but I felt compelled to put this up. I’m right now 2 years and 5 months into my topical steroid withdrawal process and it’s been a rough journey. Quite a lot of ups and downs, and I guess a part of me feeling so adamant about posting now is because of how I’ve been feeling. Throughout this whole process, my body has been pretty consistent with how it wants to heal. At the very beginning, back in March 2012, once I got off the steroids the withdrawal process started somewhat slowly….then became full blown by June. Since then, my body likes to heal like this: go bizerk during the summer months, finally taper off early fall, then be tolerable to where I can actually function (be fully clothed comfortably, go out and about) in the winter, slowly start showing withdrawal symptoms again in the spring….then go crazy again come summertime. So this year, right on schedule it started to become its worst towards the end of May. This year most definitely wasn’t as bad as last year…I can already see signs of it tapering off, but I still have moments of discomfort, oozing, crusting, aching pain, fatigue and emotional ups and downs. This particularly sucks because I made a leap and moved back to New York (I was living in North Carolina with family) on my own at the end of Aug 2013. Even then it was extra difficult because I was in the middle of another “summertime healing crisis”. Once I got here I literally was stuck in the apartment until October! Yea, no joke. Like….I didn’t leave my apartment until October! Thank God I live in a city where everything can come to you. I had my laundry picked up and dropped off, and I had my groceries delivered to me! Once I was “back on my feet” (literally, because the worst of my healing was on my legs and feet) I was able to get out and about, even hold down a job. I was enjoying this wonderful city that I’ve missed for so long. So it’s been a bit of a disappointment to be back in this state, but I know that it’s just a part of the process. My body has absorbed soooooo many toxins, and I know the time that it’s going to take to be rid of them completely. On the upside, this healing process seems to have taken less time then last year, and its not as intense. On the good days where my feet aren’t so swollen and are not oozing lymph fluid, I can actually put on socks and sneakers for a short time and go to the grocery store, or go on short outings. Last year I was way too weak to really do any of that. Although I’m feeling a bit frustrated right now, not being able to work (I had to take a leave of absence once it flared up really badly at the end of May), not being able to enjoy the beach and other summertime activities, I still give thanks everyday, and stay as positive as I can. I know that “this too shall pass” and I gotta go through this hurdle, no matter how long it may take to come out clean and healthy on the other side. So to anyone who may read this post and check out my site, I just want to let you know that I feel you, I know your pain and your frustrations. I know what it feels like to fall into the depths of depression, thinking that this agony will never end, but you gotta pull yourself out of it and know that IT WILL END. Everything ends sooner or later, and you will be a stronger, wiser and a forever changed human being because of this battle that you’ve won! I foresee victory in my future as well as yours! ❤ Stay Strong Eczema Warriors!!
Eczema Holistic Healing 