Reflecting

Had a little flare on my face today. It consisted of a little blotchiness around the eyes and mouth that was sort of like hives? Well, within an hour or so it has pretty much died down, and I think it only worsened because I scratched it. Also, it is very flaky and dry around those areas. I'm expecting it to be gone by tomorrow at this rate!

When I was about in my 3rd or 4th month of withdrawal (my memory of this is horrible...probably my brain trying to block out the memories!) I visited the UCLA office of dermatology for an appointment because I live in LA and my dad needed a solid diagnosis of my skin problems, despite what I explained to him about ITSAN and tsw. He was certain that this doctor, a Harvard graduate , could help me. Even I held high hopes because HARVARD, and UCLA is where Dr. Rapaport used to work. However, just like any other dermatologist, she completely denied the existence of any sort of withdrawal from steroids and pressed that steroids were the only method to cure me. Thankfully she was smart enough to not prescribe me Prednisone because of my age. So, I obediently accepted the steroid prescription with a smile, walked out of the office, then promptly ripped it up. What I also ripped up that day was my faith in western dermatology.

Now that I can physically see my body healing, albeit very slowly, I feel like doctors simply cannot get away with this. Although withdrawal doesn't happen to everyone, it will literally destroy you when it does. I just want to thank the founders of ITSAN so much for sticking with this idea even though they were doubted by basically the entire medical community. Brave warriors they truly are!