Salcura and Month 31 Update

Hello all! Things have been going pretty well for me this month. This was me from a few days ago, after being off of dairy, gluten, and refined sugar for a month:

Since then I've added dairy back in with no reaction, but upon adding back refined sugar (chocolate, my weakness) my skin has become slightly worse:

I'm guessing that refined sugars are the culprit. I will wait until this calms down, go back to a sugar-free diet, then add gluten back in to observe any changes.

In other news, a company Salcura has sent me a few skincare products to review. It is a steroid-free brand that has reached out to ITSAN as part of their "Totally Free" campaign. For the campaign, Salcura will be donating $1 to ITSAN for every order placed that uses the specific coupon code ITSAN2015. ITSAN has been my crutch through my worst times so I think this is a great opportunity to support it. There is also a 25% off discount on the products!

The products look very promising so far! As a typical TSW veteran I immediately scanned the ingredients lists, and both contain mostly natural components such as tea tree and jojoba oil. They are scented, but with the natural scent of essential oils. I prefer unscented products for my face so I will be trying these products on my arms and legs.

I will be reviewing their DermaSpray and Zeoderm products throughout the month. If you would like to take a look at this brand, visit www.salcuranaturals.com.

Month 30

I can't believe I've reached month 30! I've been making a lot of changes this month, such as going gluten, dairy, and sugar free (except fruit). It's been a week and I am already seeing improvements. Overall my face (main problem area) has stopped oozing and developing blisters. It feels a lot less inflamed, but there are still dry patches and a bit of pinkness. This is the best my skin has been in a long time.

This picture is from yesterday:

However, in case this is just coincidental healing I will continue the diet for the rest of the month. Then, I will add gluten, dairy, and sugar back in one at a time to try to discover the culprit. I have been wanting to do this diet for so long but I kept giving up because it was so hard. Food is my life, haha! I finally stuck with it this time and it's been going well. If any of you have been thinking of trying an elimination diet or something similar, it will be hard but you should go for it. You never know until you try!

Update

Yesterday:

 Today:

Lowered my sugar intake to fruit only and thought it was helping, bu this happened. There are cracks in my chin and upper lip that keep blistering every few days. What could it be? I am going to start cutting gluten and dairy as well and see what will happen.

Month 29

Month 29 is looking promising so far! I'm no longer flaring every day and things are starting to slightly calm down.

Face is the main problem area, but getting better:

Inner arms are still problematic:

Back of knee a bit better:

Hopefully this upward trend will continue!

Update

After the flare I had last week, which I believe was caused by my menstrual cycle hormones, I seem to have started another one in the past few days. Each night for the past two nights I have been oozing around my mouth and eyelids. Usually, I only ooze on the first day of a flare. Most of my face is red and flaky, and today I woke up with a bunch of whiteheads.

Truthfully, I am starting to doubt if this is still TSW and not some other underlying problem. For the fairly little amount of steroids I used, I feel as if my withdrawal is going on way too long. The other day I started drinking Chinese medicine again, and this time it made me very itchy and rashy around my shoulders and arms, places that were healed a while ago. I have been told this is the medicine's way of bringing out toxins stored in my cells and releasing them through my skin. Overall, I am just super confused about this bout of flares because they are so abnormal. I also feel like I am reaching a breaking point. I do not know how much longer I can put my life on hold, as I can't stay cooped up inside my house forever! It's depressing to have to keep cancelling plans because I'm i such bad shape. I also feel guilty because my parents have to keep worrying about me...I feel like they don't know what to do as well.

It is truly frustrating because I do not even know why I am flaring so badly. Is it TSW still running its course? Is it diet? Is it dust in my house? There are so many factors that seem  to be involved that I am a loss with what to do. I just desperately need to see relief at this point. I haven't seen it in months, and if I could have a break I think my faith would be restored in my skin. However, these constant and worsening flares have put me at my lowest point mentally.

Sorry for the rant, but I just needed to get this all out. I hope you all are faring well, and if not feel free to drop me a message and we can be in this together!

Looks redder in real life

Month 28

I've been flaring for the entirety of May and June, but yesterday I've had one of the worst flares in a while.

All of the red patches are spots of ooze. Last night was horrible, as I was sweating, scratching, and oozing. When I woke up my eyelids were extremely swollen. I just packed up and moved back home for summer yesterday and had to clean up all the dust, so maybe that had something to do with it? I doubt that it is contact eczema because the back of my knee is affected too.

Last June I had a flare similar to this but a lot worse. Could this be another anniversary flare?

Update: More Pictures

Not sure if this flare is getting better or worse. This was yesterday:

This is today:

Note: the pictures look less red than real life.

My entire neck is acting up again after being clear for so long. Also, I feel the burning on my face which is almost equal to what I experienced in the early months. I've looked on the itsan forum and it seems a lot of others are also flaring at the 20-30 month range. What could it be? Sigh. I'm praying this is the last of my flares and I can get another break soon.

Flaring

So uncertain on how this flare came about. It could be due to so many factors:

a) Used a lot of makeup yesterday
b) Ate sweets
c) Stress
d) Pre-menstrual flare

It could also be an allergic reaction to this new face primer I started using, but it doesn't have any ingredients I'm allergic to so probably not.

There are a lot of raised, bumpy patches that I pray won't ooze. Plus, my school's festival is today and this flare just had to happen. Sigh. 

Month 27

Another month has gone by! Right now my skin is still going through what seems to be a really long anniversary flare. It has since gotten better since the initial big flare and seems to be going through mini cycles now. Although my face is better, it is still worse than it was before this flare.

It looks redder in real life. Hopefully with summer coming my skin will get better, like it usually does.

Stagnant

I guess this is as good as it's going to get. Although my flare's over, these spots are persisting and refuse to go away. Looks a lot more red and bumpy in person.

 It's as if my face is returning to the beginning of TSW, where the entire area around my mouth was affected. Not sure about the patches around my nose, those are pretty new.

Thank God for makeup and huge glasses! I guess this will carry me over until my face goes back to normal.

For those of us who are still battling tsw, we just have to trudge on and make do with what we've got!

Getting better

The last flare, which I thought was an allergic reaction (I'm thinking it was an allergic reaction that evolved into a TSW flare, don't know if that makes sense), is getting better bit by bit each day. It's very very slow, but it's something! I've been applying apple cider vinegar, as well as going out in my backyard and getting sun for around 30 mins. I think the sun helps a lot.

Another allergic reaction

Triggered, once again, by tocopherol acetate (Vitamin E) in tissues that I pressed all over my face. TISSUES. Who even needs lotion built into tissues?

Yesterday:

Today:

Face is less swollen, a tiny bit less red, still super irritated and dry. Flaring like this means cooping myself in my dorm room for at least 3 days, which is so depressing when there are so many events and things going on at school.

Starting month 26

After recovering from my last flare, my skin has taken a turn for the worse. The rashy skin is slowly beginning to cover my face, now having spread to my eyes and around my nose. I have also developed patches on my temples and forehead that have been persisting for about 2 months now. Although diet may have little affect while in TSW, I can't help but suspect that something might be causing my rashes to get worse. From now on, I will try to only eat natural sugars from fruits and follow a low carb diet to see if it helps in any way. Sigh. It seems like my skin is back to being super sensitive.

Skin around my mouth is irritated and super dry/flaky 

Skin in general has a rough texture, especially eyelids

More pictures

I guess this is a real flare. I know that I am TSW flaring when I get cracks around my lips.

Hoping this passes soon...

Mini Flare

Sigh. Sadly at month 25 I am flaring. It's not too bad, localized to my arm crease, neck, and face, but a flare is a flare.

This whole month has been a month of bad skin for me and I'm not exactly sure why. Thankfully I'm on spring break at the moment so I can rest a bit. It's always so easy to look for things to blame in TSW, such as diet and stress. I admit my diet has not been too good this month and my stress levels were probably through the roof because of exams. I also initially thought it was a pre-menstruation flare, but it went on for an entire month so that was ruled out. Yesterday night I also had a lot of sugar so that could be another factor.

Trying to pinpoint the cause of flares is such a difficult thing to do! Hopefully this passes quickly.

2 years!

Wow...I can't believe I've hit two years off topical steroids!! It seems so unreal...while I was in the thick of TSW I remember thinking that two years was so far away. Today, my skin isn't 100% eczema free. I still have patches here and there, but I think it's safe to say that they are eczema patches and no longer symptoms of TSW. My skin no longer dictates my life as it had some months ago, keeping me from doing the things that I love. To those who are still suffering, know that it will get better. You are all so strong and please don't give up!

Month 23

Hello all, I hope everyone was able to enjoy their holidays and rest a lot! Coming into month 23 with a bit of a flare up around my mouth.

It started to get worse around the latter half of last month when I was taking my exams. Then, as I went on a vacation to Japan, it began to get worse and worse until my lips were cracked and split. I think this was because I had tried out a new lip balm, which I have since stopped using. I have switched to another lip balm, a vegan one with very little ingredients, and my lips themselves have improved slightly but not the area around my mouth. I will try stopping that lip balm also, but I have a feeling that this flare up isn't caused by the lip balm at all...I really hope that this does not get any worse and is just another minor flare. The rest of my body on the other hand is still improving, but not quite healed just yet.