Update

Hey everyone! After my last flare, which lasted around a week or so, my skin has returned to a stable calm period. My face is way less red and swollen, in fact when I wake up in the morning it is white and pale! It gets redder after I wake up as I start to move around, though. My neck, shoulders and chest are still itchy as usual but are less red and have not been oozing. My arms are also getting less red, but they are very dry and flaky. I even went back to ballet class yesterday because I was feeling so much better! I looked like I was a bit sunburned, but nothing more than that :). Insomnia is still an issue for me, falling asleep at around 9 AM and waking up around 2-3 PM. Today was a good day though, as I fell asleep around 3 AM and woke up at 12 PM. Maybe because I had exercise last night and was tired out? Or maybe yesterday I woke myself up at 9 AM and refused to go back to sleep, regulating my schedule a bit? Ah, who knows. Overall, I'm feeling WAY better and am healing bit by bit. I wish I could go back in time around 1-2 months ago when I was at my worst and say, "Hey! This is you in around 1-2 months. You are getting better."

Feeling a bit depressed

Currently still in the middle of a flare and have been feeling down. Last night, I got into bed around 1 AM as I knew that going to bed earlier would just result in me lying awake and scratching like crazy. I tossed and turned the whole night, as usual, and I may have slept a bit but it's all a blur to me now. I finally fell into a true sleep at 9 AM and woke up around 3:30 PM! I didn't really have the will to get up because I was so dry and stiff and my shoulders were damp and cracked with ooze. Before I knew it, it was 5:30 and I finally got up just as my mom was coming home from work. This could be the latest I've ever woken up, and the whole thing just bums me out.

Even though I'm definitely not a morning person, I like having order to my day and eating a set breakfast in the morning. Waking up late just makes me feel so unproductive because I have quite a bit of summer work and college things to worry about. Also, I feel quite down having to stay inside all day because of my appearance. My dance summer school starts next week, but I'm pretty certain my skin just won't be well enough to go. I haven't been to dance class in about 2 months since I quit for the time being in May, and I miss it a lot. Being cooped up inside and having no motivation to do anything really sucks :(.

Tomorrow, I will force myself to be up by at least 12 PM. Wishing you all the best.

Into Month 6!

I am officially entering month 6th today! But bad news is I've also entered another flare. Well, that was a wonderful break! But I guess it's back to work for my skin. Chest and neck started oozing again which is agonizing at night, and eyelids swelling as well. Everything's the usual dry and flaky, and I continue to have to dust flakes off my bed every 10 minutes at night. Getting on average 2-3 hours of sleep at night when I have to wake up early to go some place, but on the usual summer days where I just stay home I fall asleep around 9 AM and sometimes even go till 3 or 4! My arms, although they seem less red than a month ago, have been SUPER itchy each day. Sigh.

I truly hope that by the end of this summer I'll be done with the worst of TSW. Or, at least have milder flares than I do now. In the beginning, I truly thought that I was going to be healed at 6th months because I started out with very mild symptoms, but now I realize that everyone else was right and that it probably isn't going to happen. I know now that in reality it will take me 1-2 years to be completely back to normal, and I'm okay with that. I'm glad that I have finally found a reason for my spreading eczema and won't live the rest of my life trapped by topical steroids. And, I had a taste of beautiful, white skin on my face last week so I know that it will return to that eventually! Let's keep on trucking, everyone!

Improvements

I'm approaching month 6 and my face actually looks pretty normal. There is still slight redness and flaking in some parts but overall I see a lot of white and baby smooth skin! Plus, no swollen eyelids, and I think my eyebrows are slowly growing back. I'm actually starting to look like myself again, ha. I don't know if this is simply a quiet period or if my face is finally returning to normal (I pray that it's the latter). My face has been feeling normal for about 5 days now, so I really hope it'll stay like this! Senior portrait coming up in a week....

My collarbone/chest area has been the worst at the moment. It's constantly itching, especially at night which gives me zero sleep until around 8 AM. It's like a bone-deep itch that tingles if I don't itch yet gets itchier the more I scratch it...I'm sure we've all experienced it.  It's gotten less red though, and hopefully this intense itch is a healing itch.

My left arm is slowly normalizing, but it's weird because the previously red patches have turned a light pink color which is lighter than my actual skin tone...I guess it's better than red though!

Right arm is still pretty bad, very dry with a lot of scabs. However, I used to get a lot of pimples on this arm which have went away.

Overall, I think I have made progress. The itch continues to be horrible, but my skin is smoothing out. Hope all of you see progress soon, it gives me hope that I will heal.

Shedding

I've been shedding A LOT today. Perhaps that's a good sign, as I think I'm ending a flare. My neck, chest, and arms look a lot less red today! My neck, for the first time since I started TSW, feels smooth and completely rid of cuts and lesions. I'm praying that some day my face and chest will be this smooth. I find it very hard to be optimistic during this, but little moments like these give me hope. Hope you're all doing well!

Flare

I'm feeling very flare-y today. I'm not even sure if this is a flare because I've had the same symptoms for around 2 consecutive weeks already, but today my skin feels hotter and redder.. Usually, my flares last only a week and start dying down. Yesterday was weird because my eyelids randomly started swelling up in the middle of the day. I'm thinking it could have been the chocolate I ate earlier, or perhaps I had too much salt. Throughout withdrawal I haven't really been careful with my diet (I mean, I AM a highschooler) but now I will start controlling my sugar intake and watching out for that salt also.

Progress Pictures So Far!

Month 1: I had very mild symptoms in month 1, just redness/rash between my eyebrows and around my mouth. These were the most recent areas that I had applied the steroids before quitting.

Month 2: The rashes began to spread out. One formed on my neck, which is also an area where I had applied a bit of steroid. I also began feeling the intense itch in my neck and disrupted sleep. The corners of my lips would crack and ooze, leaving a crust in the morning. (I think these pictures make it look less red because of the bright lighting : /)

Month 3: Again, more spreading, itching, and OOZING! My neck began to ooze profusely throughout the night, making sleep impossible for a while.

Month 4: Mouth area seems to stop cracking and oozing, but my face and neck have gone completely red and burning. My arms begin to show splotchy rashes and my ears begin to flake and ooze.

 Huge improvement:

 Flare when my cheeks began to crack and ooze:

Neck and chest:

Today, month 5: Face is getting....slightly better? Nothing too dramatic but sometimes my face is lighter than my neck and chest. It still burns constantly, though. Another plus, my neck has stopped oozing for now! However, my arms are starting to worsen and I'm afraid I'll have the red sleeve soon. My chest/shoulder area has been in a cycle of crack, ooze, flake, repeat.

Shoulder/Collarbone area:

Good news is, I end school for the summer in 3 days! No more crawling out of bed at 6:30 AM! Here's to a summer of relaxation and healing.