Now that I am on the road to recovery and would say I am about 95% there, I thought I’d share some of what I have learned long the way.
Quick background recap: 61 year old male that has dealt with mild/moderate eczema my entire life. I have used countless tubes of OTC hydrocortisone for general control, with a trip to the doc to get stronger stuff when the eczema got worse. When I moved from Seattle to Fort Worth in 2003, my eczema got worse and I was prescribed stronger steroids and Protopic. About 3 years ago I started losing control of the rash and thought it was Zyrtec withdrawal. Several months later and not improving I discovered ITSAN and immediately knew that I had RSS. Several dermatologists later, including one that convinced me I could not go cold turkey, I found a dermatologist at University of Texas Southwestern that was sympathetic and agreed to help me through it. On July 9, 2013 I totally quit all steroid use and have been on the typical TSW road through Hell ever since. I have had several flares, including a doozy at about 2 years and am now almost completely healed. I expect another flare or two in as many years, so I am not declaring victory just yet, but I feel pretty damn great and have a new appreciation of how awesome “normal” is.
During the battle, I have dealt with incredible people and yet have had my faith in humanity shaken to the core. Here in list form, and in no particular order, are some of the OPINIONS I have formed. Depending on the response and my state of mind (I’m in Fukitol™ mode right now), I will expand with details.
- ITSAN and its members are awesome.
- The Aron Regime is a bizarre mind-fuck that will result is massive future suffering.
- The pharmaceutical industry is corrupt and driven by pure greed.
- The alternative medicine industry is corrupt and driven by pure greed.
- False causal associations with TSW (example: dietary changes) is rampant and unjustified
- “Moisturizer withdrawal” is bullshit.
- Special diets and fads (example: "leaky gut") are bullshit
- The Placebo Effect is strong and drives most scams.
- Topical steroids are an easy fix and doctors love easy fixes.
- Allergy testing during TSW is worthless.
- Organizations lose neutrality once they become associated with sponsors or endorse products.
- Those that make it through TSW will be better human beings as a result, especially children.
