I'm approaching my 5 year anniversary and I've been hanging on to feeling good and enjoying it every day but I have had a nagging feeling that another flare was going to happen. Maybe because of the heat, I dunno, but every year right about now it has happened, and it is happening again. Damn it.
It's a little different this time in that it came on quickly. In just a couple days the hands got significantly worse, the neck broke out, the creepy crawly feelings are back, and I am having trouble sleeping. Nothing terrible yet, so I am hoping that it will be mild and short lived.
I was really hoping to take Robin to Disneyland this August and I am still making plans, TSW be damned. My daughter is a photographer at Disneyland and the last time I was there was about 6 years ago with her and her twin sister. Robin has never been to a Disney anything, and I am hoping she will love it as much as I have virtually my entire life. It will be especially sweet because my other twin daughter will be visiting from Australia.
While there, I am tempted to make an appointment with Dr. Rapaport, the Beverly Hills dermatologist who pioneered Topical Steroid Withdrawal, just to give him a hug. It was his work at UCLA that shed light on Red Skin Syndrome and made millions aware of the dangers of topical steroids. He co-founded ITSAN, the organization that helped me so much through the bad times. Dr. Rapaport and ITSAN have unfortunately parted ways, but I still love them both.
Update for posterity: I am feeling much better and based on how quickly this flare turned around it will be by far the shortest and least severe annual flair to date. Other than some persistent itching and resulting rash on my hands, I am back to pre-flair state. Also, unlike the last flair, my feet were not affected at all, and certain unmentionables are actually better than before the flair.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to decide whether or not to visit Dr. Rapaport when I hopefully go to Disneyland in a few weeks. I've always sworn that if I am in the area I'd stop by just to run in and give him a hug!
Hey Dave, have you noticed nearly every blog on tsw is now suppressed in search? Replaced by big pharma websites. Just sad. Best to you bro. Dan
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