What a crazy couple of years this has been! Apologies for not keeping this blog up to date, but every time I have attempted, I have failed. I could go on and on, and maybe I will, about the turmoil this country has been in, the pandemic, my wife’s IBM, how my faith in humanity has been shaken to the core, how politics and religion have altered my relationships with friends and family, etc., but hey, this is a TSW blog!
Even though I thought I was completely healed, that has not been the case. I have been through a couple relatively minor flares since the last post, and I have been struggling to determine whether they will ever go away. Perhaps they are not really flares, but rather me just dealing with contact dermatitis, especially since the only symptoms have been skin related. Anyway, I will post more about it, but I really wanted to get a link posted ASAP about a newly released short documentary called “Skin on Fire”. The director is a friend of Dr. Marvin Rapaport, a personal hero of mine, and I think it is excellent. It’s only 30 minutes long, and if you are reading this I think it would be well worth your time:
https://youtu.be/GuaBbsL1qKA
Hi Dave! Thanks for the update, us vets do tend to get back to life but I'm thankful to hear from anyone that shared the foxhole battlefield of TSW. ~ Joey
ReplyDeleteHi Dave. Thanks for this post. I stopped after 30+ years at the level of Halobetasol .05 cream in August 2012. Several years of hell followed (that you know all too well).
ReplyDeleteOddly, in October 2022 (nearly 10 years to the day I stopped), I had my first flare in years. Face, ears, shoulder blades and down through my legs. Oozing, scaling, itching again. After a few weeks, it's now localized to head (forehead, eyes, ears, scalp) and shoulder blades with a weekly flare. Seems to be getting less and less annoying with each week, but I sure did not expect this to come back again!
As you know, we always try to go back and figure out why this happened. Back in mid-October, I was super-stressed at work, got COVID, and was sanding w/Bondo on the car. Over the last couple months, I've also replaced our kitchen floor (lots more sanding/irritants, etc). Not sure if any of these things could have caused the relapse, but I'm done with all sanding and am focusing on not stressing about work! Let's see if this clears once and for all now?
For the record, even tho I didnt have flares for many years, I still had an odd patch that oozed on top of my left foot, and my neck never seemed to heal quite right. Interesting, as of now, both of those areas are back to normal skin so maybe some good is coming from this flare?
Incidentally, in retrospect, the fact that I can do all sorts of things with my hands (which are near-perfect, btw) without bleeding at the slightest scratch has made the whole TSW experience a win in my opinion.
Good luck to you and all!
Jeff
Just a follow-up ... my last rebound flare was June 3rd (8 months after onset), skin fully healed now, though a little bit of eczema remains behind knees, and my fingernails are actually perfect for the first time in ... well, forever! All's well that ends well.
ReplyDeleteJeff
Thanks Jeff! Sorry for the delay in responding! It says Anonymous but this is Dave as I have been having problems with logging in here, and as is common with those of us that have gone through TSW, we try to leave the experience behind us and move on. My activity here and on online forums have dropped considerably.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear you are better!
I just passed my 10 year anniversary of TSW and I need to make a post about it. The short version is that I still suffer from symptoms, but I think this is as good as I will get. Going through TSW does not mean allergies go away, and the problems I am having I believe are related to contact allergies or perhaps like you breathing in stuff I am allergic to, such as wood dust from my woodworking projects. And like you, my hands almost seem better the more I use them, which is awesome.