Day 46 - Week 7

It has been rough, but I will say that there is progress despite its sluggish pace. As usual, an update to my skin:

Face - Improved!
This has been the part with the most progress.  I haven't had the dreaded cuts and blisters for at least 2-3 weeks now, and the red and flakiness had improved as well! Now it looks slightly red, dry, and occasional flaking in areas, as opposed to flaking for the whole face at all times. And the oozing has improved a lot as well, now ooze will only be once in a while and more like sweat which goes away much quicker.  My swollen eyes has also been better now, at least they don't swell so much that they hurt, it's just slightly swollen and still extremely dry. I still get those gooey stringy secretions in the corner of my eye, hope that it goes away in time.  And the vision do get slightly blurry at times.  One thing to mention is that I've been using Dr. Fukuya's skin repair lotion that I bought online from his blog, since I've read quite a few good reviews on it.  I feel like the improvements on my face is sped up by using this lotion, and I've been getting comments from my boyfriend, a colleague and friends that my skin looks better!!  So I'm definitely recommending this lotion to fellow red skin warriors, especially if you have it on your face.  I've just started to use it on my arms and shoulders as they've always been super dry like sand paper, we'll see how it goes.

Arms and legs - Worse T.T
It's been less red these days, but it got itchier also for some reason. I would easily get tiny little bumps randomly, probably hives, but they would go away pretty soon. If I could be good enough not to scratch my skin raw then it wouldn't be of much damage to me, but it's hard as hell! And the little bumps can go everywhere, like literally. One moment it could be at my lower calves, then the next it would be on my back at the shoulder blade, there was once that I had one bump on the cheek of my bum!! I was like what the heck!!?!?

Feet - worse T.T
I've been having eczema on my ankles before I started TSW, but ever since I've started, it's slowly spread from the top of my feet to my toes as well, and I feel like my toes are at its worst now!! The skin has become so rough and itchy, it even hurts just to bend them, so horrible... And I'm constantly scratching one feet with the other under the table, I bet others have noticed my fidgeting movements when I'm sitting in the office, but then what else can I do???

Sleep - worse...
As it got itchier these days, my sleep has deteriorated. Every night I would wake up at least once and undergo a major scratch fest, and it takes longer for me to fall back asleep. I also get really itchy when I wake up, sometimes with little bumps in particular areas. These bumps are just so annoying!!!

Body temperature regulation - Slight improvement
It's been slightly better in a sense that I'm not so sensitive to air conditions now, so I feel OK to sit in the office for 8 hours, but I still feel really dry and prefer not to be in air-conditioned places. I still crave for sunlight, though too much exposure would do more harm than good to my skin. I'm starting to sweat more these days, but then sometimes I feel like it's not normal sweating, like I would feel very hot and sweat during the night when I sleep, and I get particularly sweaty when I just wake up. But during the day, I don't sweat that much, even when sitting under the sun. I believe my temperature regulation ability still has a long way to go.

Overall - so-so
There's been some goods and bads, but considering that I'm still in the first two months of withdrawal, I'd say I'm already grateful to see some improvements. I've always thought to myself that even if I don't ever get better, staying on steroids is never the way to go, particularly if I am to have any kids in the future. So there's nothing to lose for going on this journey, so yes I will have to stick to it! Wish a speedy healing to everyone!