A Starter Kit For Quitting Steroid Cream

The following post originally appeared on Medium.

It's been one year since I stopped using steroid cream and started TSW (topical steroid withdrawal). It's also been about a year since I posted this — What a month of superitchy horrible skin taught me.

I just wanted to share some tips I wish I had when I first started.

Me in the first weeks of TSW aka hell

Slowly healing four months in

After one year steroid-free (right now!)

When you discover how your gut and skin are connected, it can really empower you to take the road to recovery. The quick explanation is that if you're not digesting food properly, your body can't get rid of waste through your poo. The waste has to come out somewhere though, so it chooses the nearest exit — your skin. Also for me, I discovered I was actually allergic to dairy and eggs. What I used to think were random flare-ups were actually reactions to what I was eating! I was just covering it up with the steroid cream and not listening to the warning signs that my body was giving me.

I suggest keeping a food journal and becoming a kind of detective of yourself.

At first, I would just roughly write what I ate and drank and then how my skin felt that day

And then I started to make a list of possible trigger foods and whether I ate them or not that day. This turned out to be easier than writing EVERYTHING I ate.

This really helped me narrow down what exactly was the best diet for me and what triggered me specifically.

I was already trying to cut down on meat and fish, and when I finally quit steroid cream (this journal was from before) I went fully plant-based. I cut out meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. I also cut out soda, caffeine, processed sugar, fried foods, and wheat (until I found out I could take it in moderate amounts).

The food diary worked, but it wasn't always obvious if something had milk in it or not. Dairy is very tricky and tries to work its way into everything. Read the label carefully, and be wary of casein, whey, and lactose. They all mean something contains dairy. Of course, it's safer to avoid labels altogether and eat whole foods — but this isn't always possible.

I also recommend Cronometer. Its an amazing (and free) website that helps you make sure you're getting enough nutrients if you do decide to transition to plant-based. I would still recommend it either way. You don't even have to use it everyday; it can be great just for learning more about nutrition.

An example of food i was eating :)

Last thing surrounding food: I would recommend going to get a blood test and seeing if you're deficient in anything. For me, it was vitamin D, so I started taking a supplement. You'll also want to start taking B12 if you transition to plant-based.

Oh also, here's a quick video to help you poo better. Yup, it'll change your life.

Remember that your emotional health is just as important as your physical health — it's all one. Know that you'll only come out of this stronger.

Losing my eyebrows, and gaining them back slowly :D Never been more grateful for having eyebrows

I remember how frustrated I was. I'd spoken to three different doctors, and all of them said that I could keep using steroid cream. They refused to listen to me. When this happened, I had to remind myself that the doctors were just doing what they thought was right and were part of a larger system of Western medicine in general. I guess I just felt very disillusioned. But then I would remember how empowering it felt to be able to take matters into my own hands. Actually for me, this whole thing was kind of a blessing because it launched me into taking proper care of my body.

Don't beat yourself up for not getting immediate results. It will get worse before it gets better — your body is learning how to live without steroids. I know it sounds confusing but this video by Rob Stuart does an awesome job of explaining why your skin flares up before it heals. Remember — the steroid cream or cortisol cream was doing what your adrenal gland should have been doing — releasing cortisol. Cortisol is the anti-inflammatory hormone. So because you've been using cortisol cream, your adrenal gland has gotten lazy! It's forgotten how to do its job. It's going to take some time for it to get back into the workplace ;)

Also, sleeping can be the worst! It can really drive you crazy! This meditation by Headspace helps you work through an itch. In general, meditation helped me a lot, and I'd really recommend trying it if you haven't.

I'm really grateful for the friends and family who stuck by me even when I was an ugly, flaky mess. I felt really ugly sometimes, and they were the ones who made me feel beautiful. It sounds so cheesy, but it's true. It might be hard for them to understand at first what is going on, but as long as you believe in what you are doing, it will help you to communicate with others. When you're going through the hardest, itchiest, most painful times, remember the people you are thankful for, and I promise it'll make you feel better.

On the topic of gratitude, the Facebook support groups for TSW got me through some rough times. If you haven't joined yet, go look it up now! The people there have a firsthand understanding of what you're going through.

You need to circulate your lymphatic system properly in order to heal your skin. It is like the sewage system of your body. Let's just say if the sewer doesn't flow, all the waste inside of you stays stagnant and comes out in your skin. Here's a great video explaining it simply.

Dry brushing literally saved my life. First of all, you can scratch yourself with it and satisfy that itch, but you won't break your skin because the brush is gentler than your nails. Second, it circulates your lymph and gets rid of dead skin! I do it every time before I shower or bathe. It is honestly amazing.

Like Rob Stuart said, your skin won't get better unless you exercise. This is probably the best way to circulate your lymphatic system. I do yoga because I like going at my own pace. If you buy a yoga mat, you can just do it whenever you want! There are lots of online tutorials — my favorite is Yoga with Adriene, because she's a great teacher who really goes into the theory and fundamentals behind yoga.

Another way to circulate is to do lymphatic massage on yourself. I did this a lot when I couldn't sleep, and I still do it every single day. It just feels amazing.

Improving your circulation will also help keep you warm — I know for the first couple months, I was freezing all the time, and I had to wear giant socks on top of my ice cold feet. It's since gotten better, but I still get cold very easily. It takes time!

I can't tell you how many times I have come out of the shower crying — just in so much pain. But if you can get through burning skin and cold ass showers, you will come out so much stronger. Plus, you will never take for granted another shower in your entire life.

If you're taking showers, cold water is amazing for your skin. I know sometimes you just want to put that boiling water on, and it feels so good, but it really dries out your sensitive skin. Try some cold showers; after the first couple times, it's really not that bad. It's a lot less painful in the long run.

Another tip is to dab yourself with your towel or air-dry if you can. Rubbing yourself with a towel is just really harsh on your skin, but if it's something you've been doing your whole life, it's easy to forget.

In the beginning of this whole journey, I tried apple cider vinegar baths. They make the water kind of slippery and naturally moisturize you. It got kind of expensive after a while though, and as I got stronger, my skin didn't need it so much anymore.

Now, moisturizers. Oh god. Where do I even start. So in the beginning I was just slathering on shitloads of vaseline and wrapping myself in cling film. For oozing, you need zinc cream. Or you can also use diaper cream. I know, sexy right? But it does the trick. I've also tried coconut oil, olive oil, vitamin E oil (which is awesome by the way), and tea tree oil is great for preventing infections. I usually put a couple drops in my bath. I made my own cream using shea butter as a base and adding a mix of different oils. There are lots of recipes online if you Google it. And I also used this cream, which saved my life for a couple months. I also saw that a lot of people used CBD oil, and it really helped them, although I didn't try this myself.

So currently after much experimentation, I've pretty much stopped using soap. No I am not stinky ;) Soap actually strips the skin of many natural essential oils. It's especially drying for people who have sensitive skin. If you gotta use it (and sometimes you do) I would recommend Dr. Bronner's. I also stopped using shampoo — but that's a whole other story because I've also got curly hair, and I'm not even going to get into that right now. Just do your own research, and if your scalp is feeling dry, consider what your products are doing to you.

I also ended up doing moisturizer withdrawal because I found that the cream would actually irritate me sometimes. Again it's not easy in the beginning, but it trains your skin to moisturize itself. I'm usually very dry right when I come out of the bath, so I need some time to meditate or just chill until I feel like I'm back to "normal," whatever that is. Every time that I've tried using any moisturizer again, it really irritates me and makes my skin all red. I just feel a lot better when I'm not using it, but I think it's different for everyone. Your decision will also depend on what stage of TSW you're in. I could not have survived without cream in the beginning, so withdrawal is more for when your body gets stronger. It is awesome now though, because my skin is softer than it ever was before, even when I was using the cream.

I'm guessing you're here in the first place because you did your own research, so congratulations! This is just a little reminder to keep researching, learning, and documenting. This is what gives us power. Here are a couple ideas (some that I did, and some I wish I did more of):

The more you document, the more material you have to help. It's easier to do a little bit every day, rather than trying to remember what happened months ago. Everything that you go through now can help someone in the future.