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Oct 11, Eczema Awareness Month – US

In the US, October is Eczema Awareness Month. I love that they have dedicated a whole month to raising awareness of eczema. Visit the website and find out how you get involved. They have some great ideas on how you can do something to help, and they will even send you some materials to get you started.
Eczema Blog

May is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month

May 2018 is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month. It is a global campaign aimed at focusing attention on bladder cancer.

Throughout the month talkhealth will be supporting the charity, Fight Bladder Cancer who are highlighting the impact of bladder cancer, promoting awareness of the symptoms and urging greater investment in research.

In Europe over 150,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer every year. It is the fifth biggest cancer in the western world, but receives only a tiny amount of the funding available for cancer. It is the ‘forgotten cancer’.

You can find out more about how you can help, support and fund raise throughout May and beyond on the Fight Bladder Cancer website.

 

 

 

Key Facts about Bladder Cancer

  • Bladder cancer is NOT RARE. It’s the 5th most common cancer in the Western world.
  • It can affect anyone – men and women of all ages, even children.
  • There have not been any major new treatments in over 40 years.
  • It is the only ‘top 10’ cancer where prognosis is getting worse. In Europe, 53,000 people die of bladder cancer every single year.
  • Bladder cancer gets only 1% of the cancer research spend!

The post May is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month appeared first on talkhealth Blog.

talkhealth Blog

Day 434 – Day 456 End of Month 15… Ending a Flare Cycle…New Derm…Starting CETAPHIL Restoraderm

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Neck still crap… so I wear a scarf.  Bleh.
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Day 435

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Day 436

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Day 437

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Day 439

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Day 440

Right after a shower.  Skin is usually its reddest.  It’s a good way to see just where the damaged skin is.

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Day 443

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Day 444

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The most normal I’ve felt this whole time.  I look mostly normal.  My face held up the whole night.  Not even a ton of flakes at the end.  
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End of the night.  YES.


Day 446

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Day 447 

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Day 448

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With makeup I looked normal for my daughter’s Elsa IceSkating party
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Day 449

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This wrist has started to become SUCH a nascence.  
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Day 450

On a dry, flakey day….


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BEFORE SHOWER.
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AFTER SHOWER.
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HOURS AFTER SHOWER.


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Day 452
Flaaaaaaare…

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Day 453

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I used Aquaphor on my face.  The mineral oil has started to irritate again, so I stopped using it after this day.
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After one use of Eucerine Restoraderm…I honestly thought it had steroids.
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Before and after 1 day of use….


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I started using it on my face…





Peace Out Eczema

Day 457 – Day 486: Month 16 Topical Steroid Withdrawal Redskin Syndrome

Well, month 16 was interesting.  I started using Eucerine Restoraderm on a regular basis, showers became quite enjoyable, and I visited Portland and loved it.  I still have crap skin on a regular cycle, but the crap is becoming less severe and the good is becoming more predictable and regular.  I feel like the restoraderm is helping heal the skin barrier.

SLEEP:  Sleep is better.  I slept brilliantly in Portland because I was on an air mattress and it was 50’s at night.  I didn’t sweat.  Now, at home in hot Texas on my pillow mattress I sweat and wake up itching.   On the whole, sleep is MUCH more consistent and regular.  I don’t feel as exhausted all the time.

HIVES:  Hives are popping up as of the end of this month.  They are uniform bumps and are itchy initially and then just take a while to go away.  They are only on the still damaged skin.  The skin that’s really red after the shower.  The skin that goes to hell when I flare.  I’m assuming this is a good sign…?

BURING/STINGING:  So, showers were moderately painful at the beginning of this month.  The water initially was fine and then once my pores opened up, it stung unless I used VERY warm water.  Then, once I got out, it stung for a good solid 15 minutes straight.   Once I started using the restoraderm, it got better.  The restoraderm STUNG when I used it for most of this month with decreasing intensity as the month went on.  It would sting when I rubbed it on and then as soon as I used the water it stopped.  Then using the lotion after caused the after sting time to shorten.  By the end of the month, the wash didn’t burn and the after sting was minimal.  So, definite improvement.

SWEATING:  Dude.  COME ON.  Sweating still stings and burns and itches like hell.  The surface area is definitely smaller!  It’s now only my neck, face, and a little on the shoulders… whereas before it was my whole body that was under a fire ant attack.  Living in the texas heat is hard.

CLOTHES:  I’ve started wearing…wait for it… SHORT SLEEVES AND TANK TOPS!  gasp.

Anyway… on with the pics.


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Day 458


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TSHIRT!!!!



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First time in a tank top in a LONG time.  Went to the mall with my big girl!



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Day 462

I ate cookies at the mall.  Gluten and dairy free… but a lot of them.  Paid for it.  

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Day 463

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Day 465


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At the end of the day sometimes I have these flakes.  Super hot.



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No makeup… mild skin… Lips are meh.



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Legs have been painful.  Hurts to shave.




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AFTER SHOWER




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Few hours later.



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Day 469
Ate gluten free pretzels on the plane and paid for it…
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Day 470

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Day 472



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These kind of hives all the time.



Day 473

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I ate an apple while shopping and the juice on my hand gave me hives.  And irritated my lips.



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Day 475

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Day 476

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Dryness subsided a bit but the hot redness comes and goes.



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Spent the whole day outside and in a tank top!  JOY!!



Day 482

My skin reacted crazy coming back home to the texas humidity, heat, and pollen…

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Peace Out Eczema

Eczema Awareness Month + A Special Giveaway!

Another great post from itchylittleworld.com – Natural remedies for eczema to soothe your itchy little world..

These past few years have been a busy time for eczema and eczema research! From studies that prove atopic dermatitis is in fact an immune-driven disease (source) to a new FDA approved drug for moderate to severe eczema. We’re finally getting to the bottom of this difficult condition – but there is still so much work to be done!

October is Eczema Awareness Month and as always, we want to support the eczema community by sharing a variety of tips and resources!

Here are some of our most popular blog posts:

And from our Educational Eczema Series:

In honor of this month, we want our community to come together and help spread the word about eczema!

Here’s how YOU can get involved! Do these 2 things right now:

  1. Forward this blog post to anyone you know that suffers from eczema.
  2. Share this blog post on social media and help spread eczema awareness.

The Eczema Care Giveaway

The Eczema Company will also be hosting an AMAZING giveaway at the end of this month – so make sure to mark it on your calendar!

On October 23rd at 10AM the Eczema Care Giveaway will be launched, where one winner will win over $ 800 in eczema care prizes. Prizes will be donated by several experts such as:

  • The Paleo Mom
  • The Eczema Company
  • Holistic Squid
  • Natural Skin Dr.
  • Prime Physique Nutrition
  • Dermveda
  • The Allergista
  • And many more!!!!

Make sure to follow The Eczema Company on Facebook for updates and news about the giveaway!

Let’s come together and kiss eczema goodbye!

Eczema Awareness Month + A Special Giveaway! appeared first on itchylittleworld.com. Come read more about natural remedies for eczema!

itchylittleworld.com

Month 20 Topical Steroid Withdrawal

Hey guys,

Of course everything has gone downhill again. As it always seemingly does with me.

OK, so as of last Friday (23rd Jan) I could feel the itchiness around my nose/ mouth returning. This of course then reared its ugly head and manifested itself as the infection of the previous 2 months. I have no idea why it always starts around my nose/mouth area. We’ve done countless swabs and there just isn’t any rhyme or reason for it to occur. One of those many mysteries. So yes, back on the god damn antibiotics.

However, I also feel there may be a connection between these infections and the Ciclosporin intake. When I took Ciclo in the past, in the very first stages of my withdrawal, I kept getting countless infections, including MRSA, which was never an issue prior to this. For that reason I decided to stop it once again in August 2013 to give my body a break. Yet even still, the infections never manifested the same way each time as they do now. Although when I moved to Leeds everything flared up again and so if you have been reading my blog for a while you’ll know I’ve been backwards and forwards with all this and had to go back onto it again for the billionth time.

Most recently I’ve noticed with these infections is that it seems to be a week in to taking the full dose of Ciclo that my skin will clear up nicely but days later these infections develop. I think it may be finally time to call it a day after this round, providing my skin is tolerable enough after this bout of infection to carry on without involvement, unlike these previous months where I have been left in a worsened state.

I have no decent photos to show you of my most recent episode but I can assure you it has been just like the others, weeping yellow crusts, pain, soreness, extreme itching and all that jazz.

I do however have this picture I took today where you can see I have some more hair growth. This always makes me happy. One day I may even restore my hair to its thickness I had when I was 12, but I would be equally pleased with having my hair circa 2009.

You can see that the antibiotics are doing their job and beating the infection. I am now left with areas of redness mimicking that of a rash, but this is the healing skin before the peeling stage. I love that stage even if it is messy and means I have to watch what I wear and the trail I leave behind me.

In other news, I received a phone call from my derm nurse whilst I was initially typing out this post to see how I was getting on. I decided to enquire about my blood test results that I had taken nearly a fortnight ago. My iron levels were low but still in normal range – I had a reading of 10 and the normal ranges are 5-300 so it could probably do with some boosting. She couldn’t however find the Vitamin D test so I might have to have that done again.

Now, with my IgE testing this is where it gets somewhat interesting. She said my results fell into the bracket of “weak positive” but couldn’t tell me much more than that. Last time I had my levels tested I was well above the 5000 range but I have no idea how that even equates and what the unit of measurement for that is?

I did however find a site that stated a grading system for allergen ige levels:
0 being negative at a reading of <0.35KUA/L
1 being weak positive at a reading of 0.35-0.7KUA/L
all the way up to the highest at grade 6.

This kind of makes sense to me because when I was very first tested in 2009 I was giving ratings – 5/6 dust mites and 4/6 for cat dander which  seems to reflect the graded system. I want to know how my new reading equates to the “thousandth” measurement and what it would be now if I’m now a ‘weak positive’.

I can only evaluate from this set of results that my IgE levels have diminished since going into steroid withdrawal and for that I am ecstatic!

Sorry it’s a long winded one today and I must say, I thank each and every one of you for your kind advice and words. Maybe one day I will see the light but for now I plod on and get through this how I can.

Happy healing!

P.S. my blog is 2 years old now!
I Have Eczema

Day 518- Day 548: Month 18 Topical Steroid Withdrawal

(August 2015)

Lots of food flares this month.  I experimented with different foods that are on my list.  Some of them didn’t give me hell until eating them for 2-3 days.  The last day was a reaction to a beef stew I made.  It did me IN.  A lot of the pictures where I am REALLY red are just after a shower.  I take VERY hot showers because it burns the itch away.  Feels amazing and doesn’t scratch the skin.  I’ve heard it’s “not good for your skin” but I don’t care haha

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So itchy and painful… But NOTHING compared to early months.

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The later part of flares are always really really flakey.

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Right after shower

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Skin feels super thick and inflamed



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More of the hot bumpy rash



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MY EAR… Been having trouble with this one…. Falls the eff apart when I flare.

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No matter the flare, I can typicall get cleaned up pretty well…

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The stew DID ME IN.  SOOOOO itchy.  SO annoying.

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Right after shower, but the inflammation from the stew is quite bad.

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Peace Out Eczema

Month 21 Topical Steroid Withdrawal

Hi guys,

I didn’t mean to go so long without updating. Here is something I meant to tell you about. A day or so after writing my previous post, I developed pompholyx/ dyshidrotic eczema on my hands and feet. I’ve had it on my hands once in the past, to which the GP misdiagnosed it and told me I had scabies (lolwot?) and of course it wasn’t, though that’s a story for another day… It was this bubbly eczema stuff which went away with steroids, but of course that was before my steroid withdrawal so I panicked a bit this time knowing I might be in a bit of a pickle.

I’ve had to really up the contrast for you to see as it is ridiculously difficult to photograph.

Basically I was given antibiotics, which did their job of clearing up the infection and was told to restart my Ciclosporin to control the rest of my skin and to help the pompholyx and that was that… Although of course it’s never that. The pompholyx buggered off but the infection came back a few days after finishing the course. Urgh!!!

I rang up my dermatology nurse on Friday just to let her know it had come back and she wanted me to see someone, however there was no one available to see me and I didn’t want to resume the antibiotics so decided to try something different. For the first day or so I did what I normally do and let my skin dry out to cease the infection from spreading. However it was so unbearably painful that I needed to try something. I filled the sink up with water, epsom salts and a few drops of tea tree oil and used a face cloth and just planted it over my whole face. It was fine until it all dried out again.

Later on I tried just putting tea tree oil straight onto a damp face cloth. Never again. Oh my good God! The pain! It’s definitely one that needs diluting.

I then came up with the idea of mixing a few drops of tea tree oil in with my white soft paraffin, and sparingly applied it to the infected areas. It left my face a bit red but a bit later it had calmed down my face significantly and I was starting to peel all over. I repeated this all weekend, mass shedding occurred, and low and behold the infection has gone! Hurrah!! I’m still left with some spots and redness and stuff but as it isn’t a systematic treatment, I do expect it to take a bit longer. I’m so chuffed though.

From now on I’m going to be adding drops of tea tree oil to my emollient when I need to use it.

Three cheers for tea tree oil!

Also apologies for those who have emailed me and gotten no reply, I’ve been pretty much AWOL and moping around feeling sorry for myself. Hopefully I shall be back on form soon.

I Have Eczema