Month Two November 2012

For those who are fans of Sex and The City, month two had me looking like Samantha after her dermabrasion. Completely bright red and flaking, peeling, scabbing. If I had the vale hat to go with the look, I may have been able to venture out in public too. But no such luck.  House bound for most of the month. Besides I would be worried if people would smell me from the disgusting smell that was lingering around my body from the sweat.

For this month, my real concern was the extra thick skin (shaggy too) gathering around my knees, elbows, hands, neck and ankles. Looking much like a pug dog which is completely unattractive and depressing. I  have been told by other bloggers that this will eventually go away but to look at your self and see what resembles an old lady is distressing considering Im only 41. Its worse in the mornings after being in bed all night.  I think its the combination of  swelling and scratching.

Part of withdrawing from steroid creams is being extremely lethargic. All I wanted to do is lie in bed, watch tv and sleep.This is from what I have learnt from others is the body working in over drive trying to get the adrenals glands working again so they can produce its own cortisol like normal healthy people not on steroids. Heres a little clip from a medical page about the adrenal glands.

The adrenal glands are small hormone-releasing organs located on top of each kidney. They are made up of the outer portion (called the cortex) and the inner portion (called the medulla).

The cortex produces three types of hormones:

• The glucocorticoid hormones (such as cortisol) maintain sugar (glucose) control, decrease (suppress) immune response, and help the body respond to stress.
• The mineralocorticoid hormones (such as aldosterone) regulate sodium and potassium balance.
• The sex hormones, androgens (male) and estrogens (female), affect sexual development and sex drive.

So people like myself who has been using the steroids for a long periods of time, the adrenal glands stop producing its on cortisol because I was applying it on my skin. During my time on steroids I had very irregular periods which is not like me. Sometimes twice in a fortnight then nothing for months or even 4 times in a month if I was unlucky. I was always 28 days on the dot. Weight gain as my hormones were not balanced and it would not budge if I tried to loose it either. I had many blood tests which showed unbalanced hormones but doctors said I was probably going into first stages of menopause mmmm and at 38 really? I know this can happen but its very rare. Im now 28 days on the dot as normal since stopping the steroids! Other symptoms I had other than the itchy pimple rash ( which was a steroid induced acne) bloated stomach, heart palpitations, fatigue, insomnia, runny nose, infected sinus all the time, white dots on my skin (under the skin), over the top sugar cravings and there were a few other intimate symptoms but I wont mention because its kind of grouse :) I just found a picture of the pimple rash I was talking about too.... I had this for around a year and a half..every doctor told me a different story....