Jan 6: first time I craves the warm sunlight since the is started TSW. I think it’s a great sign! I know rest of America is freezing but SoCal is as warm and lovely as ever. I better take advantage of it!
I decided I’m going to be more proactive about what I put in my body. I already eat generally healthy (Korean food tends to be better than SAD but worse than raw vegan juicing meals) but more has to be done I think. So I am eating about a tbsp of coconut oil, be more strict about gf/lf, eat more veggies and fruits, esp those high in vitamin c, take my gummy vitamins (idk how well it absorbs but it sure is yummy!) and continue to drink a lot of rooibos tea. I ordered chrollela and will start taking that as well.
As you can see, my body is producing its own oil, albeit not a lot. The bottom is white because I scratched it and the top is normal (complete with oil!) skin color. As you also can see, my skin can now take a bit of scratching without breaking. The skin’s strength and integrity has come a long long way since the beginning.
I realized a while ago that I had already gone through withdrawal my first year of college.
Jan 13: my skin is healing well! My skin are clearly getting stronger everyday. That said my scalp and hands/forearm are still itchy every once in a while. No itch fits though. I’m itch free at least 80% of time.
Jan 15: I cut my hair yesterday which made me feel pretty for a first time in long time! Even though my face is still puffy. I can’t wait till my face gets better even though I know that may be a while because I used most amount of steroids, elidel and protopic on my face. Que triste. As of few days ago I seem to feel overheated when I drink hot things. Coincidentally, SoCal got really hot so I am now sitting in the sun and for the first time in long time I’m sweating a bit. I think it’s a good sign for healing of my insides.
The lighting for year photos are actually very accurate. Who knew carpet would make a good backdrop. My face is a bit more red than it normally is due to scratching.
That’s the worst part of my back. Rest have scarring and discoloration but no ooze or scabs or dry patches.
Mom says the back of my neck looks better than the photo.
In summary:
Nicely healing spots – front of legs, back, torso, chest, outside of upper arm, butt
Getting there- both inside and outside, inside of upper arm, neck, scalp, back of legs, where legs meet butt
Still struggle town- forearm, face. Sigh.
Esther's adventure of Topical Steroid Withdrawal 
glad you are doing better. forearms and face are the worst for me too at the moment. I wear tubular/compression bandages on my arms a lot and they relieve the pain and itching somewhat! xx
Since I posted the post I’ve been getting much better both forearm and face wise. At this rate I may look kind of normal at my wedding! I’ve also started taking biotin and vit d in addition to sitting out in the sun. My skin seems to be happier but my stomach started to hurt so idk what’s up with that
yay! That is awesome!! except for the stomach part, weird I have had pain and nausea also the last few days. I find oats and slippery elm soothe it.
Keep healing away – I am thinking of you in the lead to your wedding! xx
the wedding was amazing! my skin was behaving enough aha i didnt wear any make up, just some chapstick and fake eyelashes. I’ll probably end up doing a post. Thanks for the well wishes!
I am so so happy for you! You’re amazing! Congratulations newlyweds xx
Thanks so much! You are so encouraging! Thanks for always carrying xoxo!!