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Hi everyone!
I am a 30 year old mum of two. About 6 months ago i got a very itchy middle finger. I put up with it for ages until i finaly mentioned it to my gp who said it was some contact dermatitis. She gave me some steroid cream to use and from there things went down hill really fast!!!
With two days i had itchy red spots all over the palms of my hands, my fingers and the back of my hands. More cream and the worse it got. It went up my arms, and then my feet.
The gp tried for a while to keep things under control, stronger creams, antibiotics because it all looked infected (antibiotics would work temporarily, but i would flare up within days of stopping them) My hands were swollen, red, incredibly itchy, cracked, sore and un use-able!!!
Finally the gp decided she was in over her head and referred me to a dermatologist. But my appt was still two months away. In that two months i flared up so badly that my mum had to fly from the other side of the country to come and help me look after my kids because i couldnt do anything for them. It spread all over my body, up my arms, legs, feet and hands. Any exposed skin was red and blotchy.
My husband called dr's continously until he managed to get me in to see the dr sooner and she was amazed at my hands. "worse case of contact dermatitis" she had ever seen. She did a scraping and i had some kind of bizarre infection. She put me on oral steroids (50mg a day), more antibiotics and more cream. I did wet dressings and for the first time in months, it all started to clear up!! She had given me enough steroids to have two tablets a day for two weeks, then she wanted me to drop down to one. For those two weeks i was in blissfull happiness, no itching, my dead skin was peeling away and i had nice gorgeous normal hands underneath!!
Then came the day i dropped down to one tablet (25mg) of the steroids. With in two days it came back with a vengance!!! All over my body, i freaked out and self dosed myself back to two tablets. But that meant that i was going to run out before it was time to see the dr again. So i took two tablets til it calmed down, then went to one and a half and slowly dropped the dose until i was taking one tablet every two days. But my hands were getting worse again everyday.
So i got to the dr and she asked how i went, i said "great for the first two weeks, and crap after that." I explained that as soon as i dropped the steroids it flared up again. Her solution, a lower dose of steroid, come back in six weeks. "Oh and that looks like psorisis now, not dermatitis, hmm maybe a bit of both" Gee thanks.
So i am now two weeks from seeing her again. Everyone is telling me that i need to stop taking these steroids, as they have such bad side effects, but geeze, they arnt the ones who cant do anything with their hands, who cant walk and who cant shower because water stings every bump and itch. So i am taking 30 mg a day for now and its keeping it slightly under control, i tried taking 20mg (two tablet of the lower dose), but with in a day i was covered in blotches again. So i see the dr on the 10th, i have enough tablets to take three for about another five days, then i have to drop the dose, but at least i will be all flared up for her to see.
So has anyone else had this reaction with steroids, like, they work but the dr doesnt want you to take them, and what did you do from here?? Sorry for the long post, but this is all new to me, i never had anything like this before and its really doing my head in!!!
Please HELP!!!!