Steroid Free: One month and change

This past Tuesday, I celebrated one month of being steroid free and in doing so, hopefully made it through the worst part. I've separated this post into two parts documenting my thoughts why my skin has been getting better, for those wanting a quick read, and evidence I've amassed in the past little bit that backs my notions.

My Theory on Steroid Cream Addiction

Recently we had a friend over for post work drinks and through the course of conversation I mentioned that I'd been riding a wave of skin difficulties due to my steroid withdrawal. Her initial reaction was shock thinking that I was addicted to anabolic steroids but the shock dissipated when she realized I was in fact referring to topical stuff. However, her initial shock may not have been too far off the mark in terms of severity.

As I've mentioned, I've been on prescription topical steroids of potent strength since I was a child. While initially, I would use the creams and effectively treat problematic areas, they would inevitably come back resulting in me using more creams on the skin. Around the age of 16 or so, I remember select incidences of the 'eczema' like areas resulting in cracks which was like the first sign of weakening skin. However, in my disillusionment, I just applied more steroids to the area to overcome the presented inflammation. This though, probably did more so to weaken the skin than good. In doing so to cracked open skin though, this is probably where I caused the most damage. By allowing steroids into the bloodstream, it allowed the drugs to cause unwanted effects elsewhere in the skin.

These other areas I'm now assuming might have likely been the GI tract and respiratory tract and I've been lead to believe this based upon the eastern school of medical though who sees all three tissue (skin, GI, respiratory) as one continuous entity. Small amounts of steroid might have had an effect on any of them since they are all thin tissues. It also follows that no immediate effect might have been seen since they were probably small regions breaking down, but the cumulative effect over ten years would result in the problems I began to see at 26.

Results

Truth be told, I can't prove any of this but the end result of me being 35+ days steroid free is that the crazy red and thick skin patches on my hand are disappearing and my skin sensitivities are following the same trend. I know this because this past weak, I've dabbled with macroscopic amounts of foods that I have known to cause the cracking and itching including cookies (butter and eggs), chips (sour cream and cheese), donuts (butter, eggs and cream) and more recently tomatoes and pasta (unknown causes). The end result though was less itching and cracking overall which is great.

Now truth be told I should likely abstain from this behavior as it makes no sense to believe myself healed already, but it does help me chart progress. If there are less tears in my GI lining due to it strengthing, then it would mean less proteins are sneaking across the GI barrier (RE leaky gut syndrome) and causing problems.

Overall, as the days go by, I gain hope that I might finally make it past this but also lose faith in western medicine and health care. Its a bitter sweet feeling but the good lies in that my body will be moving back towards 100% as we get closer to the wedding and fall jitsu.   

Escape Day 20

So I am currently sitting at Day 20 from TSW and things have shown some improvement. I've used my hands as a guide Pictured below are two photos of my hands. One is from the beginning of June about 10 days before I went full tilt on Corticosteroid abolition and the other is about 15 days in.

-10 days beforehand

15 days after

As you can see, something is happening which is good. Getting here though is not without turbulence as about 5 days into TSW, every place I'd ever had eczema flared up and became itchy. The only ways I'd find relief are a nice shower or ice and aloe vera. At day 20, the itch has subsided but is definitely still present.

Items of note to anyone who might think TSW might work for them:
1. I smacked my hands accidentally two times in ways that previously would have gashed my hands. This time the hands held up with no bruising.
2. I had a few trigger foods this past weekend; intentionally for some and not intentionally for others. They included the usual suspects like soy, milk and eggs. Reactions did occur but symptoms past much quicker than usual.

The battle pushes forward.

Steroid free Day 10

Greetings to all your beautiful people out there. The beer blog will be taking a temporary hiatus as I will be focusing this blog on my hopeful recovery of pseudo eczema.

Now most of you know I suffer from what I'd always believed was eczema. At work, people have seen me tape my fingers. In jitsu, it wouldn't be uncommon place for me to breakfall a couple time and have my hand open up with sores and cuts. And in general, all of you have seen me scratch. No lie it's true.

In my never ending search for something to avail me of this living hell I had search and visited anyone that would listen.

Western Medicine has me on topical steroids in addition to PUVA, Protopic Ointment and Oral Prednisone along the way.

The naturopath said I might have leaky gut syndrome and should take lots of Omega 3s, probiotics and ACESe + Zn to help sort it out. They also mentioned I might have food sensitivities to Dairy, Eggs, Soy and a bunch of other stuff.

Recently, the food sensitivities thing proved true with more and more food causing flares. Removing dairy, whey, eggs, soy, chicken, tomatoes and strawberries would cause minimal cracking in the hands. This never made sense to me though since I would eat all these things as a child and none of the current symptoms had ever shown. It's almost as if the eczema had evolved.

Even with that though my eczema didn't subside and most recently I had the worst flare up ever seen post grading season and move. During the move, I watched my hands crack and bleed beyond control and even remember seeing the healthy skin fall off a small portion of my hand as I washed it causing an open sore. My immediate response to this was to add polysporin and of course steroid creams to tame the flare.

But, for all my efforts, the chronic swelling and cracking did not go away. Seeing how my right hand wouldn't even close for about two weeks straight, I once again turned to the internet.

A few recommended the candida diet to help ease overgrowth of candida in the gut. I have been observing this diet in some form for a couple weeks now and seeing some mild aid. Moreover though, in my internet search, I found one individual who had tried candida and now trying Topical Steroid Withdrawl and was seeing skin healing.

What is TSW? The short answer is that TSW is an acknowledgement that Topical Steroids are actually the cause of eczema like symptoms after chronic use. Years of use has caused the subdermal layers to thin beyond functional use which results in the epidermal thickening and resulting eczema look. Additionally, the adrenals start to misbehave as the steroids start to go systemic with changes.

The simple answer recommended by ITSAN? Cease and desist all topical steroids immediately. The result? Full recovery of pseudo eczema (termed Red Skin Syndrome) over the course of months and years.

Now considering my hand was falling apart with mere skin washing, I am more than happy to give this a try. I am currently 10 days in and have already seen a marked reduction in hand swelling. My natural itch has gone up but that's normal since the systemic steroids have been removed since they are no longer bleeding in through the skin. Over time many TSW bloggers have now seen relief of RSS/TSW and I'm throwing my hat into the fold in hopes that if this works, someone may find this and find the inspiration to endure TSW to find their own relief.

Let the battle begin!

A beer enthusiast

A beer enthusiast is what I was called; That's what they use to call me and hence forth I will adopt this title as I write on. Due  an abundantly busy I have not had a good chance to sit down and write until now. Either that or I'm too lazy. Whichever the case, on with the following post!

Parallel 49 Seed Spitter

Location: Alibi Room
Serving Type: Sleeve
Rating: 3/5
Best Suited for: BBQs

After trying this beer at the VCBW beer festival and not finding it as favourable as I'd originally thought, I decided to give it another go. Now, while I did enjoy  this beer a little more the second time around, I still found there was something lacking about this beer. The nose on the beer had hints of sour apple and the taste a complimenting sour melon taste. Still, watermelon is usually a summer treat that always delivers and this beer didn't quite hit that bench mark.

Tariq Khan's English Porter

Location: Alibi Room Cask Ale
Serving Type: Pint
Rating: 5/5
Best Suited for: Social Sit Downs

I do believe this beer is the first perfect score I've given on this blog but this beer deserved it. The nose on this beer was malty and the following taste comprised of a perfect hops, caramel and malt barley. Since this was a cask ale, the body of the beer wasn't overly carbonated which made it quite easy to sip on. What a treat!

Green Flash Trippel

Location: Firefly
Serving Type: 650mL bottle
Rating: 2/5
Best Suited for: A beer tasting

Usually I adore belgian trippels and dubbels. In the refermenting process they seem to gain a higher level of excellence and delicious flavour. So imagine my excitement when this bottle crossed my path from Green Flash brewery out of San Diego. At initial glance this beer poured well with lots of head and a nice smell of bananas and citrus. The taste however failed in comparison to other trippels I've had in the past. Had more of beer and fruit juice taste which was a definite fail in this case.

Rogue Mocha Porter

Location: Firefly
Serving Type: 650mL bottle
Rating: 4/5
Best Suited for: Social Sit Downs

This beer poured nicely with little head and dark brown colour. The flavour on it was quite nice finding a  nice blend of flavour of coffee hints and stout beer. The dark chocolate taste on the end finished the flavour off quite nicely. Fair warning though; this beer does have coffee in it and it your not a coffee drinker, it will keep you buzzing.

Whister Brewing Company Pineapple Express

Location: Firefly
Serving Type: 650mL bottle
Rating: 3/5
Best Suited for: Served cold after activity

After seeing this beer on facebook, I searched beer vendors high and low for this sweet sounding beer. Before heading off for Summer Camp last weekend, I finally managed to get my hands on it and was excited at the prospect of finally trying it. Was it worth the wait? Sadly no. The nose on the beer was that of pineapple and in the undertone of flavour, one could make out the pineapple flavour. Still though, much like the trippel, it left something lacking. In it's defense though, I think it was unfairly judged since it was mildly cool and tasted after some dark ales. One it's own, I might give it a better score.

Russell 6.26 17th Anniversary Scotch Ale

Location: Firefly
Serving Type: 650mL bottle
Rating: 5/5
Best Suited for: Anytime

For the second time in this blog, a beer is given a perfect score. With a bit of oak a vanilla on the nose, this beer went down smoothly with hints of caramel and dried fruit. Highly recommended.

Rubies and Belgians!

Well, last Friday turned into an impromptu pub crawl after meeting with DW for a post work drink. Needless to say, there turned out to be many post work drinks over the course of the afternoon. 

Red Truck Ruby Strong Ale

Location: Cascade on Main
Serving Type: Pint
Rating: 3/5
Best Suited for: Social Sit Downs

This was my second beer of the night and turned out to be a nice compliment with dinner. The smell of the beer was just like Halloween candy which was fitting since the taste was both sweet and slightly sour at the same time. The strength of the flavour made it good for conversation as the sweet/sour taste had a linger to it which gave it a unique character.

Lost Coast Belgian Triple IPA

Location: Alibi Room in Yaletown
Serving Type: Pint
Rating: 4/5
Best Suited for: Birthday Celebrations

Forewarning to anyone that tries this marvelous delight; it will knock you on your keister after one or two of these. This was my fifth and sixth beer of the night and the turning point in the night when just enough became too much. This was impossible to forsee though as this 9.5% creation of taste magic blends a unique combo of citrus grapefruit and hoppy zing. I would definitely return to the Alibi for this one, just at the beginning of the night.

Now if I could only remember the names of the other four beers I had.

Beer Review post Vegas

Greetings all,

The lack of posts lately has been due to high course load, work and a trip to Vegas. None the less I'm back with a four beers to post about. Included are:

Driftwood Fat Tug IPA
Townsite 'Zunga' Blonde Ale
Shock Top Belgian White
Fernie huckleberry wheat ale

Driftwood Fat Tug IPA

Location: New Oxford in Yaletown
Serving Type: Pint
Rating: 4/5
Best Suited for: Social Sit Downs

I'd first had this beer as a Christmas gift this past season and while I'm not usually fond of hoppy beers, I was quite pleased with it's taste. Until now though I chose not to post about it as I could not put a descriptor on the taste. That all changed recently though after having an epiphany at the Nex Oxford sipping on this fine craft once again. The taste on the palette was quite strong and while that made for slow sipping, the taste of grapefruit and hopps in unison keeps you quite pleased in the long haul. 

Townsite 'Zunga' Blonde Ale

Location: New Oxford in Yaletown
Serving Type: Pint
Rating: 3/5
Best Suited for: BBQs

Townsite is a relatively new brewery (as far as I know) based out of powell river. I'd seen this beer previously at the VCBW beer festival but didn't try it in favour of their limited release at the event. I saw this once again at the New Oxford and based on the fact that they are one of only TWO bars to have it on tap in Vancouver, I thought I'd give it a try. The nose on the beer had a light fruity smell and the body was lightly coloured. The taste of the beer was VERY mild and almost favoured a pilsner. Since I'm one who likes suttle flavours on beer, I did not favour this beer at all.

Fernie Huckleberry Wheat Ale

Location: Lennox at City Square
Serving Type: 650mL bottle
Rating: 4.5/5
Best Suited for: BBQs

And cue a wonderfly subtle flavoured beer out of Fernie BC. I've seen this beer in stores for a while but have never purchased it since the label leaves something to be desired. However, after learning about Fernie beers at the VCBW, I decided to give it a shot. This beer is one of the best wheat ales I've had in a long time. The body was nice a cloudy and the smell had a whiff of berry fields. The taste matched the body colour and smell perfectly. The taste of light 'hefe' was smooth and light and the undertone of berry flavour, versus the typical citrus, made for a wonderful compliment. Highly recommended!

Shock Top Belgian White

Location: Monte Carlo in Vegas
Serving Type: 341mL bottle
Rating: 3.0/5
Best Suited for: BBQs

Had a chance to taste this beer while playing Texas Holdem at the Monte Carlo in Vegas. Not a bad sipping beer for the price. Lightly coloured with a taste of citrus. Probably the best macro micro belgian you could get for the price.

Vancouver Craft Beer Festival

Well, strangely, I'm working on this post for the second time as blogger seems to have pitched my first copy. Ridiculous. Below is a summary of the Vancouver Craft Beer Festival as best I can remember.

Upright Brewing De Glazen (Portland, OR): A nice saison to start of the days event. I found it quite refreshing while DW wasn't a fan. 4/5
Townsite Belgian Ale (Powell River, BC): Well bodied fruity beer with cloudy texture. 8% and event the sampler knocked me on my ass. 3.5/5
Fernie Brown Ale (Fernie, BC): A nice nutty brown ale. 3/5
Cannery Brewing Squire Scotch Ale (Pentincton, BC): Not as good as R and B Wee Angry but still not bad. Good body with a hint of caramel sweetness. 3/5
Red Truck Limited Ruby Da Dog (North Van, BC): Sour beer. Almost like lemonade meets beer. Strangely refreshing though. DW was not a fan of sour beers. 4/5
Parallel 49 Watermelon Wit (Vancouver, BC) Not as good as the name made it sound. Might be because it followed the sour beer. Points though for being the most unique. 4/5
Yukon Red, Amber Ale (Whitehorse, BC) Best beer of the night. Easy on the palette beer with a touch of honey. 5/5
Philips Cask Ale (Victoria, BC): I can't remember what this was! ?/5
Duchesse de Bourgogne (Vichte, Belgium): Slightly sour fruit belgian ale. Good but not worth two tokens. 3.5/5.

Overall, I had quite the great time at this even and can't wait to do it again next year!