The biggest flare of my life
When the steroids stopped working
By late January 2023, I was squeezing out tubes of Fucicort like they were toothpaste during a sale – one tube barely lasted me a week, and they were losing their effect faster than before. It was also in January that I was advised to go on dupixent/rinvoq by my dermatologist (More details in my previous post..). The decision to not go with biologics was not a easy one. It was something that was technically within my financial means (though it meant burning a perpetual hole in my bank account), and honestly I was really desperate for a better solution. Note how I'm not even seeking a cure here because I already kinda accepted that there was not going to be one.
TCM attempt
After deciding not to start my bioslogics treatment. I looked for other forms of 'alternative' treatments.
The first one was a Traditional Chinese Medicine kinda approach, introduced to me by another friend suffering from the same kind of Steroid Withdrawal symptoms. On the 1st of February, I recall making an appointment for Tangs TCM, and I was advised to immediately stopped using my steroid creams before my visit.
It was the 4th of February when I visited Tangs TCM at Bugis (3 days after going cold turkey). At that time, the redness and peeling has already started on my face, and I remember feeling really chilly while waiting for my turn to talk to the physician - more on that later. During the consultation, the physician shared that recovery would likely take me something between 1-5 years, as I had already been using steroids for such a long period of time. There was not really anything he could do for me really! All I got after that session was a few tube of medicated moisturizers that gave off some kind of cooling effect (I assume its to ease off any kind of itch).
How everything spiralled in a week
The next few nights were like a scene from a horror movie. Every night I would be shivering in bed until I feel asleep, with my skin starting to throw a party of complete ooziness, flakiness and redness. Basically everywhere la! By the 7th of February I was averaging 1-2 hours of sleep a night, and every morning turned into a routine of just waking up and staring into blank space. Vacuuming my skin flakes every 10-15 minutes also became the norm.
It was almost impossible for me to function normally at this point. Sleeping was near impossible, walking around turned into short shuffles/waddling because the oozing was so bad in my inner thighs. To be honest, I was not able to deliver much work during that 1 to 2 weeks. Looking back at the journal I made during that time, I only bothered writing down all the factual stuff that happened, I probably did not want to document the emotional trauma that both me and my wife was going through.
It was during this time that having a great support system helped me. Firstly, Felicia was always by my side encouraging me and showering me with love. She was also and helping with the piling amount of chores at home. My boss was kind enough to let me work from home indefinitely when he knew of my condition. (Tbh, I was on the verge of just resigning in Feb..)
This whole ordeal continued on for 2 weeks before my first visit at Skin Health Center.