TSW is hurting me

TSW does not make me a better mom, this is so hard.

Thank you Jesus today was a good day!  I will also share another piece I am praying can help me with this TSW.  And it is tea, organic white thistle, dandelion root and sage.  A local health food store that sells organic produce, food, vitamins and oils.  The owner, who had never seen anyone in my condition, recommended in helping remove the toxins from my liver and other digestive organs.  I drink one tea bag of each in 32 ounces of water half in the morning and the rest in the evening.  Prayers are welcome.

Hard days

After some great skin days I have had 2 bad days. Well not the whole day but the nights especially.  I make it through. Everyday is hard. My skin flakes and itches to intensely I cannot concentrate on anything but.

Overall my skin is doing better I still have eczema all over. It has spread across my shoulder blades and back but not the red super scaley kind but just scaley. I can tell since there is a difference in texture. I can get through this I just pray the Itchiness goes away.  That can be very painful.

I survived what I thought was going to be hardest TSW weekend.  Aside from fighting TSW I am also a stay at home mom of a 5 and 2 year old as well as an Origami Owl designer.  This weekend was a conference for my business and it was in San Diego, 2 hours from home.  I had been looking forward to this weekend for weeks and what it should have been.  It was supposed to be a kid free girls weekend with the weekend ending at an organic spa.  Well thanks to TSW the days leading up were pretty bothersome.  I knew I could not survive the night pain in itching with my friends in a hotel with hard water an no comforts of home.

Thanks to my hubby and some last minute planning we made the best of it and took our travel trailer and stayed across the bay.  I did not get my girls weekend, had to bring my own lunch and juice with my new TSW vegan diet but I did it.  And my skin behaved.  It is not so red now and showers still are very painful but I am learning.  The redness and inflammation is going down,  I now have eczema on both arms, hands, neck and chest, face and it is spreading to my stomach and back.  But I can do this!  I just hate how painful showers are.  I need to dry off so fast and get the coconut oil on or I literally so dry and itchy it is unbearable.  I pray this flare up is not one of many and that I get tons of strength to endure.

Wow. There are so many with TSW

I had never heard of TSW and now I am overwhelmed with the blogs and stories.  I am especially overwhelmed with their dats and flare-ups and the time it takes to cure. Lots of info and lots of stories. Most of the blogs are yooung women from 20-40  years old.  So sad. I know how they feel. I am one of the few moms most with blogs ate single young women.

So far to defeat my eczema particularly tsw I am doing the following list:
-no gluten, meat and very minimal diary
-juicing  meals per day and 80% raw vegetables per day.
-drinking only water
-taking seaweed baths 2-3 times per week
-after showers or baths at night I apply emu oil to the dry patches.
-no petrol or parabens in any products
-using coconut oil and shea butter as moisturizer
-starting today I am drinking milk thistle and dandelion tea to help aid my intestines, colon, and kidney get rid of the steroids
-taking acidophilus and bifidus for overall immune boost and health
-no alcohol

And praying for this to away!

My inspiration

My guiding light in this long walk with topical steroid withdrawal is my faith and Netflix.  I have been watching and re-watching many documentaries on eating Vegan, clean eating, organic farming, and juicing.  I am currently reading Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr, I highly recommend it.  She is a women diagnosed with cancer told she had to have radiation to survive and walked toward a holistic way of living.  Her cancer is dormant, she lives an amazing life full of knowledge and real food.  She writes in a way that is easy to understand, and no fluff.

Over 6 months ago I started her book, and had watched these same documentaries saying "I should try that", and my effort ended there.  Now I have to do it.  I have to clean myself up.  I have not had red meat, or chicken for 2 weeks.  I have lost 8 pounds.  I hurt everyday, the itching and red skin on my arms, neck and face is now spreading to my stomach, and I cry every other day from fatigue and sadness.  But I can do it.  No one but me can beat this right now.  I will clean myself up and will never trust nor use something just because a doctor says to.  With prayer and my family I will defeat the most difficult thing I have ever faced in my life so far.

I will.

Eczema needs prayer

The past few days  have been hard! I now know why my skin has been on its worst rampage ever. Its an actual syndrome. Red skin syndrome or topical steroid withdrawal. That is what I have and it is unreal. My skin is creatung this eczema in revolt to the years of prescription and over the counter steroids I have used over the past  10+ years. Its late and I will erite more on this and my diet but thank you Jesus for answering late night prayers!

Over a week in and I am learning a lot.  Step one for me in this battle is nutrition.  I am changing my food habits for the better.  I have always been a athletic girl and eating carbs, meats and dairy have never been a problem.  But since having kids foods have been affecting me in ways I never noticed.  My new way of eating is 80/20.  80% organic fruits and vegetables with at least half raw (juice).  The other 20% is cooked foods like pastas, fish, gluten free breads.  I have been implementing this slowly and now am in the full swing.  I have cut out all gluten, and red meat as well chicken and pork.  I have also cut out milk and limit my intake of cheese.

Just this week a friend had a party and served only red meat, enriched wheat rolls, chips and nacho cheese.  With that meal as well as alcohol I was hurting yesterday.  My skin drastically reacts to stress (another step to control) and with the food I eat.

I ate the meat and bread on Saturday and Sunday my skin was inflamed and very red.  I also noticed the eczema had spread and hurts, if you have eczema you know what I mean.  So I need to stick to my plan.  This will be hard especially for special events but I just need to prepare myself.

In closing this is my average weekly meal.

Upon waking:  glass of water
Breakfast: Green juice (organic cucumber, 2 celery ribs, 2 carrots, cilantro, parsley, green apple, a splash of water, 1" pice of ginger and 2 ice cubes)  This one mix in half for breakfast and for dinner.  I also use a vistmix that uses the whole plant and thus add the water to not have it so thick.
Lunch: Cooked meal, no gluten and usually leftovers with vegetables.  I having trouble with this meal as I love to eat a cooked meal with my husband but I am trying to stick with it.
Snack: celery, carrots, gluten free crackers
Dinner:  salad with a bit of what my family is having and the rest of my green juice from breakfast

I am in this!  Prayers for me!

What I need to work on:  stress, meditation, water intake, exercise and breathing.

First post.

I have started this blog for me to chronicle my official all out war against my eczema.  I have had eczema all my life.  ALL my life!  That is pretty annoying.   

As a baby is was simple behind my knees , dry skin, minor irritation.  It was like that forever, just there.  I never thought anything of it.  But then puberty hit.  Like a truck it hit.  And with it went a lot of my self esteem.  A week before 8th grade graduation I got dry eczema spots all over my body and no one got to see my cute dress because I never took my gown off.  The marks on my face stayed, the 'harmless' steroids the doctor prescribed made me lose the pigment on my skin.  I tried to cover up my dry skin with lip balms full of petrolatum and lotions full of parabens.  I was laying the groundwork for what I am now trying defeat over 15 years later.

But then I started learning, I can attribute this introduction to God.  For it was more than seeing the right show, meeting the right person, or reading the right article.  It was far more.  I was embarking  slowly on an unknowing quest towards healing myself many tears later.  If you are like me you have cried over eczema hurting you and annoying you. 

I will give more into my back story on how having kids and turning 30 affected me and my eczema.  But for now in my first post I am ready and can do this.  Here I go!