Monday, November 14, 2016

Flaring?? After almost a full year TSW free...

Yeppers....that would be right....I believe I am flaring again after being flare free for well over a year or more.  About a week ago I noticed my face and neck became swollen and red.  Then a few days later the itch started and my skin just sloughed off as if there was no strong bond between the cells.  I have dealt with hives on and off the last 2 years.  I have itched and scratched with nothing more than a few dry patches developing in normal eczema areas.  But my skin never sloughed off - I could scratch to satisfaction and never tear open my skin.  Until this week.  My skin is in shreds and oh the burn!  I forgot just how painful the burning was.

The only good news I have is the flare is localized to my face, neck and a small spot on my upper arms.  It has not spread out and there is not one bit of ooze.  So is it a TSW flare??  Not quite sure.  It seems to have coincided with the weather change perfectly. And my skin has always been worse in spring and fall when mold levels are at their highest.  I do know we have mold in the house we currently live in (rental).  Only time will tell when we finally move out into a brand new home with no mold whatsoever.

For now I will classify this as an isolated flare - not a system wide or a bad flare compared to what I had suffered with in the past.  However it is definitely worse than a normal eczema flare up as it involves my whole face and whole neck.  I continue to take my supplements and have added back in the MSM powder the last 2 days.  Since I added in the MSM, my facial swelling has gone down dramatically.  So I will update more in a week or 2.  I will try to take pictures but my selfie camera on my phone is broken and I can't find my regular camera.

I do know that I can still work which I am thankful for as my hands continue to be flare free and eczema free,  It's a bit uncomfortable at work when things get super busy and I sweat a bit - then it burns more but not to the point I can't deal with it.  Also I still come home and hit the shower.  My neck burns slightly more in the shower, but surprisingly not as bad as I remember showers being during my TSW days.  It's more like the first 2 seconds are "oooh that stings", then it's over.  So again, not sure what this is - whether TSW related or just plain bad eczema/