I’ve written previously about my journey of healing Topical Steroid Withdrawal, but I recently dug up some old pictures I’d forgotten about, so I want to write a short post in memory of the years of despair I went through and show them to you.
As you can see, these photos are of lackluster quality, but they’re better than nothing. Believe me, at the time the last thing on my mind was sharing these pictures with the world. I hated looking at myself, I hated my body for what it was going through. At various points in the journey, I wanted to die rather than keep going this way.
I’m forever thankful for having stuck through. Life is meaningful again, everything is glowing and full of potential. I’m truly healthy, I believe, for the first time in my life.
I must apologize, because I can’t really remember when exactly these pictures are taken. I’m quite sure that some of them are actually from right before I decided to quit all steroid medications cold-turkey, and some of them are actually from a few years later. I do, however, remember that I didn’t take any pictures during the months after I quit, when the symptoms were at their absolute worst.
I actually distinctly remember a man coming up to me from out of the blue while I was at work, who said to me, “you look like you got into a fight, and lost”.
Funnily enough, I did get into a fight, but it was an internal one. I had to fight to regain my mind and body from the disgusting medical dogma that permeates modern society, and, for your information, I ended up winning said fight. I’m now healthier than ever, and on a mission to break the spell that the medical-industrial complex has cast on us.
To add a bit of back-story to the photos, I had this sort of red hue all over my body (which is why they also call TSW Red Skin Syndrome) that was incredibly itchy at all times. As you can see, I also had a lot of perpetually open sores that were constantly oozing some kind of blood plasma or some other sticky internal fluid. I would get very frequent infections around hair follicles all over my body.
Oh, and there’s a nice little picture of the daily mound of dead skin that I had scratched off during the night, which I would sweep off my mattress every morning.
I would say my face and neck were the worst in the beginning of the withdrawal process, but as time went on my face stayed the same but my arms took a dive for the worse. I had a distinctive cycle of “T-Rex” periods, so called because I couldn’t extend my arms for days at a time without tearing open old sores. The elasticity of my skin was non-existent. My neck was the same, and I always wore a scarf or neck warmer in an attempt to keep a bit of moisture in the skin. It didn’t really work though.
I’ll keep this post short, because frankly it hurts to keep looking at the state I was in. But hopefully these photos give a bit more substance to my story.
As always, may you find true healing.
If you want to delve further into these matters, might I suggest that you check out my book (cha-ching!) Health, Simplified, available through Amazon here. It’s a nice and concise tome on my own healing journey, the insights I’ve gained, and the incredible transformation that’s possible through taking full responsibility of your own health.
You can also check out the other videos on my YouTube channel, where I go deep into various aspects of health.