I was wondering if anyone can help me / offer advice. I have recently managed to wean off pred after 14 continuous months, lungs are doing okish (long may it last!) but skin is another story. Since stopping the pred it has gone really dry, cracked and keeps bleeding. I was prescribed hydrocortisone creme a few weeks back and have been slapping double base creme on. My skin has also become very sensitive and reacts to everything. Is this related tp stopping pred and apart from another gp visit is there anything else I can do?
try olive oil. should moisterise without irritation we use it for baby massage as skin absorbs it and is natural product so even babies with eczema don't really react.
Washing with aqueous cream not soap and using the really gentle shampoos like halos and horns from baby section really helped my skin.
I went back to GP for stuff to put in bath too.
hey dd,
I had real issues with dry skin and weaning off pred. My skin looked horrible esp on my face. I stuck with hydrocortisone and applied it religously. Along with that i found that just giving it time (annoying i know) it sorted itself out when it stopped objecting to the lack of pred. I walked round with a tube of e45 in my bag for ages to keep moisturised too!
I use Diprobase when my skin is really dry or itchy from lack of pred. Use lots of it - you can smother yourself in it thickly before bed & pop cottton night clothes on - doesn't do much for your bedding though. I used to do it once a week before sheet change day.
Also you can get small tubes of it or even cheaper, Lloyds do Aqueous cream in a small portable tube for just over a pound.
moisturising befor a bath or shower helps too as mentioned by Marmite.
Be carefull with steroid cream on the face - see GP for face friendly cream.
Kate
XXX
i use double base twice a day all over - has done wonders for my skin - you do need to apply it and then let it soak in tho as kate said, and just keep at it! oh, and stay out of the sun! Hope it sorts itself out soon.
For really *really* dry skin, try 50/50 white soft paraffin/liquid paraffin.
It is disgustingly greasy stuff but it's brilliant, especially if the skin is deeply cracked and flaking; the same goes as that which Kate said about diprobase - it doesn't do much for your clothes. Use old PJs and apply it overnight.
Use lighter emollients such as diprobase/aqueous throughout the day, as often as you possibly can.
Emollients to the bath, emollient shower gels, and give yourself another spreading of emollient immediately after you pat yourself dry. Oh, and as the others say - avoid soap & bubbles baths like the plague until your skin's settled again.
Hi Stephx,
Well done for getting off pred.
Coming down off pred is a nightmare for many chronic conditions including asthma and eczema, plus lots of other related inflammatory illnesses.
I’ve been taking 1000mg of cod liver oil tablets daily plus two to three times eating- a- week oily fish ( smoked mackerel and similar) main menu dinners for eighteen months.
I’ve noticed a huge difference in lack of dry skin and itchy symptoms, although not delayed type four hyper-sensitivity. But I can live with that. LOL. ( No difference in asthma probs unfortunately)
Getting on top of your dry skin might involve taking a short sharp burst of boot-camp topical hydrocortisone, but not at all if possible on your face and mucous membranes. However, if absolutely necessary, okay for a short while.
Many dermatologists favour a short intensive boost of hydrocortisone to ‘heal’ broken eczematous skin. Hydrocortisone blocks allergic/immune skin reactions which trigger eczematous rashes, and can speed healing of inflammed and cracked skin regardless of the cause; the same as oral pred re asthma and other inflammatory conditions.
After that you need to find an alternative combination of emollient creams and whatever else is on offer to maintain this state and avoid the dreaded itch/scratch/broken skin/scratch skin scenario or just generally inflammed skin whether provoked by external or internal triggers.
Diprobase, olive oil – although can clog ‘irritative’ pores – and plant extracts like aloe vera have helped me. And I’ve always noticed that creams as opposed to ointments are far less irritating.
Give all external and internal treatments a month then re-assess.
The success or otherwise of all treatments depends upon the individual. Again. As usual. As ever.
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