| • | Introduction |
| • | Detail |
| Eczema | |
| Asthma | |
| Hormones | |
| Osteoporosis | |
| Arthritis | |
| Tumour | |
| Tinnitus | |
| • | Links |
I'm intending to keep this at a fairly 'high' level - you don't want to know all the details of creams, pills, treatments and appointments, I wouldn't remember to keep it all up to date, and if you are interested in that level of detail, we are probably in touch in some other way already...
I developed atopic eczema at an early age. The condition has varied greatly over the years: sometime, it has been hardly noticeable, and at other time it almost takes over my whole life.
One of the main planks of my skin care regime since 1979 has been regular use of the sauna. Many people with eczema tell me they could not cope with the hot environment of the sauna, but those who have used it all seem to have enjoyed it, whether or not they derive the same benefits as I do.
From 1999 to 2003, our early years in Bristol, my skin was about as good as it has ever been. In early 2004, it started to deteriorate, and in the Spring of 2005 I started going back to the Doctor. After various blood tests, I was referred to a dermatology nurse, who helped improve and stabilise the eczema, but it was still pretty bad and not improving any further.
I was then referred to the hospital for light treatment, which proved remarkably effective, as well as giving me what is probably the first healthy looking tan in my life. Since the treatment ended, my legs have deteriorated a little, but for some time they were still far better than they had been for some 18 months.
However, the increased sweating due to the hormone imbalance irritates the skin, and by the Summer of 2007 my legs were in quite a bad state again. Also, for the first time in ages, so were my arms. Large areas of both seemed to be covered with scales - coin sized patches of dead skin, glued to the skin underneath. Combined with the sweating, it irritated like crazy, and the result is that I got very little sleep at night. And every morning, the bed was covered in flakes of dead skin.
On holiday in Lanzarote, the sweating did not change significantly, but the skin improved enormously. The factors, as far as I can tell, are: sunshine (much more, but not too much), lack of clothing (so the sweat can just evaporate, and the skin is not irritated by the damp clothing constantly rubbing), near daily swimming in sea water, and a bit more time than usual spent mosturising.
By the end of the holiday, the skin is as good as it has been since the light treatment ended. And, I should point out, the holiday was one week in the middle of two weeks off work. The improvement did not start until we were away, and it started to deteriorate as soon as we returned home. So the problem is not the stress of my job, as so many people keep suggesting.
In October 2007, we went abroad again, this time to El Portus in the South of Spain, on the Costa Calera. Not as much sunshine, but again the skin improved. And in November, I started a second course of light treatment, which finished in January. My skin improves, and so does the sweating, so by the end of January 2008, my skin is as good as it has been for a long time: a few patches of dryness, but nowhere red, sore or weeping. Fantastic.
Many eczema sufferers also suffer from asthma, and I am no exception. It is set off by dust and animal hair, a fact we did not appreciate when I was younger and a white cat owned us.
The asthma improved through my teens, and caused no problems from around 1975 to around 1985, when Sue asked my to vacuum under a rug we had at home. This triggered a serious attack, and we had to call the doctor out. He was furious that I didn't have a reliever.
Since then, I have been using a preventer each night, and a reliever when I need it - very rare these days.
Several people have asked why my skin got worse in the past few years. Is there more stress at work? No. However, at about the time it started to get worse, in the Spring of 2004, I started to experience hot flushes. Don't laugh. I would suddenly start sweating all over my body for no good reason. Possibly this started to irritate the skin.
The Doctor did various blood tests, and concluded that my testosterone level was abnormally low. I saw an endocrinologist in November 2005, she took some more blood, arranged for some more urnine collection, and I was scheduled to go back to discuss the results in February 2006. The skin and the sweating may just be a coincidence, but eczema is like that: we will probably never know.
The current situation is that the sweating has suddenly improved greatly - maybe 90% or 95% back to normal. It happened overnight, on 1 December 2007. This does not seem to make sense from a medical perspective, but it's what happened. A lot of people have been praying for me, and it seems their prayers have been answered.
It has taken a long time to get to this point...
February 2006: I have been back to Endocrinology. The tests are inconclusive, so they want to run some more. My LH was low in the first blood test (before I started taking Acetyl-L-Carnitine), but normal in the second (after I started taking it), so she wants me to stop taking it for a week and have another test.
If the results of this test are as expected, they will just treat me for low testosterone. If the LH is also low, then I might have a small and probably benign tumour on my Pituitary, and they will want to schedule an MRI scan to see if they can spot anything. Either way, she wants to see me again in four months.
On the plus side, it seems they have ruled out all the other possible causes, so there are lots of things they are confident I don't have.
Sue says I'm just jealous and don't want her to be the only person in the family to have a rare but benign brain tumour.
My scan is booked for Thursday 4 May, and happens without any problems.
The return visit to endocrinology takes place on 20 June 2006: I don't need an operation, but I do need more tests and another appointment in two months. But one of the tests can't be done until November, so the appointment has to be postponed.
At the appointment on 18 September 2007 they recognised that the current treatment is not working, so they want to give me some different injections and see if they work. My symptoms seem to be getting gradually worse: I'm not having too many of the total dripping-off-my-body sweating bouts, but the less obvious slightly sweaty so all my clothing is damp state is happening far more often - most days, sometimes for most of the day. Next appointment: 25 March 2008.
The bone density scan takes place, after some problems with the machinery. The results were expected to say that I'm at risk of developing osteoporosis, but in fact they show I already have it. More details on the family news entry for 9 January 2007.
Early in 2005, I noticed that the little finger on my right hand was painful and swollen. Eventually I asked a Doctor about it, and was told it was arthritis: nothing to be done, just take painkillers if necessary.
After a few months, it was getting quite painful, and I couldn't touch type properly anymore. Then a friend suggested I try Flaxseed Oil for my skin, and I noticed after a few weeks that the finger was much less painful. Over the months, it has also become more mobile again. Astonishing.
To be clear - the Flaxseed Oil is a capsule: it is rich in Omega-3, whatever that is. I don't rub it into my skin.
They did an MRI scan of my brain, looking for a tumour on my Pituitary Gland. This would explain the hormone problems. They found a tumour on the Pituitary, but decided it could not explain the symptoms - so, just like Sue.
I had another MRI scan on Friday 6 June. The technician showed me the Pituitary Gland, and said it was 'a beautiful shape'.
For some years, I have had tinnitus. (You say it: tin-it-ous' and not 'tin-itus'.) It is a high pitched whine, like you could imagine electrical equipment creating. It seems to be fairly mild, and the doctors are not interested.
Just a few selected links:
Crisis Centre