Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Good news for cortisone users

I've been out of cortisone cream for my excema for a while now. And suffering as a result. I've cut down on a lot of chemicals in the house, using healthier shampoo options (although I've quit the baking soda thing), laundry and dish detergent. Baking soda and vinegar are used for a lot, and since most of you know me personally, you also know that I "choose" not to clean often. :-)

That's all supposed to help. I could also start an elimination diet, but I can't bring myself to quit eating wheat, corn, milk, eggs, or sugar. There's too more that were suggested but I don't think I have the willpower to even try. And stopping the gardening would definitely help. Excema is a contact thing for me for sure.

Whatever. I finally went to the doctor to renew my prescription. She's a relatively new doctor for me and has never prescribed cortisone for me before. She very happily related the following news to me.

Dr.: It is now safe to use cortisone creams twice a week indefinitely without harm. This is a new finding. That's great news.

Me: Is it safe to use it twice a day for 40 years?

Dr.: No. There are lasting effects for that kind of use, but twice a week has no side effects.

Me: That's great news. But for about 40 years, I've been putting cortisone on my hands and parts of my feet and legs twice a day. So that's helpful for Sunday, but the other six days of the week I will continue to take the risk and hope to stop scratching.

I hope she still shares her good news with other patients, but I wasn't so impressed with it really.

4 comments:

Rosa said...

Well then, I'll try not to think about just how much cortisone gets into MY system on a daily basis!

Unknown said...

That is quite the logical set of statements you've got there. Wow. Cortisone is wonderful stuff ... when you really need it, it WORKS.

I know you probably get people telling you all sorts of goofy suggestions of things to try but ... I made ointment out of calendula blossoms (soaked in olive oil, strained, then heated with a wee bit of beeswax to give it spreadable consistency) and have heard from some friends with skin issues that it really helped them. If you'd like to try it, I'll gladly mail you one of the wee tins to try ... and I have calendula seeds coming out my ears so if you want to try growing some (as if you can stop it once it starts!) I'll share. :) Email me (so I see it) if you're interested!

Evelyn in Canada said...

I have soaked and strained my calendula, but not yet heated it with beeswax. I am still hopefull that it will help, but I also still end up using cortisone to get things under control. I'm hoping that once I stop canning and sticking my hands in the dirt, things will settle down a bit with my skin. The constant hot water, acidic tomatoes, and plant matter is not helping.

Thanks for the offer though. I did get the original instructions from you, so my ointment should end up similar, all things working well.

Rosa said...

Hey, are you playing around with the look of your blog? Tam and I spent hours yesterday trying to find something new for her blog.
She liked the stretch look but we couldn't figure out how to do it and none of the few premade templates we found appealed to her.
I'm coming home with some great new spices and 1 liter of dark vanilla and a liter of light. You'll have to come over and I'll share a little. I'mm feeling pretty inspired when it comes to food!