TSW (Topical Steroid Withdrawal)

[Kat]

Kat, I think it was in one of your posts that you mentioned TSW. I did a but of reading up on this and, WOW.

In my Acitretin week 4 post I note that my skin shedded and peeled in the prior weeks far worse than before. I thought it was from the Acitretin doing it's job but now I'm inclined to think it was due to topical steroid withdrawal. I had been buttering my body up in topicals off and on the last few months - my entire back and stomach, and occluding the steroid with cling wrap. My skin would feel softer the next day but I didn't always feel like going through the hassle of putting the gooey stuff on and trying to wrap myself up. It was during these short breaks when my skin would absolutely burn like it was on fire and I would itch and shed beyond belief...to which my reaction was "I had better put more of that steroid cream on to calm this down". VICIOUS CYCLE.

I haven't used any topicals at all for the last 2 weeks. Coincidentally, my skin is significantly clearer. I don't know if it's from the Acitretin, from not using steroid cream or a combination of both. I'd be interested to hear from others what their experience was like when they stopped using topicals.

I won't ever put that on stuff on my body again. EVER. I'm thankful that my exposure to the stuff has been pretty minimal compared to others. This really makes me angry - my doctor wanted me to cover myself in topicals twice a day and when I asked him about stopping after two weeks he told me not to. Grrrrrr...

Kelly, I've had a bit of the same experience. I started (per doctor) with topical steroids and was told to use 2x day. I thought since it was peeling off more that maybe that was a good sign. I will admit that I do like the scalp oil as my scalp gets so dry and itchy it was the only thing that gave me relief and I'm "suppose" to use it 1x day. After reading about TSW, I thought whoa! I've used a bottle of the body oil plus was on a med pac and had a steroid cream as well! For my scalp I'm moisturizing with a conditioner, just leaving it on and massaging it in (my hair is shinier lol) and that helps a little. I won't say I won't use steroids (they have their use) but I haven't used any in a couple of weeks. IF my scalp gets so bad again that I can't stand the itch and I'm having to scratch it, I would use the oil because I've already had numerous infections (probably from scratching). But yes, the TSW is scary stuff and not something needed on top of the psoriasis!