Tallaght mother unable to hold or hug her children because of skin condition

Tallaght mother unable to hold or hug her children because of skin condition

A MOTHER-of-three who can’t hug or hold her children due to a painful, debilitating and isolating skin syndrome has this week spoken out about the withdrawal symptoms she has experienced after coming off topical steroid-based creams.

Living in Tallaght, Paula Perris (30) was using topical steroid creams for three-and-a-half years, after an itchy patch on the index finger of her left hand saw her diagnosed with eczema.

Paula Perris The Wood Millbrook Lawns.1 01 December 2016

Paula was prescribed a low potency steroid cream, however, within the space of two months, the exzema had spread across her whole hand – resulting in the Tallaght mother being prescribed a higher potency cream to control flares.

Paula told The Echo: “After about a year of using the creams, I was given light therapy treatment, which helped, but once my recommended sessions were up, my skin flares came back bigger and more aggressive.

“Then in November 2015 I started immune supressors, which did help too, but they left me open to infections and between January and June of this year, I was constantly on courses of antibiotics for infections – most of which were skin infections.
“That’s when I made a decision that I had to come off the steroid creams and the medication and find an alternative treatment.”

Paula told The Echo that she was unaware of any possible symptoms associated with coming off steroid creams or of a condition known as Red Sleeve Syndrome (RSS) or Topical Steroid Withdrawal.

Paula said: “In June I just stopped using everything with steroids in them, I went cold turkey.

“I know this probably wasn’t the best thing to do so quickly but I had no choice – I needed to find another way of treating my eczema.

“Once off the steroids, I started getting dizzy, I lost weight and my hands started swelling.

“My lips and eyes starting swelling as well and some days the swelling is so bad that I can’t see.

“The rash has spread from my hands and my arms to more or less my whole body and my skin is constantly on fire, it’s raw, burning and flaking.

“I have insomnia and sometimes only get two or three hours sleep a night, which has impacted on my mental health.”

She added: “I don’t really leave the house, these symptoms are very isolating.

“I’ve had to leave college and people do point and stare, even in the shops cashiers won’t put the change into my hand.

“I can’t do normal things with my children like hold their hands, go to the beach, wash their hair or even open a packet of crisps.

“I can’t even hug them because it burns too much, RSS has taken everything away from us… and I feel let down by the system, there was no alternative treatment.”

Paula, who has yet to receive a positive diagnosis that her symptoms are being caused by steroid withdrawal, has decided to tell her story in the hope of raising awareness of the possible side-effects associated with the long-term use of topical steroid creams – and to encouarge people to “know their medicines”.

She added: “I just want to raise awareness, so many people use topical steroid creams everyday and are unaware that their skin builds a dependancy over time.

“These creams are for short-term use but there’s people like me using them for years . . . and now look at me.

“Steroid creams ended up feeding my skin condition and now that I’m off them, my skin is screaming out for steroids . . . and sadly, while wanting to help, GPs and dermatologists are just following protocol when it comes to prescribing these creams.”

Paula believes that after the short-term use of these creams, the health system should support people in going down alternative treatments routes, such as allergy testing.

When contacted by The Echo, Dr Mark Murphy, of the Irish College of General Practictioners (ICGP), said: “By definition, all medications have potential beneficial effects, but also the potential risk of side effects.

“Doctors prescribe medications, ideally, in the lowest dose for the shortest amount of time.

“However, certain medical conditions will require a long-term medication.

“ICGP cannot comment on one specific case, but it is common practice, in dermatological conditions such as severe eczema, to use topical steroids, which are the mainstay of management.

“Topical steroids come in a variety of strengths, and the principles of safe prescribing . . . apply to this medication also.”
The HSE didn’t have a response for The Echo when asked about alternative treatments or therapies for skin conditions such as eczema.

Anybody with concerns is encouraged to speak with their GP or pharmacist.

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