Episode 228 Being real about Topical Steroid Withdrawl (TSW)

In this incredible mother daughter episode, I chat with long time listeners Adrianna & Shamra about their insane experience with TSW.

Just after a few days of being born, Shamra was given some steroid cream while she waited to see a dermatologist for a strawberry birth mark. Derm says nope, don’t need that… stop using it.

Then begin the awful repeated 11 year journey of what they know now to be Topical Steroid Withdrawal.

Unfortunately this wasn’t something they were told could happen, was a thing or even told after years of being in and out of the doctors offices with no true answers. Just more meds and more confusion.

Because these professionals were so adamant about Shamra having eczema, allergies and eventually asthma TSW was not a conversation. They just accepted this was her life.

Until one day… mama bear was on fb & she stumbled across a situation that looked eerily similar to Shamra’s. In the comments people kept saying TSW.

She then, as we all do, jumped down the rabbit hole and came out with - holy fuckin shit it’s the meds that are supposed to be helping her… they are making her worse… has this always been the case?! Wtf.

Shamra started the incredibly hard journey of weaning off the cream but you can imagine the freak out her entire skin had. Imagine a really hyper addict who hasn’t used for hours and is extremely inconsolable and violent.

That’s what this poor queens skin does.

I didn’t even cover the mental anguish, the divide illnesses like this can cause at home and within the family and the fact that someone called CPS on Adrianna because of her daughter’s condition.

Luckily thanks to her mama, her grandma and her spouse Shamra can live a somewhat normal life but always has to be in high alert to her surroundings in case they cause a flare up.

Incredible powerful duo I had the absolute honour of meeting and I think you should too ❤️