to everyone who responded to desperate

[Guest guest]

i got so many responses i want to thank you all soooo much. it meant

a lot to me to be able to hear from people who suffer the same

problems and who so generously reached out to me. i can not respond

individually to everyone, so i wanted to take the time and say thank

you, thank you very, very much.

my update is this. i made an emergency rush into the ER last week.

they gave me some Vicodin which at first did not help with my extreme

pain, but later after a couple more pills it did numb me and make me

sleep.

the next day i got into see my dermatologist. he came in and said " oh

my gosh " . after a while he had another patient so ran out of the room

to get it over with and then came back into my room. he said he

wanted to spend more time with me. i thought that was nice. sitting

in a room was torture with the heating on.

he said it was the rosacea and my skin had become infected to a

point. i was extremely swollen. my skin was so red it looked like i

had been burned.

he also diagnosed me with excema.

i explained the pian to him...so bad was the pain i wanted to kill

myself. i don't want to kill myself because of depression or some

ongoing feelings of despair. it is purely because of the pian and how

bad it is. he understood.

he gave me penicillin, desonide (topical steroid) and something for

the excema. he also told me to take the vicodin.

i use steroids very, very sparingly. only for relief from extreme

flare-ups.

the penicillin was for the infection and small rosacea pimples.

i also found relief from Cetaphil Cream mosterizer because it is cold

and made my skin feel better.

the severe pain and swelling and redness persisted for a week

straight. yesterday it finally started to break.

today my skin is believe it or not...tanned. it is like my skin had a

very severe sunburn and it tanned my skin. but i am far from pretty.

i still have the sun burn look, but with tan skin. my skin is peeling

like a burn also.

i still have the typical rosey cast to my skin, but it is not a flare-

up, just rosey skin. i only have 3 medium size open sores. they are

not pimples, but they look like scrapes on my skin. they are pink and

shiny. and they itch.

that is what is left over from my bad flare-up. i am no longer in

severe pain. my eyes (i have ocular rosacea as well) are no longer

swollen and only slightly red.

sooooo. here is what i am now going to do. i avoid most triggers for

me as in HEAT!!!!! and spicy foods. but there is one trigger that

seems to set off these bad flare-ups that i can not prevent. my

period. sure enuff i started a light period this weekend. which

seemed to immediatly help my skin. however, i have bad hormonal

problems. my period only lasted for 2 hours. i have PCOS (cystic

ovarian disease) which caused my severe acne, excess hair and head

hair loss.

i don't know what to do about this! anyone with similar

problems...rosacea flares before period?

anyway, some good news. i live close to someone called Dr. Bitter (he

is in Los Gatos i live about 35 minutes away from him with no

traffic). i've heard alot about this photoderm thing and how it can

cure rosacea and relieve me of these painful flare-ups.

i emailed him and he wrote me back saying he recommends i book a

complimentery appointment. they seemed very nice and asked if i could

call if i had any questions at all. he said rarely kaiser (my hmo)

pays for such things, only in very extreme cases. i wonder if i can

ask him how i can be considered an extreme case.

so, tomorrow i will call dr. bitter and set up an appointment. the

only bad thing i can think of is that he did not see me flare-up, not

that i want anyone to see me flared up!!!. now i look like i

have " mild " rosacea. does anyone know what i should do????

does anyone have any comments on Dr. Bitter? has anyone else seen him

or know anything about this? what should i expect?

once again, thank you all so much. it means so much. i'll be writing

more as i feel better. because i couldn't eat last week and i still

really weak and tired.

Angie