AN eczema sufferer battling a steroid cream addiction has revealed how her skin cracked, burned and oozed so much her kids were scared of her.

Lindsey Hughes, 30, started using steroid creams to treat her eczema when she was five years old.

12 Lindsey's skin began to crack and ooze as soon as she stopped using steroid creams Credit: Caters News Agency

12 Lindsey had been using steroid creams to treat her eczema since the was five Credit: Caters News Agency

But her skin became so reliant on the treatment she was prescribed high and higher doses for 25 years.

She was also given a cocktail of inhalers and oral pills to treat her sensitive skin and asthma, which only worsened over the decades.

After being told by doctors that she couldn’t be given more of the high-intensity treatment without suffering serious kidney damage, she decided to go cold turkey last year.

But as soon as she stopped using the creams her skin when into topical steroid withdrawal, which left it burning, oozing and drying-out to the point where it looked like “tree bark”.

12 Lindsey suffered horrible reactions due to steroid cream addiction Credit: Caters News Agency

12 Lindsey only felt comfortable when she was soaking in a bath Credit: Caters News Agency

It crippled her, leaving her unable to move without being in agony and needing her husband Tim, 31, to carry her between her bed and the bath.

The mum-of-three’s hair even fell out during her year-long battle and her children thought she looked like a “monster”.

Lindsey, a registered nurse from Salt Lake City in the US, said: “Three-months after I quit the steroid treatment my symptoms were so bad that I couldn’t sleep for weeks, my skin was swollen, I was in constant excruciating pain.

“Initially my skin was flaking, burning and oozing, I had multiple infections the first couple of months because my skin was so badly broken down.

12 Lindsey's skin began to crack and 'looked like tree bark' Credit: Caters News Agency

12 Lindsey's reaction was so bad her kids were scared of her Credit: Caters News Agency

“I was traumatised and depressed, it felt like it was never going to end and I would be constantly living with this pain and suffering.

“Even my kids were scared of me, they didn’t want to be around me because of how I looked.

“My three-year-old son told me I looked gross, it was really hard for him and me because I couldn’t really interact with him or my other children to make them feel better.

“I couldn’t withstand skin to skin contact, even when they wanted to hug me, because I was in too much pain and couldn’t hold my baby who was eight months old at the time.

“Now my skin is so much better in appearance, it’s a lot clearer now than it was before I started steroids, it looks better than it ever has.”

12 Lindsey relied on her husband to help carry her from her bed to the bath each day Credit: Caters News Agency

12 Lindsey's reaction was so severe her hair fell out and she lost two and a half stone Credit: Caters News Agency

12 Before she stopped using them Lindsey used a tube of steroid cream a week Credit: Caters News Agency

At the peak of her steroid cream use, Lindsey was using a tube a week to combat her itchy skin condition.

She quit in February last year after realising that the steroid treatment wasn’t helping, and that further use would damage her organs.

“I was terrified of withdrawing after seeing what others had gone through, but I decided I had nothing to lose as I was so sick,” she said.

“This was my only option, as weeks went by and my symptoms manifested that’s when I read more and was scared by what was to come.”

12 For weeks Lindsey was unable to hold her baby, who was eight months old and the time Credit: Caters News Agency

12 Lindsey's skin became inflamed and sore as soon as she stopped using steroid creams Credit: Caters News Agency

12 Lindsey's skin was so bad she couldn't even hug her children Credit: Caters News Agency

As soon as she stopped using the creams Lindsey’s skin became inflamed and would ooze and crack.

She was unable to go to work and was only comfortable when having a bath.

“I couldn’t take care of my kids, I lost dexterity in my hands, I had to take medical leave for six months lying at home,” Lindsey added.

“I had to sleep in the bath, the majority of my day was either in my bed or the bath.

“I was stuck just lying there, it was the worst time not being able to take care of my kids or be around them that much.”

Lindsey took painkillers to ease her symptoms but nothing worked.

She lost two and a half stone in eight months and her hair began to fall out.

A PAINFUL CONDITION THAT LEAVES THE SKIN RAW, CRACKED AND BLEEDING Red Skin Syndrome, also known as Topical Steroid Addiction or Topical Steroid Withdrawal, is a condition that can arise from the use of topical steroids to treat a skin problem, such as eczema. RSS can also arise from topical steroid use in individuals with no prior skin condition; such as with cosmetic use for skin bleaching or to treat acne, or in the case of caregivers who neglect to wash their hands after applying topical steroids on someone else. RSS is characterised by red, itchy, burning skin that can appear after ceasing topical steroid treatments, or even between treatments. Symptoms: These can fall into two categories - those that appear while using creams and those that appear when not. Rebound redness between applications

Rashes spreading and developing in new areas of the body

Intense itching, burning, stinging

Failure to clear with usual course of treatment, requiring a higher potency topical steroid to achieve progressively less clearing.

Increased allergic response Treatment: In order to treat the condition, the use of steroid creams must be stopped. The condition resolves over time, but no medications or methods of treatment have been proven to speed up the healing process. Source: Itsan - the red skin syndrome support group

But now, after battling through the worst, Lindsey’s skin is much better.

“I’m grateful that I started the process of withdrawal, but it was one of the hardest chapters of my life,” she said.

“I would say my skin is 90 per cent better, I still have insomnia at night but I’m functioning.

“I have more energy, my skin is stronger and thicker, it doesn’t shed any more, there’s no more oozing or burning – thankfully I’m past those horrible symptoms.”

Lindsey is now warning others about the dangers of steroid cream use.

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“I’m very frustrated that it took away my quality of life for a lot of years,” she added.

“I saw an allergist, dermatologist and other specialists to get better, but they just kept prescribing higher and higher doses of steroids.

“No one told me to stop until I was facing kidney damage and I was told they couldn’t give me any more, that was when I realised I needed to stop.

“I was very upset, I couldn’t have imagined before that the treatment I was using to help myself feel better in higher and higher doses was actually making me sick.

“But I’m glad I’ve done it now, to be where I am now, I believe steroids are completely over prescribed.”

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