It's the strangest thing!
You know how people say if you don't focus on money it will come flowing? I stopped caring about my skin, and its clearing up! Hang up, did I just compare my skin disease to making money? Oh boy, never thought I would here. So I guess it all began around April 2013, I fell in love. Not just a young, careless love, a love so strong and so real it takes my breath away. Me and my lovely bride got married July 11th 2014. She makes me feel so beautiful. She is supportive of me through anything, and I do mean anything. As I do for her. I think her unconditional love and support has gave me the power to stop caring about my skin disease. Once I opened up to her about HS, took her to a few doctors appointments, and showed her some research I had discovered she has been the biggest support system of my life. Every time I would show her a lesion (and even ask her to drain the ones I can't reach, ew right!) she expresses her empathy for me. It's really all I could ask for!
Soon after we got married we got so caught up in the hustle and bustle of being newly weds, even moved across the county! I kinda stopped caring and worrying about my skin. I started to pick and poke less. I stopped spending 30+ minutes staring at my skin in the bathroom and obsessing over the scars. I stopped thinking I was disgusting and not attractive. My wife sees me for who I am, not my utterly dreadful skin disease. I think that's even why I stopped checking this site. I just couldn't be brought down.
Nothing really changed with the amount of lesions, the rate I was getting them, or the severity. Even though I had stopped letting my skin define me, my skin didn't really get the memo that I don't need your shit today! I felt beautiful, correction, FEEL beautiful. After about a month of living in the UP (upper peninsula of Michigan), my skin starting getting worse. I lived my entire life in Colorado where the humidity reaches maybe 19% on a good day in summer. I just moved to an area where the humidity can stay at 95% throughout the day and night. It was 30 degrees outside with a 97% humidity for almost a full week. Just as I thought I could beat HS with the magical powers of my mind, I slammed into a brick wall. I swear it happened overnight, I woke up one day, stepped into the shower and saw a pretty decent amount of blood running down my body. My eczema had escalated to a point it hasn't been at since I was a small child, my groin was swelling with lesions, I could barely lower my arms to my side without the golf ball sized pockets pushing into my body. It was a pain I can not even begin to explain. It wasn't just irritating to my body, it put me in such a bad place mentally. I was so focused on trying to maintain the happy mood and not let my new wife see my caring so much about my skin again. I used almost the whole tube of ointment within the span of 2 weeks. I was running out of options to help my skin and ultimately my mood and well being. My wife and I decided to move back to Colorado.
I could feel the humidity disappear and the refreshing (dry!) Colorado air hit my skin. It was such a wonderful feeling. With my eczema, I get rashes all over my body but they will usually be isolated to a specific body part or surface area. The humidity made my skin itch everywhere and all over. It was almost as if I had one big scab around both my arms, back, and lower legs. (The scars I have now are bruuttal) I am glad we came back because from the moment I entered good old Colorado, I could just feel the difference with my skin. Slowly but surely my scabs and rashes started clearing up, it was great! My HS, not as fast as I would have liked. I was so focused on starting fresh, being home again, and getting my life together I went back to the attitude I had left with. I stopped caring about my skin and now it is for sure awarding me! I got my first lesion in weeks yesterday and it's a stage one lesion. I haven't been lucky enough to have one of those since my skin got to stage three.
And here is the BEST part! I think I found something that can actually help HS. After 5 years of ointments, antibiotics, medications, corticosteriod shots, countless needles in my skin and plenty of experiments from my doctor to try, I found a thing that works for me. Ah darn, it wasn't just my good attitude! But I left it to the end of the post because it is a bit controversial and I figured I would make it a separate thing. Alright, you guys ready?! The thing I found to help my Hidradenitis Suppurativa is Cannabis. No joke guys. When I got my Medical Marijuana card for my skin, not gonna lie I did what 75% of people did and get it just so I could smoke legal weed, not really for its healing powers. My weed doctor told me to try a cannabis infused lotion specifically meant for calming and healing the superficial skin. I bought the lotion in May of 2013 and honestly forgot about it. My wife had super bad cramps one day and I remembered the lady at the dispensary told me she uses it for her cramps. No joke it made her cramps stop within 15 minutes. I was honestly impressed and amazed. I put it on my skin, which at the time was pretty sever. It actually did help with the pain. I used it fairly often for a couple weeks, then like I usually do, I don't see a result and stop using the product. The difference was I still used it every once and a while. For about 8 months I have been using the calming lotion infused with Cannabis, Lavender, and Camomile. I don't think it is anywhere close to being a cure but I do notice after I put it on, my skin is less red, less puffy, and heals a lot faster.
It could be the pot, it could be the positive attitude, it could be the lack of humidity, it could be a complete fluke. All I know is this is the first winter I can remember that my skin in clear! All I see is scars, which is a freaking blessing honestly. I hate the scars and issues HS has caused me but I will take the physical scars over the mental ones any day of the week!!!
Soon after we got married we got so caught up in the hustle and bustle of being newly weds, even moved across the county! I kinda stopped caring and worrying about my skin. I started to pick and poke less. I stopped spending 30+ minutes staring at my skin in the bathroom and obsessing over the scars. I stopped thinking I was disgusting and not attractive. My wife sees me for who I am, not my utterly dreadful skin disease. I think that's even why I stopped checking this site. I just couldn't be brought down.
Nothing really changed with the amount of lesions, the rate I was getting them, or the severity. Even though I had stopped letting my skin define me, my skin didn't really get the memo that I don't need your shit today! I felt beautiful, correction, FEEL beautiful. After about a month of living in the UP (upper peninsula of Michigan), my skin starting getting worse. I lived my entire life in Colorado where the humidity reaches maybe 19% on a good day in summer. I just moved to an area where the humidity can stay at 95% throughout the day and night. It was 30 degrees outside with a 97% humidity for almost a full week. Just as I thought I could beat HS with the magical powers of my mind, I slammed into a brick wall. I swear it happened overnight, I woke up one day, stepped into the shower and saw a pretty decent amount of blood running down my body. My eczema had escalated to a point it hasn't been at since I was a small child, my groin was swelling with lesions, I could barely lower my arms to my side without the golf ball sized pockets pushing into my body. It was a pain I can not even begin to explain. It wasn't just irritating to my body, it put me in such a bad place mentally. I was so focused on trying to maintain the happy mood and not let my new wife see my caring so much about my skin again. I used almost the whole tube of ointment within the span of 2 weeks. I was running out of options to help my skin and ultimately my mood and well being. My wife and I decided to move back to Colorado.
I could feel the humidity disappear and the refreshing (dry!) Colorado air hit my skin. It was such a wonderful feeling. With my eczema, I get rashes all over my body but they will usually be isolated to a specific body part or surface area. The humidity made my skin itch everywhere and all over. It was almost as if I had one big scab around both my arms, back, and lower legs. (The scars I have now are bruuttal) I am glad we came back because from the moment I entered good old Colorado, I could just feel the difference with my skin. Slowly but surely my scabs and rashes started clearing up, it was great! My HS, not as fast as I would have liked. I was so focused on starting fresh, being home again, and getting my life together I went back to the attitude I had left with. I stopped caring about my skin and now it is for sure awarding me! I got my first lesion in weeks yesterday and it's a stage one lesion. I haven't been lucky enough to have one of those since my skin got to stage three.
And here is the BEST part! I think I found something that can actually help HS. After 5 years of ointments, antibiotics, medications, corticosteriod shots, countless needles in my skin and plenty of experiments from my doctor to try, I found a thing that works for me. Ah darn, it wasn't just my good attitude! But I left it to the end of the post because it is a bit controversial and I figured I would make it a separate thing. Alright, you guys ready?! The thing I found to help my Hidradenitis Suppurativa is Cannabis. No joke guys. When I got my Medical Marijuana card for my skin, not gonna lie I did what 75% of people did and get it just so I could smoke legal weed, not really for its healing powers. My weed doctor told me to try a cannabis infused lotion specifically meant for calming and healing the superficial skin. I bought the lotion in May of 2013 and honestly forgot about it. My wife had super bad cramps one day and I remembered the lady at the dispensary told me she uses it for her cramps. No joke it made her cramps stop within 15 minutes. I was honestly impressed and amazed. I put it on my skin, which at the time was pretty sever. It actually did help with the pain. I used it fairly often for a couple weeks, then like I usually do, I don't see a result and stop using the product. The difference was I still used it every once and a while. For about 8 months I have been using the calming lotion infused with Cannabis, Lavender, and Camomile. I don't think it is anywhere close to being a cure but I do notice after I put it on, my skin is less red, less puffy, and heals a lot faster.
It could be the pot, it could be the positive attitude, it could be the lack of humidity, it could be a complete fluke. All I know is this is the first winter I can remember that my skin in clear! All I see is scars, which is a freaking blessing honestly. I hate the scars and issues HS has caused me but I will take the physical scars over the mental ones any day of the week!!!
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