Same Old Song and Dance

Going into August I have a brief period of time where I start to sweat again, and my body temperature control comes back a little, this is a slight but welcomed improvement. I am still cold most of the time but I do sweat some. My skin is showing some improvement, but it still never really looks the same from day to day. By late August what I had thought to be improvements have stagnated and my September visit to Baylor brings an increase in the dosage of Acitretin up to 50 mg per day. All of the things that this drug can affect, liver function and blood lipid levels have been unchanged for me, all labs look good. As a matter of fact, aside from the odd skin disease that has overtaken my body, my doctor states that she has rarely seen an individual with more perfect blood work. Wonderful I say, please inform my skin of my pristine health at least according to my blood.

My hands go through a continuous cycle of peeling. Over time I realize that this is primarily caused by the medicine.

My left hand.

All appendages have a layer of scaley "bad" skin with areas of normal skin underneath.

My feet are starting to show some signs of improvement. I can walk most days without too much pain. The feet follow the same peeling cycles as my hands do.

Somewhat nicer feet. Improvements?

So all in all I am seeing some things getting better. But improvements with this condition come very, very slowly. Additionally I have not been on the higher dosage of the medicine for very long. The side effects of the medicine will eventually cause me to stop taking it as I will discuss later.

The Chronicles Continue

The disease PRP consists of three words, pityriasis (shedding), rubra (red), pilaris (hair follicle). For me up to this point (mid-July 2015) I noticed 2 of the 3 occurring. Shedding skin, check, by the cupfuls. Rubra, yep red from head to toe. Pilaris, hair follicles, not yet, head or body hair has not seen any affect. Oh, did I mention the itching? Sure I have, there is no itch in the world that compares to the itch of PRP! The non-inclusion of my hair follicles is in the process of changing. Throughout July and into August, I loose body hair, ALL body hair, and I begin to notice that the hair on my head is beginning to thin out. By this time I am totally in awe of what changes are happening to my body and my skin. I continue to freeze the entire day and night in Houston summer heat, my body does not put forth one drop of sweat, I am tired all of the time, and I am quite miserable and sad most days. My skin is never the same day to day, some days it looks better than others but my once normal life has become a train wreck and I am a shell of my formal self. I have returned to work by this time, and I am able to go into the office most days. It takes me at least five minutes of standing in one spot before I can deal with the pain from the cracks in my feet and take my first step of the day. This a mere 2 months from the time that I was running or walking 3-5 miles a session, several times a week and doing essentially anything that I wanted to do from a physical stand-point. I really am not able to tell if what is going on is the process of the condition, or the side effects of the medicine that I am taking, both can be very similar. And the itching continues in earnest, worse at night when you really want to sleep. For the itching at night I take 50 mg of Hydroxyzine, it knocks out the itch as well as knocking me out and most mornings I am no more than a zombie.

Beginning to lose hair all over my body.

These feet hurt so badly. For me aside from the itching the messed up feet are the worst part of the disease.

Is this due to the medicine I take (Acitretin) or is it just the disease running it's course?

I really don't know. All I do know is that these feet are REALLY ugly.