A mum was left with skin redder than a tomato after steroid treatment
Beth White, 33, from San Antonio, Texas, USA, says that she was avoided by strangers who believed the painful, red blisters that erupted all over her body and face were caused by a contagious disease
A MUM was left with skin redder than a tomato after she underwent steroid treatment.
Beth White, 33, from San Antonio, Texas, USA, says that she was avoided by strangers who believed the painful, red blisters that erupted all over her body and face were caused by a contagious disease.
The skin reaction happened after Beth cut down on the steroid medication she was given to treat an autoimmune disease that was attacking her lungs two years ago.
After dropping from 1,000mg of oral steroids to just 75mg, Beth’s body was overtaken by a rash that would ooze, peel and flake off – known as Red Skin Syndrome.
Beth describes the pain of the condition as similar to hundreds of bee stings all over her body.
Her skin also became sensitive to sunlight – meaning she couldn't leave the house without being fully covered.
However, after battling steroid withdrawal for whopping 27-months, Beth now has clearer skin and wants to raise awareness of the effects of high dose steroids.
Beth says: "At my worst points it looked like I had a contagious disease, one person even physically moved away from me across to the other side of the room.
"I was constantly oozing, peeling and flaking, then repeating that cycle, my skin was shutting down at such a rapid rate.
"My skin was redder than a tomato and the pain felt like hundreds of bees stinging me in waves all over my body.
"It all started after severely lowering the dose of oral steroids I was receiving to treat my autoimmune disease.
"I have Churg-Strauss Syndrome (CSS), which causes my white blood cells to attack my organs and blood vessels leading them to shut down.
"I was coughing up blood, which is why I was prescribed steroid based medication - it was hoped that it would send me into remission.
"But after dropping from such a very high dose of steroids to a low one, my body started to react in such a terrible way and eventually was shutting down my airways.
"My skin was a mixture of blisters filled with clear liquid, complete redness, flaking and oozing – it was horrible.
"It got to the point where my skin was so sore that I couldn't even wear clothes and wouldn't leave the house.
"It's really hard on you because you aren't getting any normal sleep at night, then on top of that I couldn't be outside during the day because my skin was reacting badly to UV light.
"I became very sensitive to the sun, it was so bad that when I went to the doctors I had to cover all my skin even wearing sunglasses and shielding myself beneath an umbrella.
"I would get stared at a lot, there weren't comments, but a person stared at me I would tell them it was due to an allergic reaction to a drug.
"I also lost around 60% of my hair which was pretty traumatising.
";It was very hard on my family, when I was at my worst point my daughter had to live with her grandparents and my husband became a carer for me."
Beth was diagnosed with Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) back in 2014, after coughing up blood and struggling to move her legs.
RELATED STORIES
Her condition, an auto-immune disease, causes the white blood cells to attack the organs and blood vessels, shutting them down.
Beth says: "I went from being a triathlete to not being able to walk, it was pretty demoralizing.
"Additionally I could taste blood in my mouth because my CSS was attacking my lungs, I kept coughing it up – it was really worrying as it was completely out of the blue."
Beth was treated with a high dose of oral steroids, which helped her lungs and other organs to recover – but symptoms of steroid withdrawal were extreme.
Since then, it’s been a 27-month journey for Beth, testing how low she can reduce her steroid prescription before her lung problems start up again.
Beth said: "I was facing really scary lung symptoms when I wasn't taking steroids, but I didn't have many choices, I am now tapering off them.
"My skin has got a lot better, but I know I will always have to remain on low dose steroids to keep my condition in check so it's a constant battle."
Red Skin Syndrome causes red, itchy, burning skin that can arise after ceasing steroid based treatments.
Joey Brown VanDyke, President of support group ITSAN, said: "Many people experience painful symptoms and are covered in a full body rash or flushing that can last from weeks up to months before clearing.
"A person's work, school and family life will be disrupted by extreme fatigue, itching and burning skin, and an erratic sleep schedule or insomnia.
"Most people experience vast improvement within 12 to 24 months; however some require longer or shorter periods of time to fully recover."
To find out more information visit