4d ago
Can I just say, nobody. NOBODY. told me about the itching. I was prepared for the flushes. I was sort of prepared for the mood stuff. I had heard about the hair. But the skin? The constant, crawling, dry, itchy skin that feels like I've been wrapped in fibreglass insulation? Not a single person mentioned that. Not my mum, not my GP, not one of the leaflets in the waiting room. It started on my shins about eight months ago and I thought it was just winter dryness. Then it spread. My forearms. My back. That weird patch on my collarbone that I cannot stop scratching in meetings. I've been through three different moisturisers, two of which made it worse, and I've started sleeping in cotton gloves which is both deeply unglamorous and only mildly helpful. I've started taking photos actually. Sounds odd but I read somewhere in this community that a visual timeline is useful before a dermatology appointment, so I've been doing that for the past six weeks. The redness, the flaky bits, the general sadness of my forearms. Because I want to be able to show someone rather than just describe it and get fobbed off with "it's just dry skin, use E45". I've also been eating more deliberately. More oily fish, avocado, eggs, that kind of thing. Not following anything specific, just trying to give my skin something to work with. Whether it's helping or it's wishful thinking, genuinely cannot tell yet. Is anyone else dealing with this? And has anyone actually got a useful dermatology referral through their GP, or is that a pipe dream on the NHS right now? x