hello,

I have had rosaceaⁱ for several years. Started topical ketaconizole and it mostly went away.

 all blemishes went away and most redness. some slight redness remains. 

also had low grade fevers often for weeks in a row, every night, started 8 years ago in college.

also diagnosed graves disease, went on methimazole and it is in remission according to my endo.

also have general feeling of bodily malaise, weakness

also have non-crusting type of blepharitis, or dry eye syndrome producing sharp needle like pain in eyes, meibomian gland disfunction, the oil part of the tears is too thick like toothpaste, eye not lubricated. occasional eye redness, sometimes halo around iris.

wow, i dont know where to really start without saying HELLO first.  its been a LONG 8-10 years of being sick, seeing MANY physicians, and thousands of $$$ later before i really have some what of a guide to getting well.  to just give you a BRIEF summary of my illness, i worked for a poultry processing plant for >10 years and @ the time did NOT think it would cause such heartache, but in a educated hindsight, it created my current condition.  prior to working there i was ENERGETIC and full of life.  well, because it was SUCH a subtle deterioration i didnt put my finger on the enviornmental toxins until 2-3 years ago.  some of the few things i contracted while working there was eczema, asthmaⁱ, fatigue, brain fog, dry skin (my skin had always be sooooooo oily) among other things.

My niece took a fistful of papers to her doctor because she has rosaceaⁱ, chronic bronchitis/asthmaⁱ, chronic sinusitis, and what looks to me like GFAⁱ. I highlighted the appropriate passages.

He

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to thank Jim so much for his recent pages on "Facing Cure - Red's Rosaceaⁱ Story" and "I'm so Proud of Us".

The word "cure" to those of us in the rosacea community is as elusive and sought after as the Holy Grail (as I know it is to any disease, like MSⁱ, CFSⁱ, etc that dramatically affects one's life).  So many of us early in our diagnosis have prayed that each trinket we found was the Holy Grail, only to find out it was a rusty, cruddy old tin can, and just as useless.....

It is understandably difficult for anyone who has not suffered from rosacea to know its true impact and pain.  Beyond the obvious cosmetic aberrations that can significantly impact one's self-esteem, self-confidence and psychological well-being in general, there is great physical pain and discomfort.  For many of us in the moderate to severe stages of the disease, the constant pain of feeling like your face is on fire, like your epidermis is sizzling and burning like a round of bacon in a frying pan, the increased hypersensitivity to anything you put on your skin, sometimes even water burns and irritates, the inability to enjoy social gatherings or public places because of social flushing and heat intolerance, renders many of us disabled by the condition.  The impact on our relationships can be profound.  The impact on our ability to work, or do normal activities like cooking or cleaning (anything that raises body temperature), etc, can be immense.  To control my rosacea for example, I have to spend thousands a year on anti-inflammatory topicals and supplementsⁱ, take cold showers (any warmth will cause me to flush and burn for hours), avoid any environment above 15 - 17 degrees Celsius or I will be in agony, stay out of the sun and bright lights, only eat cold food, no hot drinks or thermally hot foods (again, one bite of something even lukewarm sets me off), I can barely even sit close to someone because their body heat will start me to burn up (you can imagine how difficult relationships could be), avoid all foods and spices which are high in histamines and salicylates which are triggers for me, and on and on.  I started out with mild rosacea but it progressed over the years through the moderate and now severe stages.  I thought it would get better after I treated my H.Pylori infection 3 years ago.  Little did I know then that other pathogens were lurking. We liken rosacea in our community to a "beast".  There is just no controlling it's anger and vengeance it seems.  It seems the "beast" may at least in part be Cpnⁱ...........