Having Relapse and Unsure of Next Steps
So I found Karen and her eczema program last summer. I was desperate after going through a very tough flare (maybe the worst of my life) during my second semester of freshman year of college. I immediately hopped onto the FID program and found relief. I tested foods and concluded I was sensitive to lectins and sals. In addition last summer, I used a prescribed topical steroid and/or the cortisone cream that you can get at any drugstore to calm any flares I would have. By the end of the summer, I was 95% clear and basically of off FID and graduated to the detox diet. But that changed once I got back to school. I continued to do and eat what I had over the summer, however the eczema started to creep back in slowly. It is really hard to manage it and be at school at the same time, so I would put more steroid cream on to keep it at bay. By the end of the school year, I was putting it on almost daily. So when I got back home from school this summer, I was super scared of developing TSW if I continued to use it. So I stopped using it for about two weeks, but then used it again for a vacation I was going on. After vacation, I stopped using it again for a week until I had a bad flare and used it to help. So now, I haven't used it for about a month and a half. My skin was looking super good until about two weeks ago, and I'm flaring again. After reading some more about TSW, I'm not sure if I should have stopped using the creams as suddenly as I did. Should I use it again and wean myself off?
I'm still on the detox program. I'm not sure if I should go back to FID and test more foods or just continue the detox program. I want to get back to how my skin was last summer, while also getting off of the detox program completely.
I'm really hoping all this made sense! I'm just feeling super discouraged right now and not sure where to go from here.
Thanks!
Also, this is random: but I've been using a protein powder made from just mung beans. I was wondering if I should stop eating this since it's technically not part of the program? The ingredients are just "mung bean protein isolate"

Hi! Sounds like stress might be a contributing factor?? Ugh school can be so stressful! Consider regular exercise, lots of water, avoid alcohol and get some good sleep. A lot of schools offer counselors which might be worth considering? They might have some stress management ideas?