I agree about the heat, but I would also have my recurring GD breakouts start in late winter. Heat does intensify
the misery.
Steroids- with my hand eczema steroids worked fast in relieving my itching and the rash would subside within a week. At that time I didn't understand that steroids were only a treatment, they are not a cure and won't prevent recurrances. Steroids cause skin thinning and hair loss and other negative side effects, bewary using them and only as prescribed. Like antibiotics you must use topical steroids full course of what the doctor prescribed- usually about 10 day. I would improve within days, but continue or like antibiotics used for too short a period of time they won't work for you in the futre.
The chronic cycle of rash- rash develops, steroid, remission and then the return of the rash. In the case of my ACD rash I learned from patch testing the causes and the major cause was my cleaning products containing Mercaptbenzothiazole, MBT, a preservative banned for a decade in many european countries. I used Dawn dish soap and surprisingly Dawn still puts it in today, the shelf life of their dish soap is 100 years plus. Why? It doesn't help clean. Cheaper for the company, no product loss. Many American products now ban MBT. I mentioned diet change and hormones to control the burning in my privates, but another contributor caused by our FDA and congress being influenced by chemical lobby groups was my Cottenelle person wipes which are used on babys or adults wiping anal areas. At that time they contained MBT. I have the box to prove it. It took me a while to figure out it was the wipes. I believe I personally helped get MBT removed from these wipes because I wrote up my issues, copy of Patch Test results, documenting my reaction and current information about this powerful preservative affecting others. They responded offered to pay me for the box I had been using. I declined this "generous" offer, but months after that I noticed this preservative was no longer in their product. Of course I will never use any product in this area to clean with other than water and a castile soap free of perfume, dyes or preservatives like Grandma's bar soap. A side note, years earlier I'd pick up my baby grandson for the weekend and he would have a terrible diaper rash. I didn't use the baby wipes but simply soft cotton wash clothes to wipe his bottom and also put him in the sun for 15 or less minutes. After a few days his bottom would look better, only for it to have returned when I saw him next. I am certain he has the same allergy to MBT, but it never occured to me at that time it was the baby wipes his nursery and parents used.
Steroids are a necessary evil, but without them I would have gone crazy with my inside skin issues we discussed. What kept me from loosing my mind was Kenalog 40 Cortico-Steroid injections. It would last for 1 year, which was all the dermatologist felt was safe. Some are forced to do it more frequently. It's powerful, but within 3 days most of the zapping, burning and stinging was gone and it would last about 9 months before it would slowly work it's way up again. It did cause hair thinning.
I was able to discontinue these shots after getting them for 3 years years because of 1. diet change- following Dr. William Crooke's book, The Yeast Connection Handbook and doing his detox for 3 full months no cheating, Aso for 6 months his maintanence diet, after that giving up processed sugar for life but have resumed all carbs and fructose in fresh fruit. 2. Cilantro- 1/2 bunch a day blended for 5 months and now only occasionally. 3. Patch testing to determine my allergen's to avoid.
But what helped what forms- avoiding my allergen's did nothing to help with GD, but definately helped stop my ACD rashes and slowly stopped my internal inflamation a part of the reason I didn't need my Kenalog-40 Cortico Steroid shot. Giving up sugar helped my ACD and possibly my GD as I gave it up 6 months before my annual steroid shot was needed. Cilantro definately helped put GD in remission within a few months, but I had also been off sugar for over six months. I don't think the steroids shot helped with the GD, except my outbreaks cycle was 6 months of activity and 6 months of dormacy, a common cycle which may have been unrelated. For me the initial GD outbreak lasted one full year. The steroid shot most definately controlled my internal skin issues.
No more steroids, shots or topicals for me since December 2018.