Re: antibiotics and steroids

Hey 66691:
I don't know what caused your itchy, swollen lips (sounds like no one does!) - if your doctors ruled out serious conditions, I'd imagine they were thinking hypersensitivity (either an allergy or a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction like latex allergy or poison ivy), but they may have just been treating symptoms.
You were only on prednisone and cortisol for a couple days a few times. If the seborrheic dermatitis had started while you were on corticosteroids (which would be unexpected because this is the sort of thing that corticosteroids suppress) or immediately afterwards, you might be able to consider the possibility that the corticosteroids were directly or indirectly causing the condition. But since the problem doesn't appear to be temporarily related, it's very unlikely that it's related. Montreal Homegrown was confusing anabolic steroids (which you weren't taking) with corticosteroids. There are no synthetic corticosteroids remaining in your body. You DO have cortisol in your body, but that's normal and it's not because you took shots! Your adrenal glands make cortisol every day, and if your body didn't make cortisol, you'd be in trouble (there are people whose adrenal glands don't make enough glucocorticoids. It's a serious condition, and can be fatal). It's large doses of corticosteroids, over prolonged periods of time, that generally cause problems. Our bodies are pretty good at handling most (certainly not all!) short-term insults: if our bodies weren't hardy enough to handle a couple of days of corticosteroids here and there, I doubt many of us would've survived very long, because our bodies face far greater disruptions than that!
There are no synthetic corticosteroids left in your body to flush out. Most of the serious after-effects of drugs have nothing to do with drugs still being in your body. Think of it like a hurricane: the hurricane comes through, when it's gone, it's left a lot of damage. Trying to fix this damage by chasing away a hurricane that is already gone will not do any good. But in this case, it doesn't sound like the corticosteroids caused the problem to begin with. You have a history of skin problems (acne, swollen lips), so it sounds like you're prone to inflammatory skin reactions, and this may just be another manifestation or an intensification.
I guess the first thing to ask is: what have you tried so far, and has it helped?

So, what non-steroidal remedies to try for seborrheic dermatitis? Well, this is one of those things where lots of people get improvement from various things, but there's no one thing that works for everyone. There are a lot of treatments available as shampoos, which you also use on the face and other affected areas. 5% tea tree oil shampoos are natural and work for some people. Azole creams (e.g. Lotrimin, Micatin, etc. Many are available over-the-counter, and some of these may say on the package that they're for other conditions, such as "jock itch" or whatever, but they can be applied to wherever your problem is, no matter how they're advertised) work on the face and skin for some people (and there are azole shampoos, such as Nizoral, which do the same thing). Other inexpensive over-the-counter products that have helped some people are zinc pyrithione shampoos (head and shoulders makes one. so does denorex) and shampoos containing selenium (Selsun Blue makes one, so does Head and Shoulders). To treat the scalp, leave all shampoos on for 5-10 minutes. You can also use them to wash the face. If you want to try a cream for your skin, Lamisil (an athlete's foot creme) may be a good one to try. Certain kinds of UV-light therapy may help. There's nothing that works for everyone. There are plenty of free natural remedies out there you can try (google seborrheic dermatitis and 'natural') that may work. Others have to turn to the creams and shampoos mentioned. For some, conventional therapies fail and natural therapies work like a charm. For others, it is the complete opposite. These things are difficult to predict.
Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

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