Mare Zijlstra: Woman reveals how kissing her pets led to rare and painful skin condition
GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS: A Dutch woman is battling a rare and painful skin condition due to an allergic reaction caused by kissing her pets. Mare Zijlstra, 25, who was first diagnosed with eczema, revealed that in 2020 she experienced Topical Steroid Withdrawal symptoms overnight after ceasing to apply the hormonal ointment and medications that she had been prescribed for eight years.
Mare, a native of Groningen in the Netherlands, had been using the topical steroid twice daily to her entire body to ease the itching rash she had developed after being diagnosed with eczema. However, Mare suspected that she is allergic to her pets before receiving a diagnosis of allergies to dogs, cats, dust mites, and pollens. She realized she had a pet allergy as soon as she stopped using the therapy because she saw changes in her skin, which led to her developing burning, severe itching, skin flakes, edema, pustules, redness, and sensitive skin, Yahoo News reported
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Mare had abnormal body temperatures, hair loss, nerve agony, and numbness in various parts of her body at her worst. Mare's hormone ointment was a topical steroid, so over time and with continuous use, her skin grew used to it leaving her with a flurry of symptoms after she stopped using it.
Allergic reactions began as a teenager
Mare admitted that she first started having allergic reactions as a teenager after petting her cat, which caused her to have sneezing attacks, runny noses, and itchy eyes. “I had an allergy test done at the hospital. This showed that I was allergic to cats, pollen, and house dust mites," she said. “I was given a corticosteroid ointment for my skin and a corticosteroid nasal spray for my nose. In addition, I was given Desloratadine, which is an antihistamine that suppresses allergic reactions." Mare eventually came to the conclusion that her allergy was originally triggered by animals, but it took a while since initially, physicians thought she had severe eczema. “At the time I was prescribed hormone ointment, a topical steroid, for a rash around my mouth, nose, eyes, neck, and hands,” she said. “At that time, the doctor saw it as eczema. In hindsight, I don't think it was eczema, but an allergic reaction to our pets that I cuddled and kissed regularly. “The topical steroid made the rash disappear but came back worse, so I started applying the topical steroid again. In this way, I ended up in a vicious cycle for eight years.”
Painful two years
However, her misery didn't end there. Mare had a painful two years ahead of her, during which she had to go through the hardest stages of topical steroid withdrawal. “Since the day I stopped using hormone ointment, I've ended up in one long flare with good periods and bad periods alternated. Certainly, for two years I experienced the worst withdrawal symptoms,” she said. “The symptoms described online give a distorted picture of what the symptoms have actually been for me. These include burning, intense itching and skin flakes, edema, pustules, redness, and sensitive skin. Edema had developed in both my body and my face." “I also had a lot of hair loss. On social media, I have also come across people who were forced to shave their hair. Luckily it never got that far for me." Moreover, Mare's cortisol levels had been impacted by her frequent use of topical steroids, which resulted in a complete disruption of her sleep cycle. She would alternate between having total sleepless nights and sleeping for 12 hours nonstop. "TSW also affected my nervous system. I started experiencing nerve pain, shocks, or numbness in parts of the body, and my body's temperature regulation was disturbed so that I suddenly felt very hot or cold.”
'I also struggled with mental problems'
Mare is still overcoming her skin issue as well as mental repercussions because of topical steroid withdrawal. “I also struggled with mental problems during TSW, such as stress, anxiety, panic attacks, fatigue, gloom, and depression. All the effects I experienced from TSW put me in bed for months,” she said. Mare was quite self-conscious about people seeing her when her skin was at its worst, therefore it was fortunate for her that she had developed Topical Steroid Withdrawal while the COVID-19 lockdown in the Netherlands had already started. In order to create a platform where she can post her skin flare-ups while sharing uplifting, motivating remarks about how she has been coping with Topical Steroid Withdrawal, Mare started her road of recovery by opening an Instagram account called tswplatform in January 2021. As a consequence of sharing her own experience on her Instagram page and motivating others who are going through topical steroid withdrawal, Mare has been happier and more accepting of herself and her skin.