Curiouser & Curiouser - Part 1

Curiouser & Curiouser – Part 1

The National Eczema Association (NEA) has adopted an Alice in Wonderland approach to steroid addiction.

The NEA recently advertised a free webinar presentation to be viewed on August 23rd. The RN spokesperson will discuss how to “safely” start and taper off steroids. After 30 years of nonstop steroid advocacy, their published papers stating that addiction to steroids is a rare event and a probable byproduct of patient misuse, the NEA has decided on a “new” adventure – withdrawal.

Like Alice in Wonderland jumping into the rabbit hole of unreality the NEA task force consisting of Drs. Hajar, Leshem, Hanifin, Paller and Simpson among others has the audacity to present withdrawal as a “new” protocol. The papers cited fail to include my peer reviewed published papers of 1500 cured steroid addicted patients. The tyrant Queen of Hearts was at work not to inform their fellow physicians of the most august paper in the literature on the subject.

The donating steroid drug companies would not appreciate the truth. Instead, the mercury addled brain of the Mad Hatter must have helped write the NEA papers citing poor paper after paper from the most obscure sources as evidence that the addiction entity is no big deal. In my work all the chonic users of steroids became addicted and none of them had “bad eczema.” Bad eczema only exists as a bad diagnosis. All patients were cured with steroid cessation over a long and arduous time. No rash, no creams, no doctors.

In true whimsical fantasy the Cheshire Cat just grinned and then disappeared with a bow to the steroid companies that all is well. A glaring lie to the suffering patients.

“Curiouser & Curiouser – Part 2” coming up next…

By Dr Marvin Rapaport, MD|2021-10-19T03:16:46-07:00August 14th, 2017|Topical Steroid Withdrawal|Comments Off

About the Author: Dr Marvin Rapaport, MD

In 1978 I initiated and set up the contact and photo dermatitis clinic at UCLA. There was a need to evaluate a large group of patients who exhibited severe eczematoid rashes, especially on the face. Patients were referred from all over Southern California. All patients underwent a lengthy history and examination. Further evaluations included blood studies, allergy patch testing, special sunlight (photo) testing and skin biopsies. From the start it was apparent that most patients experienced a mild dermatitis on various parts of the body that progressively worsened. Their histories always included numerous doctor visits, multiple physicians, and therapy consisting of an increasing amount of corticosteroids. My testing failed to reveal any specific culprit chemicals, cosmetics, perfumes, workplace or recreational exposures. It became increasingly clear that the physician’s therapy, the corticosteroids, was invariably causing the problem. I wrote 7 scientific articles that were published in the most august peer-reviewed dermatologic journals and I gave many lectures at various dermatology meetings. To this day an unfortunate reluctance exists on the part of most physicians to accept this simple concept.