My 4 year old son Suffering from Red Skin Syndrome

My second child Ihsan Zulfaqar was born healthy. When he 6 months old, he had his first bronchial asthma attack & eczema. Pediatrician prescribed antibiotics & nebulizer (which contained steroids). Once recovered from the first wheezing episode his eczema became more frequent. He was constantly having either wheezing episodes or small rashes of eczema till he was almost 2 years old. The pediatrician then prescribed an immune suppressant cream for his stubborn eczema patches on his face. It worked for almost 5 months and then he's skin started to get worst.

We didnt know any better then so we brought him to the National Skin center & was prescribed topical steroid creams and another immune suppressant cream for his eczema by a specialist. 2 months later, his eczema spread to more parts of his body. We consulted the same specialist & he prescribed the same drugs for my toddler. 3 months down the road, his whole body flared. His skin was constantly itchy, he'll scratch till his skin ooze & bleed. That was when I did a research and learned more on Red Skin Syndrome from itsan.org. I decided to stop applying the creams cold turkey and go to a more natural route. We realized my son was going through Topical Steroid Addiction (TSA) and the process of the skin goes through is called Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW). That was September 2015. It wasn't easy! Every day & night there were tears, blood, dry flaky skin all over the place and constant cries. I had to quit my full time job & look after him and my eldest child back then.

We tried traditional Chinese medicine, natural herbs & remedies, many supplements, essential oils & currently he's still on homeopathy pills. Since my husband is the sole breadwinner, it's been financially stressful for us. Organic food is not cheap, we have spent so much on his medical supplies & supplements and we are running dry & out of hope.

It's been 17months now that my son has suffered. We want to get to the end of this tunnel soon and we found a naturopath nurse who's based in Auckland, New Zealand who is well knowledged on his condition as her child went through the same before. There are other doctors who are based in USA & Japan as well who can help treat my son's condition but we cannot afford to pay for the trip as they are more expensive & the flight duration is too long. I'm trying to find solutions to make my son comfortable during the trip as well as he will feel itchy and bleed still.

We have to bring our other two children as well since no one in our family is able to look after my other two children if we can make it for the trip. My youngest is only 6 months old and I am still nursing him fully.

We seek your kind support to help us raise the funds for us to consult the naturopath based in NZ since that is the nearest & cheapest medical help we can find. We also want to raise awareness that this Red skin syndrome due to topical steroids is serious and affecting many people around the world. We need the medical doctors worldwide to recognize this condition as it is very serious. It breaks families apart, causes low self esteem & even depression to the sufferers!

I want my son to be happy like any normal 4 year old child soon. He has missed out a lot of his childhood due to his condition. Please help us gain his self esteem back! Thank you