I hereby start to transmit information in English about TSA (topical steroid addiction). Today is the 4th June 2013. It is a little hot here in Nagoya, Japan.
I must confess first of all that I am not seeing patients with TSA for these 10 years because I changed my speciality from common dermatology to cosmetic surgeon. The reason why I changed speciality is very simple. An honest and dedicated doctor can't make a living by seeing patients with TSA. I know my phrase is cynical and likely to be misunderstood. But it was a truth for me at least.
How can a doctor get money from patients only by warning that topical steroids might cause addiction? I couldn’t.
I am not writing that there is nothing I can do for patients with TSA. I must be an ideal counselor. I know various patterns of topical steroid withdrawal. I could sometimes identify if the patient is really addicted . All patients using TCS (topical corticosteroids) are not addicted of course. There are patients who are obsessed with the idea of TSA and fail to notice other aggravating factors. I could suggest it to them.
But I can’t ask any price for those kinds of things to the poor patients. I think I have enough skills as a doctor but too gentle to make a living as a doctor of seeing suffered patients. That is all.
I did such a job before 10 years ago because I was an employee of a national hospital. Good old days. Japan was rich and I could do my work as I liked ignoring economic merit. I had seen thousands of patients with TSA.
Ironically, as Japan was rich and people could get TCS easily with very little expense (public health insurance covered largely), there were so many TSA patients at that time. Japan is an advanced country of TSA.
Time had passed. There is no national hospital now in Japan. Some of them are closed and others changed to common hospitals with financial independence. I lost my place.
I worried horribly. Though my character is gentle I must make a living. And yet should I continue my carrier as a doctor for TSA? I went to a church because I thought I could continue this hard work if I could become a Christian and devote my life like a sacrifice. But I found I couldn’t. I really cried in the church. I felt I was a hypocrite and hated myself.
Ten years has passed since I retired from the work of saving TSA patients. I am now a successful cosmetic surgeon. My broken heart became almost healed. I started to transmit information in Japanese 5 years ago. I have been writing a blog in Japanese and published early contents as a book which is translated in English on web. This blog is for English readers who want to know more about TSA.
So it is a short story of me. Sorry for my grumbling. But you could understand the essential of TSA.
Stop topical steroids if you are really addicted. That is only and simple way of escaping from it. I know how hard it is and what a hope the patient could keep if any doctor could understand the situations.
Well, that is why I am writing now.
I couldn’t believe in God. I am a realist. But I can believe any patient has an exit from TSA. It is real.
Please refer to "Atopy steroid addiction in Japan". This blog is continued from it.
http://topicalsteroidaddiction.weebly.com/
Sorry, the comment column is not available now. But the author believes readers can find some hints to overcome their own situations by the previous comments.
