Flaring

Obviously because my period is coming, I'm flaring. I started taking Gabapentin again for nerve pain that I didn't even realize was nerve pain. My wrists have been hurting really badly and my husband recommended I try taking one to see if would work and it did. For those that don't know, Gabapentin in a nerve pain med given to many tsw patients. I'm also taking klonopin & ambien to sleep. Ambien alone doesn't work, nor does melatonin. Supposedly I have insomnaphobia so that's what the klonopin is for, to calm me down and allow the ambien to work. Even taking these, I still wake up a couple times a night. But at least I'm not terrified of the nighttime anymore. Still, I have to take 2 rounds of these pills because 1 dosage alone doesnt work. So I take them when Im ready for bed and if I still havent fallen asleep an hour later I take the other round. I hate that I have to take so many pills because I know they all have side effects. I just hope I'm not replacing one "addiction" with another. Looking back, I've had problems sleeping for almost 10 years and I wonder if it all had to do with the topical steroids ruining my adrenals and cortisol production. Anyway, back to the flare. It started 4 days ago. (Although I feel like my last flare never ended.) It was accompanied by lots of crying, itching, and extreme fatigue.  It's so weird because today I feel fine. I mean, my skin's beat up but I had some energy to get things done which was great. 1st pic is 2 days ago and 2nd is today:

Not as red but the problem areas remain. Yesterday, I did try out some bentonite clay that I read about on a fellow blogger's page. She had great results in closing up some stubborn wounds using it just once but I wasn't so lucky. I'm going to keep using it though and see if it improves in time. I'm also really trying to eat better. I really want my skin to clear up for this wedding I'm going to in 6 weeks. I see my functional medicine doctor this week so hopefully she has some tricks up her sleeve. Will report back. Hang in there peeps.