Agreeing to participate in an eczema clinical trial (I’ll shorten it to ECT since it sounds more badass official) means also agreeing to being a human pin cushion and zoo attraction.

Haha- that’s only half true. Besides my daily ECT routine (read that here) I also have to make regular visits to the dermatology clinic conducting the trial in this area. In this EczeMAD vlog, I’ll show you what a typical visit is like.

Typical measurements such as weight and blood pressure are recorded- I’m just as awesome as ever. I have to answer a couple ‘how-itchy-are-you’ questionnaires ranging from a simple two-question paper to the lengthier tablet version which prods answers on anxiety, social activities, and makes you realize how depressing eczema can be.

The dermatologist enters and observes me up and down occasionally making “mm-hmm” noises in between asking me of my hobbies. He’s a friendly ringleader.

Before being accepted to the ECT (now the abbreviation sounds like a cult) I swore on my life to double up on birth control, vasectomies, and resist any womanly urges to get pregnant (The study didn’t want to know the affects of the ECT on babies). Uhhh… yeah… thankfully I’m waiting until my wedding (less than 100 days away!!) so I can untie my tubes for now. However, peeing in a cup is still mandatory.

Blood work time. Vials and vials are extracted from my left arm which has now seen more needles than a clothing factory.

Finally I take my pills for the day. They team of nurses makes sure I’m good on my lotion and sunscreen and add participation compensation to my gift card. I receive another pack of pills for the week.

I’ll probably visit the clinic a dozen times before the ECT is complete. The visits are typically similar but vary in the amount of blood drawn or times it’s drawn. My office visits have been from one hour to half a day.

Unfortunately, the distance sucks. I wake up two hours earlier than usual to begin the 40  minute to 1:25 hour drive through rush hour to get to my appointments. Yuck yuck yuck. Often I take time out of my work day for this. Parts of it suck and parts of it are annoying but at the same time I keep telling myself- if it’ll help me (and if it’ll help others) then the yucky long drive will be worth it.

I’m not a medical or health professional; just a young lady who’s had eczema since birthday uno. It was manageable until late 2014 when my skin took a nose-dive. Since then I’ve immersed myself in finding a non-topical steroid way to manage it. Check out my EczeMAD page and videos for more.