Friends! It's been entirely too long! My apologies for taking so long to update the blog. I went into rehearsal for Dreamgirls in April, and the rest of my life was put on hold. After closing the show July 30th, I've been spending the past month learning how to be a human again, but I'm back and have so much to share! I plan to blog about my experience playing Deena Jones, but today I'm giving you a good ole Dr. Aron Method update.

It's time for another Dr. Aron Method Update! I know I just posted an update a few weeks ago, but I actually recorded that video in November, and it's already well into January. I've also been flaring pretty badly, so I wanted to share that with you all. In the last update I talked about how I had been eating really poorly and I needed to stop eating all the sugar and crappy foods. Well, after recording that video I stepped right into the holiday season and continued to eat all of the bad things for my body.

After 5 months of the Dr. Aron Method my skin has vastly improved. I'm not completely eczema free, but the healing I've experienced thus far has given me a much better quality of life. I'm very happy with the decision I've made to do The Aron Method, and I look forward to seeing how my body will continue to heal. I recorded a video after 3 months of this new regimen and FINALLY finished editing it today. I'm new to vlogging, so I promise I'll get better at getting these videos up quicker! Check it out below.

For those of you that have been following my blog I know what you’re thinking, “Noooooo! You went back to steroids??” Yes…yes I did. It took a long time for me to come to this decision, but after research, prayer, and more research, I decided to take the next step in my healing by trying the The Aron Regimen. For this post I decided to do something new and something I’ve been afraid of doing for a while (#doitafraid). I recorded a video on July 26 explaining my experience with moisture withdrawal and why I decided to return to steroids. So YAY for my first vlog entry!!! I explain everything in the video, but for those of you who prefer to read, I’ve posted a recap below.

Is staph infection hindering your healing?  The truth is staph infection and eczema go hand in hand. Unfortunately, many eczema sufferers are unaware of how staph is affecting their bodies.  I didn’t realize how it was delaying my healing process until a few months ago. First, let’s rewind to May of 2015.  This is the first time I learned that I had staph infection. While visiting the dermatologist, my doctor took a culture of my skin after seeing my inflamed and raw hands. The culture showed staph infection, so my doctor put me on oral antibiotics and a topical ointment for my hands. I ended up taking two rounds of antibiotics, despite my better judgement, because the first round brought no changes. The second round was also fruitless. After that I swore off the dermatologist and continued to research on my own in an effort to find natural healing. I figured whatever remedies I found would be better than the antibiotics and creams from the dermatologist. My mistake was not researching the correlation of eczema and staph infection immediately, but I’ll get to that later.

A little over a year ago I did something totally out of character by launching “Just Du Pree The Blog.” It was something that had been on my mind for years, but last year I finally got the courage to make it a reality. Launching the blog allowed me to get very candid about my struggles with an eating disorder, depression, body image, and dealing with topical steroid withdrawal. I knew I needed to launch the blog to help others who were going through the same struggles as me, but I didn't realize how many people the blog would touch. Every time someone sends me a message, comments on a post, or tells me how they relate to my struggles, it’s confirmation that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing.

Life is crazy my friends! Last year this time I was getting ready to move home with no plans for the foreseeable future, no idea why my health was failing, and no work lined up for the first time since I graduated college. Now I'm rehearsing for my third show in a row since November! Ya girl has been working non-stop and it's such as blessing. Moving home felt like I was failing in life, but now I know it was just a set up for the next step in my life.