Itchy and scratchy…

That's me in a nutshell.

I have hives. Pretty much all over. My face has been spared, so far, but as every day the rash spreads further, I can only hope my face remains unblemished. I have no idea what caused the outbreak. I'm not using any new detergent, shower gel, soap, or lotion. I haven't worn any new unwashed clothing.

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps I rubbed up against the wrong plant last Sunday while mountain biking. But even that makes little sense, as we rode the same trails we always ride and in fact were there just two weeks prior. No one else has developed a rash. Just lucky me.

It started in a mild way early last week. A couple of itchy bumps on my hands and arms. Nothing visible and not too terribly annoying. But they increased gradually each day. By Saturday it had become obvious I had a problem, and Sunday was rather miserable.

Back Story

I was actually at the doctor's office Friday on another matter. In mid-December I wounded my leg while trying to get a towel from the shelf above the washing machine. Instead of taking the time to get the step stool, I tried to leap up onto the washer. I have done this many, many times successfully, but I guess I wasn't trying hard enough that day and my left leg banged pretty hard against the edge. It left a dent in my leg and it hurt like heck, but I never suspected it would become a problem.

But about four weeks later, itchy bumps formed around the wound. It looked pretty awful and infectious. So that's why I went to see the doctor last Friday.

He prescribed an antibiotic ointment (Bactroban) to put on the area twice a day. He said that if it didn't look better in 72 hours to come back to the office. It didn't seem to be getting any better and I would have made an appointment regardless, but the rash thing pushed me to call first thing this morning.

This time I saw the nurse practitioner (I liked her a lot). She prescribed a sulfur based oral antibiotic for the leg and Prednisone for the hives. Also an over the counter antihistamine. I am looking forward to picking them up this afternoon.

I have cut and filed my nails down to nothing in an attempt to save my skin. I am a scratcher. I know I'm only making it worse but how can I stop? Tom keeps telling me, "Stop scratching!" But he's not the one with the rash. How can he understand?

Oh, I did talk with the pharmacist at Target yesterday and she suggested that I try liquid Benedryl. (children's, but they have an adult dose) It's supposed to work faster. She said that if it was an allergic reaction to something, the Benedryl would help. Nothing doing. I took it before going to bed last night and I kept waking myself up scratching.

In other news, yesterday morning our washing machine died. I heard a clattering sound, then silence, so went to check on things and things were not looking good. I will skip on ahead to say that Tom's dad came over to help work on the thing and even he determined that it was dead. Dad is one of the most frugal people I know. So if he says it can't be fixed, you can bet on it.

So Tom and I spent much of Sunday washing machine shopping. We went to Home Depot, Lowe's, Sears, then back to Lowe's. We bought a Maytag washer and dryer set there. We figured since both of our machines were ten years old, the dryer probably didn't have much life left and we might as well get them together so that they match and are both energy efficient, etc. Tom stayed home today for their delivery. Can you believe I'm looking forward to going home and washing clothes this evening?

Comments

[Vicky]

I have picked up plant based itchies at the Econ before but usually just a swipe on an arm or leg, not all over. Yikes! I know how hard it is not to scratch!

[Denise Baum]

Oooh. New household appliances. Expensive but exciting.

[Itchy and scratchy]

Interesting story and well posted...
https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=817789614&email=7cff47bb7cdcb76fbfa15e66c81a1961