Gary says I don’t really have poison ivy, if I did have poison ivy, I would have huge oozing welts like he does when HE has poison ivy.
My skin doesn’t itch: it burns. This is why I have spent the day with ice packs on my face.
My eye swelling has gone down. In fact, my undereyes are sunken and hollow again. I do still have the swollen upper under-lids. Usually my upper top-lids swamp my under-lids. I was surprised to see them still peeking out like a sick cat’s.
Upon some research I found that in a drug trial, calamine was no better than placebo. I had benedryl anti-itch gel, but it made me itch. I found two excellent treatments:
1) Pile cold packs all over my arms and face. The ice bricks didn’t even hurt. Felt good. As an MS patient, I have a freezer full of cold packs and gel packs and wraps and vests.
2) Do yardwork. Keep your mind off it. It’s so odd, I find that when I return to an area of my yard, I remember the words I had in my head the last time I worked there, even if I haven’t worked there for years. The front sidewalk bed,where I was today, was “nematode … nematode … nematode” and the two sisters who were fighting over the lottery ticket. (There are no actual nematodes in the bed, it’s just the words that are in my front sidewalk gardening bed neurons.)
Benedryl would be good right now, but I think I can sleep without it. And you know, I don’t really have poison ivy, not the kind with HIDEOUS WELTS, so I’ll be fine. I do have flaky skin from where my skin expanded into individual puffy cells. (See below!) Back to work tomorrow. I might send out an email explaining why I look so extra hideous.
6 responses to “How I Suffer”
Ouch and triple ouch! Tell Gary not to be silly, each person’s allergic reaction is particular to them. So you swell and burn but don’t blister – still a nasty allergic reaction. Benedryl, baby, and now – and glad to hear that packing yourself in ice does appear to soothe your howling histamine…
Ouch. I have severe empathy for you right now.
It looked like you rolled in poison ivy.
Cool oatmeal baths might help with the skin.
Oh poor you. My mother would get poison oak so badly and swell up just the way you have. Get better soon.
Mare – Howling histamine! Nicely said!Tami – My co-workers can’t even see that my eyes are puffy. (#3 did say my left eye looked a little swollen.)Zayrina – Out bathtub is so dusty right now I couldn’t think of it. Hattie – But did she suffer bravely, as I do?
No way.