Monday, June 01, 2009

clawing at my skin

it is a quarter of noon and i am just now getting out of bed and moving about. remember those hives i've talked about having? well it went from annoying and unsightly to "im going to claw my skin until it bleeds and then keep going" so we decided to go to urgent care.





the first urgent care didn't take our insurance so we left. the second had moved and when we went to it's new location it wasn't open! so by that time all of the urgent cares were closed (9pm) so off to the ER we went. i was dreading the wait because like i said, i was clawing my skin and could not stop. the previous night it was so terrible i couldnt sleep and just laid on the couch with ice packs on my legs. thankfully we only waited about 30 minutes in the waiting room and within 2 hours i had my prednisone and atarax(steroids and anti-itch meds sort of like a step above benedryl) flowing through me. in the days leading up to this i had taken benedryl like it was going out of style but i had to take it every 3 hours at the full strength or i was like an animal. waking up in the middle of the night to find my legs on fire, i couldn't handle it one more night. so this is day one of 14 on the steroids and atarax and needless to say im a little groggy. in fact a little more than groggy.

10 comments:

meridith said...

did they say what caused it? bless your heart! that really stinks! :(

nathansmart said...

I get a summer rash every year and one thing that helps with the itch is to run really hot water over it. The burn gets in there and it feels like a million fingers all scratching my itch at once. It's one of the best feelings in the world.

I did a search on it to make sure it's okay that I do it and it seems as if the hot water opens up the pores and all of the histimine gets out that way. Of course, it comes back in a shorter amount of time but it's temporary relief when I don't have any cream lying around.

West Coast Mama said...

Ouch! Are they sure it's hives? It looks a little like shingles. Hope it clears up soon!

Olive said...

meridith - i am allergic apparently to something in a sunscreen i used over memorial day weekend

organic girl - it is contact dermatitis they said. though i was wondering about shingle too. its over a large area so im pretty sure it was the sunscreen i used over the holiday weekend

Momma Bear said...

oh that's horrible, i'm so sorry. Will my babe just had shingles and it did look a bit different than this, more linear not so allover the place. oh man feel better.do you need a meal or anything for you and the fam?

West Coast Mama said...

Just a little note: if it does not improve and is still itchy as heck, ask about something called Gianotti Crosti Syndrome. I had it when I was 14. It was a rash that covered almost all of my body (except my neck and face). They thought it was contact dermatitis but the medication didn't help, then it was shingles but it didn't get better. Finally, after 3 weeks, a biopsy was done and that's how we found out what it was. I didn't think of it when I first saw the pictures but it looks kind of similar and it was everywhere. I hope it isn't Gianotti Crosti because there is no treatment but if it doesn't get better soon, it might be something to ask about.
Hope you feel better soon!

Olive said...

beth you are so sweet! thank you. i think we are fine though - david is picking up a lot of slack. i can usually muster something in the crock pot at the very least :)

i will definitely keep an eye on it organic girl. i think the meds are working - albeit making me feel really loopy and detached.

For The Love of Rockets said...

I'm sorry to hear that I hope you feel better!!!

Anonymous said...

jenny... so so so sorry. oatmeal baths are awesome for the itchiness. grind up some oatmeal in your food processor and then just add it to your bath. isabella had hives pretty bad for a couple of weeks and it really helped her every night before she went to sleep. i hope you are feeling better soon jenny!

Doom For Darlings said...

Being itchy is the worst. Hope it clears up soon, and I hope your body starts to kind of work with the medicine to kick some of the side effects!