SolemnDragon's Journal: signs of life

irritation is a sign of life.

i say this, hoping that it makes me an optimist.

I've gotten through the whole day without going back to the hospital. So far, so good.

My face was swelled up pretty badly. The prednisone is working, the swelling is almost gone (my eyes are still a bit puffy, but i've lost the 'strongsad' look)

Unfortunately, i can't use any of my usual lotions until we find out what happened.

Which means that after this last skin damage from the swelling, my face is... well, i might as well be blunt: it's scaly. The surface skin has gotten dry and rough, and has started to flake and crack. I went to get a haircut today, and we steered clear of the usual hair products. The hairdresser took one look at me and didn't need any reminding as we went along.

I bought two creams at the store- one is designed for allergy-prone people, and one is designed for babies with sensitive skin. I'm trying a patch test of one of them now. I'm hoping to be able to use at least one of them before things get too bad.

Irritation is a good sign. It is different from the oh-mi-gods of an emergency, or the 'uh-oh' of impending trouble. It's a frustration of having somewhere that you'd like to be, and not being there yet.

For example, the living room is full of boxes. We're gradually getting things packed up to move. That's an irritation, too. But it's all right- it's work we need to do to get where we want to be.

We've worked out a bit of a plan over the course of the day. FOr one thing, i'm going back to simple, basic foods- a rotation through known, safe foods. Rice. Quinoa pasta and cheeses (with lactaid tablets.) Things that we know i won't react to. We'll gradually start adding things one at a time in the days to come, hoping to add to the roster of safe foods, but go very slowly until we can get to the allergy doc, and hope for the best.

What else can we do? And it's all right to be annoyed by this. This IS annoying, it is challenging, an obstacle but not an impassable one. It's a part of the risk of being human- sometimes, you have to go slow, proceed with caution, and just accept that limiting your risk is all you can do.

Drink your milk, buckle your seat belt, and hope for the best.

Signs of life

[Tet]

irritation is a sign of life

Meh! So is reproduction, yet most mules are unable to reproduce, and are still considered alive. The RINGMER criteria are overrated :-)

Anyway, good luck with the new domicile, and I hope your health improves.

hmmmm

[ellem]

could it be b1inder?

could you be irritated and allegic to b1inder?

Now, come on, how funny would that be?

Sol, it's b1inder. You;ll have to kill and burn him!

Re:hmmmm

[Allen Zadr]

I SolemnDragon's Journal, Allen is allergic to this joke!

1. Stop using said joke.
2. ???
3. Profit with good karma.

Wow, If you can't tell, I'm thinking this joke has become old.

And, no, sorry - not the kind of old as in 'Soviet Russia' jokes. This one is not bound to be a classic.

Packing

[ryanr]

irritation is a sign of life

But.. you told me to STOP being irritating!

Hey, how long have you been packing? You didn't get into some dust cache or strange chemical while doing so, did you? Do your symptoms always indicate somthing ingested?

Confused

[gmhowell]

Which means that after this last skin damage from the swelling, my face is... well, i might as well be blunt: it's scaly.

I thought the skin I saw IRL was a facade. I mean, aren't dragons, well... scaly?

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

One bonus....

[fanfaire]

You are far more accustomed to unexpected health problems than the average person and thus are better equipped to deal with, well, irritating things. When my ex got bodywide hives out of the blue several years ago, he was more than irritating....he was unbearable to be around.

Any chance you are allergic to work??

*ducks*

Packing

[turg]

Can you afford to pay movers to do the packing?

Re:Packing

[trmj]

I've already (well, a couple of months ago actually) volunteered for this job. Movers are helping, yes, but some stuff will be done by the unpaid hand, so I will be giving any and all help that is needed.

Solemn and Dave: see you two tomorrow.

Skin

[Oculus Habent]

You might try [fote.com] Fruit of the Earth Vitamin E Gel [fote.com]. Just Vitamin E and Aloe Vera, IIRC.

Also, pure Vitamin E oil is an extremely effective moisturizer, but it's sticky as hell. Great for razorburn, though.

Unasked for suggestions aside, be safe.
--
May good company keep you, and keep you merry.

one thing to look for

[Abm0raz]

As an allergy severe sufferer, I've made it a point to understand what allergies are. One thing to watch out for isn't "what is the trigger food" but instead "what was the trigger stress". Hives are your immune system attacking your body (to simplify it greatly). Some people break out in mild cases of hives when they get too hot. Others when they get too cold. These types of hives generaly do not even come close to the severity of a food-induced hive breakout, but they do point out a interesting factor

Re:one thing to look for

[SolemnDragon]

well, i have autoimmune problems to begin with, which is one reason to be careful, but the other is that i have absolutely no idea what sent me to the hospital the other day, and i need to be sure that it doesn't happen again.

I've never had reactions like this. While it's possible that i'm more stressed, it's also something that i need to know more about. I will definitely be talking to the doc about stress levels in addition to everything else- thank you for mentioning this.

my reactions to tomatoes started