On Itching a Scratch

I'm off my meds. This is fair warning.

My antihistamine meds, that is - I believe it has now been a week. I am torn between waiting to see what happens when they wear off entirely, and running back to my nice, nice little white pills. (That do not taste at all of frogs. Just want to be clear on that).

Weirdly, they seem to be taking much longer to wear off than they used to - whether that's some side effect of years of taking antihistamines, or because Cetirizine just works better for me (Razene did nothing, although some people swear by it; Loratadine was fine, but I had apparently been taking it more than it should be taken).

I haven't been sneezing hardly at all; no cat hair or hayfever attacks. Course, that could be because it's the middle of winter and I just de-furred the surfaces in my room. But it's weird.

More importantly, the dermographism is extremely annoying and itching and burning but still not completely back. So I am wondering if there's simply a lack of allergens around, or if it's just lingering antihistamines. Or if severely cutting down on dairy (mostly just cutting out the milky stuff; smoothies, cocoa and so on) is actually helping.

Thing is, I'm pretty sure it took this long last time, and when it did fully return, it was far worse than it had ever been, with welts lasting over an hour. 

So the scientist in me (you know, the bit that sticks fingers in light sockets and lies to people to see how long it takes them to realise), wants to see if that's still the case. (Being able to prod yourself and see what happens can be quite fun).

The prankster in me is dying to scare the people who've not seen my dermographism yet (although the constant explaining is tiresome). Plus, semi-instant Harry Potter scar.

And the artist in me has been sulking over the pictures I got last time, and wants to make better ones (although taking photos is really hard - might have to conscript someone, as you have to hold the camera one-handed, and my Pentax is a little heavy for that, but I need it for the macro focus. And lighting. Indoor lighting = terrible weird skin colours that don't show the welts much in the photo).

And the rational coward in me is going "Oh god, no! No! REMEMBER THE EVIL LIST OF EVIL BAD ITCHY HURTY THINGS"


On the same subject, sort of, the polls on my dermographism page are getting quite interesting. I want 200 responses in each poll (currently it's from 80-274, WHY DON'T YOU ANSWER ALL THE POLLS PEOPLE?) and then I'll post the results. And analyse them.

Ranty List Of Stuff That Sets Off My Dermographism

Aaargh. The problem with visiting my parents is that I am allergic to the New Zealand bush, and the mould in the walls, and my antihistamines run out a lot faster. I'm already feeling that tell-tale light burn in my palms from picking up the rubbish bag and carrying out to the garage. Which is really annoying.

So this is just a post about all the random things that set off my dermographism, when I'm not swallowing pills.(Dermographism - weird allergy that manifests in welts when pressure is applied). This is why I have a weird fear of doorhandles (along with the disorientating terror of walking down an unmoving escalator - that one gets me a lot!)

So yes,the random ranty list.
1. Doorhandles. Especially stiff ones, or heavy doors. (All that concentrated pressure in one place means really sore, burning itchy hands that I walk around cradling gently and going oooooowwwwwww)
2. Running, or standing on pointy rocks. (The soles of your feet are impossible to scratch. And yes - even through shoes. Barefoot is right out).
3. Any kind of tight clothing, buttons that poke inward, elastic. (... yeah, Ouchy).
4. Watches. I don't wear one anymore. (This is really annoying, actually. And constant - the watch just got too annoying to be worth having the time on me. Too loose, and it rubbed everywhere, too tight, and it got really itchy and welty)
5. Hairbrushes.(They scratch your head! For years I thought I must have headlice)
6. Leaning on anything. (Like backwards - cue for several minutes of agonised wriggling as I try not to scratch)
7. Carrying anything slightly heavy. (Like shopping bags - my poor fingers)
8. Putting pieces of paper into envelopes, especially if there's several and I push them with my hand rather than carefully holding with thumb and finger. Also add shuffling pieces of paper straight. (Straight, thin itchy lines across my hands)
9. Mosquito bites. (Itchy scratching! Must not scratch! It only leads to blood))
10. Lying down and turning over. (FRICTION!)
11. Carrying a pile of books up from the bookdrop to be checked in. (I end up with huge welts across my arms - usually alarming the newest co-worker who hasn't 'met' me without my pills)
12. Brushing my teeth.(Itchy gums are not fun)
13. Eating anything remotely hard or that pokes back. (Gums again) Also, biting my lips, very bad.
14. Towels. (Friction! Ouch!)
15. Banging my knee on anything (seriously - I don't bruise much, but a hard impact leaves a welt a couple of centimetres high)

And worst of all? Knowing that standing there waiting for it to go away is pointless, as is complaining, because it will come back again as soon as I have to open another door/keep walking/sit down/cut up carrots. So I just get on with picking up couches and stuff *sighs in a martyred way*...

Disclaimer : when I've got my antihistamines, I'm fine, and sympathy is embarrassing cause there's nothing really wrong. The few times when they run out, I spend my time trying to think up a way to convey exactly how much agony and frustration I am in, the depth of my suffering, without actually sounding like I'm complaining. I haven't found a way, yet ;D But this list of examples is what I want to start running through, or tend to suddenly come out with - along the lines of 'aaargh, I just leant back on that bench!' or 'I don't want to help carry the shopping, it huuuuuurts!' *whine* or hanging around pitifully, cradling my hands and being useless.

But if you know someone who's developed dermographism (and they aren't one of the rare people who it doesn't really hurt) then have sympathy and buy them a tonne of antihistamines as fast as you can.

What Helps With Dermographism?
Antihistamines, obviously.
Cool things. The activity of the welts generates a lot of heat, and coolness on the skin seems to help.

If it's really, really itchy or painful, put moderate pressure on in lieu of scratching (as little as possible, but until it contains it) and then very slowly release it (so that the worst of the reaction is over by the time you are only applying light pressure. It's a tricky balance, obviously, but better to spread out the pressure, than to scratch).

Salves - they'll stop the itching. But only of welts that already exist, so you'll be constantly applying it.

The Letters Are Crawling Off My Screen

I made a fool of myself and thoroughly confused some coworkers at the Christmas lunch today - I was pointing out a bottle of oil, or similar, which had lots of dark droplets crawling up and down inside, and wondering why they couldn't see it. And trying to work out why the drops were moving - oil and water repelling each other? Heat?

Turns out that I'm hallucinating.

 Text has been moving for me all day - it's really weird. But this morning, it was just around the edges of my vision, now I can stare straight at the screen and watch every other letter in each word floating up and down. If I put my nos eup close, they stand still. But if I'm more than about an arm's length away (or it's really tiny), the text or the dots on the wall, or whatever else, all crawl about.
I think it's a visual aura - possibly Autokinesis. Which is basically the illusory movement of things that aren't actually moving, and a sign of impending migraines. And ...wow. The little dots over the eyes are dancing around and around and tumbling down...

It's caused by spasming blood vessels in the brain, causing bloodflow changes in the region and, hence, visual weirdities. Consistently, it only appears when focussing on small things. It's probably brought on by the all-nighter staring at the computer screen, doing an assignment. I figured it was just my lazy eye being tired this morning... maybe I should have taken the headache as a warning. But then, I don't usually get migraines (I did have one once when I was ten - we were sitting on the floor singing Edelwiess, and suddenly I couldn't read the beginning of each sentence, my eyes just couldn't see that side. And I asked the teacher if something was wrong with the projector and she sent me to sickbay - I couldn't figure out why, until later when it got worse!)

Took The Cat To The Vet Today

Just got back from the vet with the cat. She promptly lay down on the driveway and demanded food (more or less in that order!). She's been on my mind a bit these last couple of days, hence the amount of writing about her I am doing. She's my dependent :D And I vastly prefer her over both a kitten and a child (the first is crunchy, the second gets you in legal trouble if you cook it).

This is the third time in her life that she's ever been to the vets - once as a kitten for the uterine-excavation-operation-of-doom, once a few years back for flea allergies and then again to the same vet today. She's thirteen (minus an estimated month). So it was a rare and special occasion for both of us.

Ah, and here she comes. Mewing and chirruping. Because, obviously, she ran out of food. And my bag is in her spot on the bed, so she's standing there and calling me over to pay attention to her, and fix it damn it, these bones need a comfy spot!

She's got some kind of intestinal bleeding, which leads to extremely smelly stools, black with digested blood. Which led to panic in the flat on their discovery in the litterbox, and I got to research various gross things on the internet (and poor Arkillian was driven away from the couch by the smell). So now I have to sneak antibiotics and stomach-lining stuff down her throat everyday for the next week... and to try and persuade her that outdoors is so much nicer than the litterbox. Really. Even when it's wet and cold and has stray cats nearly as big as her.

Got some supplements (Seaflex) for her arthritic joints, so she can stop limping and being miserable everytime it rains. And growling at me when I pick her up, that's important too... as it can lead to biting. Luckily she thinks they're cat treats.

Otherwise she's very healthy, weighs 4.44 kg (she lost nearly a whole kilogram when she was sick!) and happily shed all over me. The cat brush was buried under the pile of computers from the LAN Diablo 2 character creating event in the sitting room... I had to dig it out and drag another handful out of her fur when we got back.

She's funny - I don't know if all cats do this, but when she's in the carrier in the car she meows very pitifully - these long, moaning, wails, sort of 'whyyyyyy?'. She's very well behaved - and we actually let her out on the way back (it was Mum's idea. I'm not quite sure what she was thinking, but I was greatly entertained, so I don't regret it. The cat was loose in the car on the ride up from Hamilton ten years ago, so there was precedent...)

The cat promptly ran and stood up on the side door, looking out the window, then came through the seats into the front, and I diverted her onto the passenger side. She sat on my lap awhile, and wanted to climb onto the dashboard and shed profusely in vengeance at being denied. Then she went in the back and stood against the door, watching dreary Auckland roads go by, then climbed up and lay on the back dashboard area. At which point we decided that she should probably go back in the box.

Then she climbed down and lay on the seat, looking between the front seats at the view, and then she realised there was another side door that she hadn't looked out of, so she went to do that, and managed to stand on the automatic window button. Which led to great panic, and probably great interest on her part, as the window went down... and we promptly pulled over and poured her back into her carrier, and she "MAOOOOOOOW"ed her way home. Where she commenced to be quite happy and most demanding as soon as she was let out.

Edit: Hey, cool - vet follow-up. Just got a phonecall from the vet, with more care tips (bland diet and so on) for the next week, in case she did poison or injure herself. Cat spent the entire phonecall headbutting me in the knees and mewing for attention.