Sunday, August 28, 2011

Warning: this post may be uncomfortable!

I have been caught in the throws of HIVES!!! Aaaack!! Here is the lesson that I learned: ALWAYS wash fabric before you sew with it! I was making an outdoor curtain for the playground at school, and bought heavy outdoor fabric, not realizing that I would be ALLERGIC to the sizing in the fabric! I've never been allergic to anything like this before, in fact this is my FIRST allergic reaction (with hives) to ANYTHING!

These were taken August 26, 2 days after I started treating




Hard to tell, but my hands are very swollen, and you can't even see the hives because of the swelling

It didn't show up right away either. Two days after sewing the curtains, the hives came up, and I had no idea at the time where they came from.  I had been suffering from what I thought at first were bug bites, then some kind of rash, on my ankles and under my knee. I fought with that for a week before I started to sew with the fabric. On thinking back to where these hives could have come from, I realized that I had SAT on this fabric before I began sewing with it a week later. I then spent about 2 hours over 2 days touching the fabric, and having it sit on me feet as I sewed it. Two days later I started to get the hives, which just escalated over the next few days. I think I had hives on top of hives on top of hives! Luckily I went to the doctor immediately (the 3rd time in a week) and he gave me some VERY strong cortisone cream to apply 3X a day. Two days ago I woke up with hands so swollen that I couldn't even hold a cup of coffee. Luckily I had taken my rings off.

taken today, Sunday, August 28

(yesterday)


 Thankfully, getting better! 

 But no suggestions from the doc except for Benadryl as to what to do about the ITCHING which was driving me mad.  So I came up with something that worked for me: ice.  

 This bag is full of frozen freezies and a few ice packs to help keep them frozen.

After lots of different experiments with bags of ice, and ice packs, I finally found the solution in frozen freezies. I could put them on isolated parts that were itchy, and even pop them between my toes. So I carry my insulated lunch bag with me, full of freezies, and I have more in the fridge to swap them out with when they thaw. 
      I also switched from Benadryl to another stronger antihistamine, which although I'm sure it helped, certainly didn't take away all the itching. The itching was so bad it kept me from sleeping a lot, but in the last 2 days I have finally gotten to sleep most of the night. I took my ice to bed with me, and even had my feet resting on bags of ice on those first few days. But I seem to be on the road to recovery now, yay!

Well that's my excuse for not doing much art these past two weeks (I did manage a little bit in my journal)! I'm back to the classroom tomorrow to get ready for school next week, so it may be a little while before I'm back.

Hope everyone is well, and for those of you who were/are in the path of Irene, take care and be safe!


6 comments:

Jill said...

Yikes - hope the improvement continue!

Janet Ghio said...

I went through a period of time where I had terrible hives--huge big ones--I found a product at the health food store called "Sting Stop" and it helped. Hope they go away soon!!

Donna said...

Hi Linda,
What misery!!! I developed a strange allergy to the sun one summer and broke out in hives as soon as I stepped out of the house. It only lasted for a few weeks but sure is wretched! I hope you continue to get relief.
Donna Cerny (new e-mail addy: heartstringsnh@aol.com)

Vicki G said...

LInda, that looks painful!!!! Hope you heal up soon,

Vicki

DottyA Cards & Things said...

OH MY Goodness!!! I've got to ask... what have you done with that material....
Tosed it or washed it????
Glad your on the mend!

Christine said...

Hello, found your blog through an OWSE email. If that ever happens again, have your doctor prescribe you prednisone and aderacks. Your hives will go down within a day and stop the itching within hours.