Bad Times
August 19, 2010 in Blogs
I’ve been to see a doctor a few times lately, and the diagnosis seems to be that I’m allergic to anything that touches my skin, if it does so enough. So my allergy meds have been upped to deal with this. My computer has also gone to see its own doctor, and now there is a new theory to pursue as soon as I have time to do a few home tests. My home time has been limited, though–I’m not the only person who is ill here, so there are additional demands on my time. On top of that, the water system started leaking, and it seems it’s not just a pipe junction but a main pressure tank. The plumber is plumbing it now, and hopefully it will be plumb within the hour, but to the tune of a substantial number of clinking metal discs.
And it happens that last Thursday’s post was the 911th in this Blogless Lepolt series, so it seems a good time for trouble.
Speaking of trouble, the latest entry in the temporal anomalies series at The Examiner addresses the first trip Henry de Tamble made to the past, the first time he made that trip–the time when there was no future from which someone could come explain it to him. That history is discussed in The Time Traveler’s Wife part 4: the first time is the worst time. It was also a bad first time for me, because the site is changing to a new system, and in the process they have disabled most of the tools I always use to post my articles and left me with the supposed user-friendly interface for those who are content to have their articles formatted by point-and-click. It took longer for me to do that (my articles are written in HTML and post quickly if I can post in HTML), but I got it done.
I have been pushing to get everything done, and not doing so most days; but perhaps today will be different. In fact, the water’s back already, the computer seems stable, and I’m not yet exhausted from the early start.
–M. J. Young
Eric said on August 19, 2010
That allergy bit sounds like my mother to a large degree. She has rotated her foods before (kinda like crop rotation.)
JohnA1nut said on August 20, 2010
First thing when you wake up, check the obituary in the paper. If your name isn’t in it, then the day isn’t going nearly as badly as it could be.
If that doesn’t work, eat a pound of horse manure first thing in the morning. No matter what happens for the rest of the day, it cannot possibly be worse than that.
Words of wisdom from a crazy person……
Tadeusz said on August 20, 2010
John –smile.
Also, I got told by a doc at the local clinic to take 2-4000 IU’s of Vitamin D for my skin problems for the rest of my life.
It helped.
I have heard the arguement that the RDA is based on preventing rickets. And if you are so far down on D that you have rickets you’re waaaaay down. But a healthy person needs a lot more.
Note: I need to doublecheck on my numbers because I thought I was taking the max reccomended dose that that particular doc said, but I’m only doing 2k a day. Interesting.
M. J. Young said on August 20, 2010
Thanks for the thoughts.
Actually, it seems that this is a rather difficult condition. Whenever anything irritates my skin–like, clothing rubbing against it, or a scab drying, or me touching it–it starts a histamine reaction which causes it to itch, which encourages me to scratch, which increases the histamine response thickening the skin and making it itch more.
I’m on two oral antihistamines and a topical antihistamine/steroid for particularly inflamed areas, and it is hoped that in two weeks everything will be controlled.
–M. J. Young
Nikolaj said on August 24, 2010
O man that’s bad! Do you have the same reaction with water? (like, can you still take a shower?)
M. J. Young said on August 25, 2010
I don’t think water irritates it, but I have to be careful about soaps and shampoos, and chemicals in water (like, if I’m swimming I have to remember to rinse with clean water afterwards). It’s difficult to know what causes problems because the problems are rather ubiquitous–since I always use some kind of soap when I wash, I can’t be sure the water isn’t a problem.
–M. J. Young
Nikolaj said on August 25, 2010
I see. It’s a pretty nasty reaction since it hinders a lot of things most people take for granted or count as basic necessities. Like washing. I take it you can’t really sleep with a cover over you, and even then you’d get irritated by the mattress right?
Have you applied James 5:14-15 (anointing of the sick)
M. J. Young said on August 26, 2010
I don’t think contact itself is a problem; it’s friction, more than anything else. I’ve come to lie pretty still in bed. But I’m not sure, and I’m not sure of a lot of other aspects, like whether some areas of the body are more susceptible than others.
–M. J. Young