So it looks like my horrifying full-body case of the hives is an intense allergic reaction (My first real allergy! Huzzah!) to the new medication my doctor recommended, a reaction that kicked in just as the not-as-bad-as-everyone-said normal side effects were wearing off. The best part? It will take a while for the offending stuff to break down and leave my system, so it will be a while before the hives settle down. In the meantime, everywhere that cloth rubs against my skin kind of looks like I got a dermabrasion with poison ivy scrub. And all this because the doctors thought it a little dangerous (in the long-term, at least) that I’d been in such exquisite shape for so long without much variety in my drug regimen.
At least the doc felt really sorry as soon as he got a look at me. That soothed my temper a bit, if not my itchiness.
But I should count my blessings, right? Right! Nothing on my face, and the cool winter temperatures make it easy to stick to long sleeves for a while more. Next month: more experiments!
I don’t mean to sound too crabby about the care I get. The NHS has been very, very good to me — just as attentive than my beloved doctor back in New York, minus all the hassles of dealing with insurance companies and CVS for prescriptions. It’s all been one of the big incentives to hang around over here.
Crap, I’m sorry. Are you going to go back to your old meds? Or move on to a new something new?
Back to the tried-and-true combo for now, and next month I’ll try a different approach and see if that’s a little easier to handle.