bet you a tenner I'm saying 'we are not amused'

[rhivolution]

Of course, leave it to me to have a somewhat uncommon allergic reaction to the skin medication I'm given to clear up my zits for the wedding. My first non-pollen allergy, and it shows itself only at age 26, of all things.

I'd never taken a sulfa drug before, in my recollection, and the hives are predominantly on the areas I touched with said topical solution, which is why I'm inclined to think it's that and not the oral antibiotic...though that's apparently bad too.

Yes, I'm going to call my doctor first thing in the morning.
No, it's apparently not a very dangerous reaction.
Yes, I have stopped taking the medication.

It's pretty textbook--the symptoms didn't show up until 8 or 9 days into exposure, and the only symptom I haven't experienced (and I could very well have done in my sleep and not known it) is fever. I definitely, however, have some mild joint pain in my hands/fingers, so if I'm slow in response for the next few days, please bear with me. Spoon bending gets more difficult when I'm sick.

I ache, I itch, I feel blah, and the swollen lymph nodes in my neck mean I have a sore throat on the side. And there is not a whole lot they can do about it, apparently, except wait for it to go away.

It is sort of testament to my upbringing that it took me a damn week to realize the hives were not just stress-based and the joint pain wasn't me just doing dumb stuff to myself in my sleep again. (News flash, Rhi: you don't jam the middle finger of your non-dominant hand very easily, for a start.) There has got to be some happy medium between being highly avoidant and highly dependent on healthcare, and I need to unlearn my avoidance.

[tries desperately not to scratch]

ETA: Trying also not to tell myself that I'm being a whiny dork by complaining, that it's not worth complaining about, etc. Bloody brain chemistry.

Comments

[djkittycat]

I have that allergy. It's good you discovered it this way and not through hospital anaesthetic (it's in some of them as part of the prep).

So yeah, now you can add sulfa drugs to your list of allergies.

IIRC the hives clear up quickly. I got sulfa related hives from an antibiotic taken for a bladder infection at age 9 and haven't taken any sulfas since.

[rhivolution]

Thanks for the heads up! The doctor's office is insistent that it's actually the minocycline that they also put me on at the time, though they say I should be off the sulfa too. Bleh.

[jesse_the_k]

I also have that allergy.

Relieved you discovered this the non-anaphylatic way.

There's an OTC anesthetic called "BiteMD" marketed by Cutter (insect repellent folks). It combines benzocaine & phenol and actually soothed the poison-sumac like rash, as well as the mosquito bites, without making me break out.

I can empathize with the "dismiss it for a week" manuever. :(

[rhivolution]

Yeah, me too, though it's really not fun. The itchiness is less of an issue, though; the joint pain is what's really getting to me. Blah.

[bluemeridian]

*brings the mittens to keep you from scratching* ♥

[rhivolution]

Thankee. [desperately tries not to scratch itchy patch on her neck]