I had the most awesome weekend ever! One highlight (of many) was during the limo party Sat. night. (This involved renting a limo, getting dressed up, then driving around DC drinking, listening to music, and stopping to take pictures at monuments, and also McDonalds). We pull up to the capital in our Hummer limo (we didn't want a Hummer, but there was a screw up so we just embraced the tacky). The tea party people had been protesting earlier, some of them were still around, and all their signs were in the trash can. So we took their signs, edited them (ripped the "no" off of "No Obamacare" for example), and posed for our picture. There were people speaking outside the Supreme Court (had to go for all the lawyers in our group), but we decided to keep our drunken obnoxiousness to ourselves. The secret service/park police/whichever authority figure was nice enough to let us take the picture.

I paid for my awesome weekend by having the most miserable night ever. Went to bed around 2am and could not sleep for the itching. The benadryl had no effect. Got up several times to try all my anti itch lotions, and even used an ice pack for a while (didn't help). Gave up at 5:30am, took an oatmeal bath (only helped a little), and watched tv until I could nap for a couple hours around noon. So now I'm itchy, exhausted, slightly nauseous (from being overtired), frustrated, and overall yucky feeling. The spots have spread to my forearms and calves. Some of the early ones on my chest are fading, but new ones are still appearing on my breasts. At least there isn't much more of my body it can spread to? (It shouldn't go to my face, and hands and feet would be unusual.) I just want it to stop itching (or respond to something other than drinking which isn't a viable daily option) so I can sleep. What a sad end to a tremendous three days.
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Saw the doctor (PA, same difference) today. She agrees it looks like pityriasis rosea. If it was something more contagious (like scabies) D. would have it. I'm supposed to come in if D. gets it or I get a fever. Otherwise I just have to wait it out (6-8 weeks). I can treat symptoms, but it's probably a virus and there's nothing they can do for it. :(

They had a bunch of pityriasis rosea cases this spring, more than normal, and including the doctor in the practice. She said mine was the worst case she's seen because it's spread from my trunk (to my upper thighs, and the inside of my upper arm P.S. this is a very sensitive area), and on top of the spots I have general irritation (little red bumps) all over my torso. Fun times. At least I got pap smear off my to do list.

My anti-itch plan )

Current philosophy: This really sucks, but at least it's not scabies.
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abka: you are not yourself by kruger (not yourself)
( Mar. 16th, 2010 10:47 am)
Ug. This skin thing is getting worse. I still think it's the same thing (Pityriasis Rosea), but the spots have spread from my chest and stomach to my armpits (even a couple on my arms), groin (I'm glad these didn't appear first, that would have freaked me out), and back. I look gross, but the biggest problem is that they're so itchy! It's hard to sleep and so hard not to scratch. I'm covered in plain lotion and need to find some other ways to reduce the itchiness. I also have some more general red/irritated areas from scratching (I do it in my sleep, I'm itchy in my dreams), and from general friction? clothing? It was really hard to get dressed for work today. All my clothes are v-necks and I have a lot of red, green, and black which seems to highlight my irritated skin. I decided on my loosest white blouse, black pants, and a loose silk scarf. Don't know what I'm going to wear the rest of the semester. This is supposed to last 6-8 weeks :(
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abka: your body is a battleground by Kruger (body is a battleground)
( Mar. 9th, 2010 11:24 am)
After three days of lying on the couch feeling miserable and useless, I think I am mostly over this headcold. I feel like such a wimp, it was just a headcold, and yet I couldn't really function. D. confirmed I seemed to be feeling better because I was "getting up and moving around". Went to the gym today, weights were okay, cardio not-so-great, but that's not too surprising.

Anyway, I have a skin question. Not really gross, but cut anyway )

What do you think? Is skin stuff wait-and-see or better-to-get-it-looked-at-sooner?

eta: After looking at pictures of skin diseases on the internet, I think my spots look closest to Pityriasis Rosea. Upper respiratory infection: check. Initial spot: (on my neck) check. Several days later smaller spots on my chest: check. Dry skin itchiness: check.

I know self-diagnosis isn't always the greatest, but for now I'm going to hold off on the doctor's visit. Unless things change or get worse (or one of you has additional thoughts?). I guess its goat's milk soap and topless sunbathing?
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Two things that are making me sad about the world right now:

We have the shaming of a sexual abuse survivor by a member of the lj community. (Warning: Very explicit discussion of sexual assault and the nature, anatomy, cause & effect of triggers. Is itself triggery.) Via [livejournal.com profile] giddygeek's post here.

It makes me so angry and so sad that someone can treat another person (who has shared a deeply personal part of themselves in an effort to educate people about triggering) with such cruelty.

Apparently we're beyond discussing the distinction between rude and hurtful and need to cover treating other people like human beings.

If that wasn't bad enough we have a hateful, misogynistic ad campaign designed to prey upon women's insecurities and reinforce the idea that we should use and hate each other (and of course ourselves). (Warning, potentially triggery for body image stuff.) The women in the ads look like regular, attractive people (the woman in the pink dress in particular is rocking it out). Cue more anger. I do not understand how this ad campaign came to be. The copy. OMG really. No one, no one, realized what a horrible, horrible thing this is. And it's aimed at women. At women! WTF world.

eta: I think I learned about Abercrombie's douchery in college, but since I'm posting about shaming and bodies, here's another example.
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abka: painting of daffodils and pear (Default)
( Jan. 23rd, 2009 01:01 pm)
I am having horrid cramps today. They seem worse than usual (but I think I always say that, maybe because I don't regularly get cramps I always think they're horrible?, maybe I'm just a wimp?)

So it seems appropriate that I came across this site where a woman takes pictures of her cervix. (You should be able to determine the workplace appropriateness for yourself.) She took a picture every day for a month and also tracked how she was feeling. (She's a doula and student midwife.)

How interesting! It's a little strange to me that there are areas of my own body that I have never seen but that are routinely inspected by medical professionals (cervix is the most obvious, perhaps also eardrum, back of my throat). Also areas that aren't really touched often (and having a pap smear is a really odd feeling, isn't it?).

My only real visual memories of a cervix are the rubber ones that were passed around in health class so that we could see what cervical cancer looked like (also there were the beanbag-like boobs and testicles that we felt trying to find the hard sphere hidden inside so we knew what to look for during self-exams). This was 9th grade as I recall the girls sort of went with it and the boys giggled a lot.
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