Twenty-five years of sensitive skin before anyone named it
Elizabeth was bathed in oatmeal as a child and spent decades assuming that was just her skin. An allergist who took it seriously, Zyrtec and painting changed things.
Elizabeth ·
- Living with it
- More than 10 years
- Main trigger
- Stress, hormones, pressure and heat
- What helped
- Zyrtec, an allergist who took it seriously, and painting to manage stress
What a relief to have found this website, and so many others that know my struggles and story! Heres a little of mine…
I've always had very sensitive skin, having blonde hair and blue eyes. I thought that was just what it was. My mom bathed me in oatmeal until I was 10. I couldn't use laundry detergent until they came out with the kind thats "free & clear".
Every change of season would bring on new allergy symptoms (runny nose, sneezing, headaches, red puffy eyes). I usually get a slight sunburn in summer but to me it feels like a 2nd degree burn! I've always been the one that would, in a crowd, be eaten alive by mosquitos, flies, or fleas. Even if they didn't bite, they still would do something to me to make me react.
Everytime I am exposed to poison ivy, even just looking at it, makes me get itchy and I have to be put on steroids for a couple months. Not fun at all! Because once I have it, I never stop itching and it just keeps spreading.
When i was in my teens i started working at a nursing home & had a severe reaction to the latex gloves, so i went to an allergist, who, while doing a skin test, told me I had dermatographia. I reacted to every thing he tested for. He prescribed me Zyrtec & for the first time in my life I didn't itch or break out in hives on a daily basis.
That was 25+ years ago. Ive been going through a lot of stress lately and am pre-menopausal & few months ago I ate a strawberry, and almost went into anaphylactic shock! I have never been allergic to strawberries! I made an appt with my allergist & avoided strawberries, however a week later, I was doing yard work & broke out in hives all over my face, neck & chest.
It didn't involve my throat but was scary, to say the least. I still wasn't scheduled to see my allergist for another few weeks, so when it happened again, from nothing that I could differentiate, a food or certain product. I knew I had to get to my doctor soon. Finally when I saw my allergist, he explained how stress and hormones plays a large part in the bodies response to allergens & creating a reaction, or over-reaction in our case.
I've been doing a lot of things for my stress but its difficult sometimes when you have an 18 year old daughter, who thinks she knows everything. I love arts and crafts, and have been doing a lot of painting and have such a collection that I signed up for a few craft fairs this summer to try to sell some pieces.
I've learned to deal with dermatographia the best I could but reading others stories brings it all back. So many years of embarrassing explanations that "its not contagious," or the welts on my throat aren't from my boyfriend after sleepless nights and trying to get up to get to work.
I don't know if this is part of dermatographia but I can feel the tiniest pressure or tickle & would just brush that area with my hand & it would then itch & soon snowball into a round & round of bug bites & itching welts.
Sometimes I've thought that i was allergic to my own sweat because id hive out if I was sweating, but that tickle is similar to feeling a bead of sweat trickling over my skin that would make me rub it and again, snowball into hives. Which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Either way, I particularly don't care! Its just nice to be able to have others know exactly what I'm talking about, so I don't feel like I am imagining it all & belong on a psych ward.
Thanks for listening, all your advice, ideas, and fellowship.
Much love, Elizabeth.