I don't know

If my skin is dry, or just where it's not been technically bathed in awhile, or if I am at risk for skin breakdown from being in bed so much right now, but most of the entire back of me is itching. This leads me to conclude it's not the medicine, which would presumably affect my front equally.

I am keeping as much as I can clean with the baby wipes, but I can't reach my back. I shift position and get up and sit for awhile each day, and I have baby lotion for dryness. But I searched online for prevention of bed sores anyway. Since I am my own caregiver, and I am not trained medically, things that nurses or nursing aides know are not so obvious for me. Fortunately there is the Internet, and I am skilled at evaluating information sources.

It is the middle of the night, and I am awake, but I did sleep about five hours and feel better than I did. I very rarely just lie awake in bed like I have of late--usually when I have a bout of insomnia I am up at the computer. It makes me wonder, as I lie here, staring at the ceiling, what babies think when they are quietly in their cribs doing the same thing. We reflect on our experiences. What do they do, with their limited backgrounds? I would love to know what goes on in minds that young.

Okay, I'll check the news and try to go back to sleep. Good night.

I have spent the last two and a half hours tossing in the bed, itching

It's from my neck to my ankles. No rash or bites, just a pervasive itch. At first I thought I may be having a general reaction to that Apidra, which causes a localised reaction on me, but I don't think so. It may be diabetic dry skin, or it may be my bodywash, although I changed that over a week ago. Still, it could just now be causing issues, as your body has to be sensitised to something before it reacts.

YKWIA, who has a medical background, suggested a cool bath, which has helped. I went ahead and shampooed and used my old bodywash, which still had some in it, because it is Aveeno and I thought it might soothe the itch. Then I slathered everything I could get to with an odourless intensive overnight moisturising lotion to see if it would help. So far, it seems better. I thought I had some children's Benadryl somewhere, but it turned out to be a diabetic generic Robitussin. Useful if I had a cough, not so good with an itch. :(

YKWIA called me up because he was having trouble remembering how to spell the name of a syndrome with a French name. Fortunately the medical librarian was familiar with the syndrome and was dead on with the spelling. So I paid him back for his suggestion.

Okay, I'm going to try to get up super early because I was supposed to do something online for a friend tonight and never got to it because of the itching. He'll probably call again tomorrow morning and I already put him off today. I really meant to do it tonight, but it was just maddening the way the itching continued. I also need to work on game notes since I'm going to Danville on Saturday for my birthday and I need to go to the bank before work.

That reminds me: One of my fellow librarians in the system, Laura Mueller, sent me a wonderful birthday card of the Little Mermaid. She knows my birthday is the same as Hans Christian Andersen's and that I'm a fan of his work. It's also International Children's Book Day (instituted the year I was born), and years ago she sent me a poster that hangs on the inside of my apartment door. It's an appropriate birthday for a librarian, don't you think?

I itch

I'm beginning to wonder if I have a new allergy. I have a small rash on my lower legs that can be maddening. At first I was very concerned, because about a week ago I went back on Lamictal after being off it for about 5 days, longer than I ever had been. Lamictal can cause Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which begins with a rash, can cause blindness, and your skin sloughs off. (Yes, gross, but also very dangerous and possibly fatal). They really warn you against a rash when on Lamictal. But despite my hypochondriac panic, I searched out the symptoms and it didn't seem to be the right kind of rash (Stevens-Johnson hives are crusty, for example). It would bear watching, but probably wasn't THE rash. So I decided it may just be my new bodywash, which has ground up bits of coconut shells. I'm not allergic to coconut as far as I know, but they could irritate the skin, although why it would affect just my lower legs I'm not sure, beyond the fact that they're dry already.

Well today it's been really decent, no itching. Then I ate a double helping of cinnamon almonds. And my legs are itching like crazy, along with itching in my ear canals, on my side, my back, face, etc. I have lots of allergies. I don't remember if tree nuts were on the borderline or not. But it might be best to leave off the almonds for awhile to see if this gets better, then reintroduce and see if there's any effect. I've been eating far too many of them lately anyway. Also, it may be that the rash is appearing at night--so far it's worse then.

Anyway, itching sucks. I'm going to put some lotion on it to see if that calms it down and go on to bed. And maybe take some children's Benadryl (the adult one knocks me completely out, so I don't keep it in the house). I feel calmer after vegging out in the comfy chair for awhile with my comforter tucked around me. My headache is almost gone but the aches are still there, and the sniffling. But mentally I feel a little better, too. Amazing what a little 'me' time can do. Now that my house is clean, I really take pleasure in being here, whereas I used to avoid it at all costs. It seems like a home, not just a place to dump my stuff.

Okay, I've rattled on too long. Good night.