The Return of the Itch

It's so blasted unfair!

I've just recently recovered from my post-year bout with allergies that gave me the itch and the chin (yes, the chin!) like I've just gotten addicted to Extraderm or Maxipeel. Barely a month into clear skin and restful sleep, the itch returned...with a vengence. Spell that with a capital V!

And it's not only the chin now. Both arms are covered with patches of ichy red skin that makes me wanna sratch till kingdom come....that or going insane. And my forehead and cheeks looks like I've been slapped dizzy.

I've never been a good patient. Come to think of it, I was never patient, period. But that's an altogether different matter. This weekend, I had to cancel out on a TEC gimik, and my plans to go to the mall. Luckily, class was cancelled too, and it would have been thrilling if I could go out and enjoy that short R&R. But as allergies go, I have a face that would lauch a thousand Aveeno/moisturizer commercials and arms that would put a dalmatian to shame. So I cried and pitied myself and banged on Heaven's doors for mercy. No kidding. Illness does not make me a better Christian.

So the better part of the weekend turned stressful for my mom, who had me and my sick dad to nurse. Dad's is routine job. He's not as sour about getting sick as he used to be. But to tie me to the bedpost! Arrrrgggghhh! I bitched about my itch to my mom (who's the only one I can bitch to about anything, anyway) ---er, toddlers, pardon the lanuguage. I'm venting my ire here.

To continue, by Saturday, I was soooo begging for relief that I SMSed Tita Lorna, who's my derma (and, I am proud to say, President of PDS), and asked her if she or any derma would have clinic on a Sunday...One thing led to another and she told me to take Iterax. I was already taking a once-a-day loratadine prescribed by the office doctor and putting anti-itch cream) so I hesitated only a little before I took the Iterax.

The next day, mom insisted on taking me to a famous Chinese doctor in Binondo. Although with some doubts, I was a good kid and went along. And he is famous. Spell that with five batches, thrity patients per batch, of patients lined up in a dingy corridor. It was several hours before my number was called and I was just given, like, five minutes of his time. He took my pulse, flashed a light at me, asked me to show my tongue...and viola! A diagnosis. He told me if I have family history of diabetis. Yep. I have toxins in my kidney, which accounts for the allergies and a lung problem. I was kinda skeptical first because the result of my annual physical exam wasn't that problematic, but given the way I've been pigging on chocolates lately...what could it hurt? So I purchased the medicines (I chose tablets rather than herbal) from a chinese drugstore (I doubt Mercury Drugs Pharmacists could read chinese) and committed to swallowing thirteen small pellets three times a day...on top of all my medications for allergies. I'm no pill-popper, in fact, I hate taking medicines, but dire situations call for dire remedies, and if someone had asked me to drink poison to relieve me of the itch, I'd gladly do it (this I told my mom, much to her frustration).

So the itch is contained now...except during sleep when I can't be held responsible for what my fingers want to do. I still look like the Maxipeel/Extraderm addict with Dalmatian spots.