It's been one of those weeks already

[kajel]

I feel like I was hit by a freight train this week. Oh wait, that isn't quite right. No, I laid down on a loop of track and the train just went round and round over me. I was psycho grouchy mom with a capital B this weekend. I don't know what my problem was, but I had a super short fuse and I resorted to looking at cute animals on pinterest to calm down. I had some allergy related drainage issues last week that decided to get into my chest and create full blown cold.

You should see how many mistakes I have corrected in this entry so far. It looked like someone who was just learning to type!

My hives have slowly faded away over the summer which made me so happy. Over the weekend and through today they have flared up, badly. They always start back up on my hands and wrist. My left hand has so many hives that the pinky and ring finger have swollen so badly I can't bend my pinky. That makes typing difficult. The itch, OMG, the itchy is killing me.

I have chronic hives. The first time a hive showed up I was driving from NY to NC in 2001-02 to visit my BFF and her fiance, my now husband. (haha, bet you would love more of that story) There was one hive in the middle of my forearm. I thought I had ringworm or something. I was stressed out because I had told her I was going to move to NC, but had changed my mind and hadn't talked to her about it yet. That very small outbreak lasted about 3 weeks. The next batch started in May of 2006 before going to AZ to see my grandparents. They went away in September of 2008 after the house fire and quitting my job. They flared back up in November 2009 and were finally dying off in summer 2013. Holy hell, that is a long time with hives. Maybe I should call the dermatologist and try to figure this out again. I was trying in '08, but the house fire interrupted everything.

I am starting to feel better at least. I am functioning again. Now I get to sit here and wonder how Ned's mom is doing. She is in surgery now having a knee replacement. My mom ended up having surgery on Saturday after going into the hospital for the infection on Thursday night. They had to take the expander out. The surgeon said it was a good thing, there was so much infection they cleaned out behind it. The antibiotics never would have cleared it out. They will try the reconstruction of the breast another time. She was able to go home on Monday. She is getting pretty tired of hospitals. ;)

It is 10:30 and I think I need some breakfast. More coffee also....sounds like a plan.

Comments

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

I hope you feel better soon! Take good care of yourself!

Yes, I WOULD love to hear more of that story! :o)

[kajel.livejournal.com]

lol You got it. I will write it out and see how I can condense it. Actually, it could fit into this weeks prompt also. Pushing our friendship to the edge. Yay, my brain is working again.

[x-disturbed-x.livejournal.com]

I second that. Please feel better! :)

[kajel.livejournal.com]

Starting to feel human again today thank goodness.

[mothermelete.livejournal.com]

Aren't hives typically an allergy thing? I talked to my allergist about them when I had them for about 6 weeks. I ended up with hives for over 6 months, main triggers being stress and heat (i.e. if the shower was too hot). I also had a few food triggers. I was breastfeeding a newborn or we would have tried more allergy medications.

[kajel.livejournal.com]

The allergist I saw in '08 didn't feel mine were allergy related. The only thing some of the allergy meds do is remove some of the itch. I stopped pursuing the cause after our house fire that summer and I am feeling the need to take that back up. It doesn't help 99 million things can cause 'chronic uticaria'. That isn't much of an exaggeration.

[mothermelete.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I did a lot of research when mine didn't go away after one month... then two... then three, etc. I was so over it. And there's still no explanation... they just went away one day. It could have been post-partum related, or coincidence or who knows anyway. At least it may help with the itch?

Empathetic hugs to you. Hives fucking suck.

[ckocher.livejournal.com]

I've had 'chronic urticaria and angioedema' since 1989. Zyrtec is currently my drug of choice, as it interrupts the flare-ups pretty quickly.

Not much more to add, other than I totally get the pain, frustration, and ungodly itching.

[kajel.livejournal.com]

benadryl, Zyrtec, Allegra, Claritin..None of those seem to interrupt anything for me. They may take the itch away briefly, but they don't lessen the hives or shorten the time I have them. I had to look up angioedema, but it sounds like a possibility for me. Half of my left hand has been badly swollen for over 24 hours now. I always thought the swelling was a product of the hives. I am going to call the dermatologist tomorrow and work on finding a root cause again.

For now, I just pop a Benadryl before bed so I can sleep well. I only do that if they are particularly bad that evening.