Friday I made good on my promise to clean out the disgusting office fridge, even though I have not used it once. I did this for several reasons: 1. I don't have much to do during the day, and this would be a nice diversion. 2. Cleaning out a fridge is a job that has a pretty clear end-point. 3. It was so gross I was afraid to use the water pitchers for fear of contamination and lately could not stand to be in the kitchen long enough to make coffee. 4. I am still somewhat new and figured this would earn me points somewhere.
I pulled out all the expired, rotting and unlabled food and threw it out. Then I wiped down the inside and all surfaces with a diluted Clorox solution. The fridge finally looked passable to biohazard inspectors, and the odor was diffused. I was feeling pretty good about the job as a whole.
Later that night I went to Rob's for dinner and to watch Sweeney Todd. While watching the movie I began to notice that I itched. It started in my head and I thought perhaps my new shampoo was irritating my scalp. Then my arms and stomach really itched. I didn't think much of it, but soon couldn't sit still. The itching spread to my neck and chest. I decided to change into pj's. Rob commented that I was kind of splotchy on my neck and chest. I blamed it on scratching but then noticed all these white bumps. They were everywhere! Rob instantly identified them as hives and blamed himself for infecting me with whatever he cooked for dinner. This was soon ruled out as I remembered scratching my neck at work once or twice and finding what I thought was a bug bite on my elbow before dinner.
I was in misery. I took some benadryl, but it obviously took a few hours to kick in. It was like I was compelled by a dark evil force to scratch my own skin off. My body had turned against me and was winning the fight. Rob literally had to restrain me from scratching until I bled.... it was that bad.
Finally the benadryl knocked me out. When I woke up the next morning, the itching didn't seem so bad. But it's kind of like ants. You see a single tiny ant in your corner, then you lift a rug and all of a sudden they are everywhere. My foot began to itch and before I knew it, I was back to itch city. I bought some more benadryl and hydrocortisone cream. Here is what I don't understand about benadryl: I can never stay awake long enough to tell if it works. Both times I took it, I fell asleep still itching, but I obviously still fell asleep. I sat through dinner, but by the time we got home I was in full itch mode. My body was jerking around from my attempts to avoid scratching. I had taken the maximum amount of benadryl and was in no better state. I was starting to crack. I weighed going to the ER, but decided to try calling my Dr's answering service. After several tries and explanations that no, this cannot wait until the next business day, unless you think I can survive for 48 hours without any skin, I finally got a call from my MD. Kind of loopy on benadryl (actually wal-dryl to save money), I described the symptoms best I could. After calculating the amount of wal-dryl in my system, he called in a prescription for steriods and recommended a different cream that could quell the itch better than hydrocortisone. I took a cocktail of wal-dryl, prednisone, hydrocortisone and generic SARNA cream and passed out, but not before observing all the interesting characters in Walgreens on a Saturday night.
Today the hives have lessened, but still flare up every so often. I feel kind of freakish with oddly appearing and reappering splotches all over. Case in point -- they randomly popped up in my eyelids for a couple hours over dinner last night.
So by process of elimination I would hypothesis that the cleaning solution most likely caused the outbreak. I did not eat anything I hadn't eaten multiple times before, nor taken any new medicine. The only unusual substance was that cleaning solution. Rob suggested something in the fridge, but I didn't eat or really touch anything directly.
I have learned several things from all of this.
1. I sure as hell will not volunteer to clean ANYTHING again. If I find myself in a janitorial situation, I am wearing surgical gloves, a mask and an asbestos suit.
2. I will no longer scoff at those who complain about skin conditions. I don't really remember having chicken pox, but I will wager this was worse. Worse than camping in Minnesota and being eaten by mosquitos, worse than New Zealand sand fly bites.
3. I am not going to feel guilty about describing how much pain/agony I am in to the answering service operators. I can't imagine a serious case of hives would take a physician's time away from a life threatening situation. I need to get over this hang up of 'bothering' medical professionals with my complaints... it's part of their job.
4. Hives are almost magical. They can appear, disappear and then reappear ANYWHERE in the body.
5. You can better believe I'll milk this at work tomorrow. It's got to be good for a free lunch or after work drink.
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