The Allergy Queen Strikes Again

[BiBunny]

Since the story about my being allergic to the fake Christmas tree in another of my threads seemed to amuse everyone, I thought I should post this one, too. So last night, I opened a brand-new set of sheets and put them on my bed. Didn't wash them first because I love the stiff, slippery feeling of new sheets. I woke up this morning, and my ass and thighs felt sore, like someone had been running fingernails over them all night. I didn't think too much of it. I lay in bed a while longer, checking my email and just generally being lazy. The itchy, sore feeling got worse the longer I lay there, and finally I crawled out from under the covers to find that everything from my hips to my ankles was covered in a red, bumpy rash. WTF???? I pulled the sheets off the bed and chunked them in the washer. The sheets are regular old cotton/poly blend. I smeared myself in Benadryl gel, and it's better now. I put my satin sheets back on the bed, but now I'm wondering what the hell I'm going to do if I've suddenly developed a terrible, itchy allergy to...cotton?

 

[CutieMouse]

Poor dear...

It most likely isn't the cotton, but the sizing and finishing agents used before the sheets are packaged at the factory- a chemical sensitivity, if you will.

 

[Etoile]

Oh dear, I am sorry about that! I have an autoimmune disease called chronic urticaria, basically I am allergic to part of my blood. I wrote an essay about it here. So I can totally empathize with weird breakouts...we tried to figure out what it was for three years with me.

The best laundry detergent for allergic and sensitive people is Ivory Snow. And if you want to wash your skin gently, Cetaphil is the best soap - should be at any drugstore.

I hope it gets better for you soon, I know how awful it is! *hugs*

 

[callinectes]

I hope your rash heals up soon. I'm with Cutie, it's probably all of the chemicals and not the cotton.

 

[BiBunny]

Cutie and callinectes, I'm sure the two of you are right. It probably is the chemicals. Sure is miserable, though, whatever it is.

Etoile, thanks for the advice. I'm allergic to most everything under the sun, but I'm lucky not to have the same problem you do. I read your link and did a search for chronic urticaria on Yahoo. You are a brave, brave girl. Sometimes I think I'll go insane with itching just from my regular old allergies. I don't know how you deal with it! I have my own autoimmune disorder, so I know how discouraging that is as well. I sometimes ask myself, "Why is my body doing this to itself?" (I have morphea, the localized version of scleroderma, on the outside of my right thigh. I don't have any fat tissue there at all, and the lesion itself has burned out. I'm left with a big, brown dent in the side of my leg. The biggest problem, though, is that it's down in my connective tissues, so my right leg is shorter than my left, and I walk funny.) *Hugs* Thanks again.

The rash is better now, by the way. I hope it'll be gone by morning. It's just weird that in two weeks, I've had strange breakouts from first an artificial Christmas tree and then a set of sheets. If I couldn't be weird, I don't know what I'd be!