Sweet Gummi Mary! As if it wasn't hardship enough for The Pony to spend 8 hours delivering mail Friday in a pouring rain at 63 degrees... he awoke with a problem on Saturday morning.
"I'm up. Mildly concerned now that I turned on the light to shower. Big rash on both arms and my thighs."
"Any new meds?"
"It's gotta be from working in the rain since it's only where clothes covered. A lot of inflamed itchy bumps full of clear stuff."
[I'll spare you the photos!]
"Yeah. Some reaction to wet detergent or fabric softener left in your clothes. Hot water will make it worse, I bet."
"Or just from rubbing the wet fabric on my skin, since it's the inner parts of each arm, not the ones that would've had the wet weight keeping it tight on them. Just was shocking to go to scratch and see this much!"
"Was it your leather-like jacket?"
"Yes, on top, postal windbreaker under. Two layers helps keep things feeling drier."
"Hopefully it will clear up in a couple of days."
By 9:30, the picture showed a little more redness, and perhaps a few more spots. Still just on the inner arm, though.
"I had shrimp pizza for lunch yesterday, but that would've been faster, and not just my arms if I was allergic."
"I'm thinking just from the wet and something in your clothes. You probably got hot with two jackets in the rain."
"Makes sense. Torso doesn't move as much against wet fabric."
"Maybe go to urgent care after work if it gets worse?"
"I think they close at 2:00 on Saturday. It's spreading-ish, but just on arms so like just coming in as I'm moving."
"Yeah, getting hot will do it like in a shower."
"The entire right forearm feels feverish and has a red tinged patch without the raised bits yet, so expecting that to come in. Having ibuprofen to hopefully make it a bit less inflamed, and deal with the itchy pain a bit."
Now it's 2:14 Saturday as I'm typing. Hope The Pony is doing okay. If I only had my helicopter to drop some cool compresses to him...
6 comments:
Inflamed itchy bumps full of clear stuff sounds like chicken pox or shingles, though I'd expect shingles to be more painful and maybe he's too old for chicken pox. Allergies that produce hives aren't usually full of clear stuff, they're mostly just itchy bumps. I hope it isn't something contagious. It seems odd that The Pony's clothes would cause this. I'd be heading to a doctor if it was on me.
Tell The Pony to get a couple of ice packs and keep in the freezer. Just wrap in a towel or pillowcase before putting in contact with skin. Or he could zippy bag some ice cubes for the same affect. I swear ice packs have saved me much misery in my lifetime. Ranee
River,
The Pony has had chicken pox. I thought shingles was more localized to one part of the body, rather than on both arms and both thighs. I agree about the allergy hives. They're smooth, and then run together in blotches, but don't have liquid inside.
I tried to look it up. The closest I saw was a "heat rash." Also called "prickly heat." There's a more scientific name, but I forgot. Can be caused by synthetic fabrics that don't breathe. Like the two jackets The Pony was wearing that were soaked by the rain for 8 hours.
The Pony went to the doctor. Story tomorrow.
Rae,
I told The Pony to use cold compresses. Don't know if he did. The ice packs in the freezer would be a good idea, especially for The Pony's assorted injuries! He's off to the doctor Sunday morning. Story tomorrow.
The prickly heat rash is a definite possibility with The Pony wearing two jackets that don't breathe.
River,
Yes, and also the "detergent" theory, since the most severe parts of the rash were where the wet clothes were rubbing against the skin repeatedly. The Pony said it stopped where his regular shirt sleeve started. And that there were just a couple small areas on the front of his thighs from the shorts. His reasoning being that his regular clothes get washed more often than the post office windbreaker that was in direct contact with the arm. So maybe he'd been in a rush one time, and hadn't let the rinse cycle complete before drying the windbreaker.
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