update on my life

[aliki]

So at 24, I got diagnosed last week with eczema. I thought that was something that started in childhood like chicken pox, and if you made it past a certain age, you didn't have to deal with it. The worst was hearing my doctor say: "Well, you can never cure eczema, you just have to learn ways to deal with living with it." ARGH! It felt like you could've substituted any given sexually transmitted disease like herpes into that box. I almost visualized those herpes commercials on TV where the woman goes kayaking, mountain climbing, and snuggles with some guy with low occurences of outbreaks... I cringe. Eczema is way gross. I look like an alligator with serious red and inflammed skin.

Also, as I walked to work this morning at 4am, I realized this is why I hate fall and winter. The sheer fact that I go to work before the sun rises, and don't leave work till the sun sets (I left yesterday at 7pm) is really depressing. Really. When I have to turn the front porch light on as I leave the house so I can get my keys into the car, and return at night, thankful that I left the porch light on because now I can find the keyhole in the front door-- it's sick! Sick, I tell you! My one neener-neener comment would have been that I don't turn into a deathly-pale vampire because I work outdoors and keep my tan, but the stark reality is that trying to have dexterity in your fingers in 28 degree Fahrenheit weather (sub-freezing!) in the dark, on a rocking boat, with splashing, wet, ocean waves, that six warm thermal layers of clothing don't keep the chill off you and your toes felt like they fell off after two hours is nothing to brag about.

Comments

[sophistimicated.livejournal.com]

have eczema, too. My flare-ups almost always occur when the affected site is exposed to water in combination with other irritants.

I don't know enough about your job to recommend anything for your poor feets, but I've found coating my hands in in petroleum jelly and then wearing rubber gloves has been really helpful for protecting my hands when I need to expose them to water, dish soap, or other household irritants (the mineral oil based jelly provides an extra barrier of protection for my poor handses). Also, try coating your hands and feet with a decent heavy moisturizer before bed, then wearing socks and plastic gloves while you sleep. I like Burt's Bees hand and foot salve, but really any good moisturizer will work.

I had such a severe flare-up over my chest in my early twenties during a period of keen emotional stress that I looked like a burn victim. Fortunately, it didn't get infected, but yikes!