The Itching Game

The stages of an itch usually follow a pattern. 

• There is an itch.
• You scratch it.
• There is relief.

 This can be true for many types of itches. However one type it itch plays hide & go seek  --

• There is an itch.
• You scratch it.
• It moves.
• You scratch it again.
• It moves.
• You scratch it again.
• There is relief.

However, there is one type of itch that is quite annoying.  Annoying indeed.

• There is an itch.
• You scratch it.
• It itches worse.  
• You scratch some more.
• It itches worse.
• Houston, we have a problem.

This has happened to me, yet again.

First let me begin by saying I have re-occuring systemic yeast problems.  It happens and I usually realize it quickly and begin a protocol.  By looking back to 2008, it took 4 days of this protocol to help this kind of itchiness in the past.

Now there are multiple things that I think are important and some are a little bit TMI.  I'm a modest girl so I'll keep it friendly, but - I can't explain everything without explaining everything.  For my male readers - aka that's you Kaptain Blue, you might want to just want to  just go back to like 2008 and reread and old blog.  LOL.

It all began on a quiet Wednesday afternoon. I ran out of my monthly supplies on day 3.  All you ladies (and probably some gentlemen) know what I'm talking about.  So a quick trip to the store was in order.  When I arrived, I realized they had a bargain so I bought up 3 boxes of my favorite brand.  However instead of getting my regular supply, I mixed it up a bit.  I thought why not mix it up - they've had this "new" product out for a bit and I've heard great things about it.  I got home and unwrapped this pretty package of U by Kotex. I think you ladies know where I'm going with this.  It was Mistake Number One! On Wednesday afternoon, I used the product twice.



Thursday I had scheduled a lymphatic massage for detoxing.   So, I decided to shave the bikini line.  Mistake Number Two.   I must say I really enjoyed it, but boy did we find my painful spots.  By this point, I had used the product two or three more times.  By Thursday night, I felt an "itch."  I won't tell you where exactly this "itch" was located, but all you ladies know this itch - an uncomfortable itch that's inconvenient and a bit disgusting to scratch -especially in public. Upon further investigation, I discovered a small bump - like that of a bug bite on my tush.  I figured in that moment the bug bite was the cause of the itch.  There was no alarm.  Side note:  That night, I grabbed one of my original product instead of the new pretty packaging product.



I went to sleep Thursday night thinking nothing of the little itch and bump.  Boy was I wrong.  Mistake number 3.  I should have started treating that little itch & bump Thursday  night because Friday morning I woke up and I was really itchy.  I was so itchy - I decided to just leave off any extra things that might cause irritation - IE:  I knew I would have some messy under garments, but it was worth it.  See told you might be a bit TMI.


By Friday evening, I was in a pickle.  I realized that I had a lot of redness and irritation (and itching).  So I grabbed a tube of handy dandy lotrimin ultra and applied onto the skin where it was red and irritated.  Upon contact, it felt better.  I slept well - although woke frequently itching.


By Saturday, I was truly in pain.  It was an itch so bad that it hurt.  I couldn't scratch it because t hat would make it worse - If you don't know - any itch/rash area that you scratch over and over again could cause an infection if you break the skin.  And since I'm trying to avoid any antibiotics over the next 6 weeks - (have gone 2 weeks so far) I'm trying not to scratch.  I alternated using antifungal cream and neosporin on my red/raging/irritated/angry/itchy skin.  To clarify, it is just the skin that's red and fussy.  Thank God!  I began Diflucan (why I didn't on Friday - I don't know.  I'm fussing at myself about that right now! - yes at 2:50 am).

Sunday, I picked up Coconut Oil.  I've heard many good things about it.  I used it.  It was "so so" in remedy for itching - but I've also heard it's a great natural antibiotic/antifungal therapy for skin. So I've alternated the  creams around today to try to hit the rash from every angle and then it hit me -

• The new product irritated my skin.. (probably need to add an cortisone cream in there)

• The shaving irritated my skin more - would have been better off if I had left well enough alone during my monthly visitor.  (this is where I'm using the antibiotic cream)

• The yeast went out of control due to a combination of - already having system yeast overgrowth in my body (with no other symptoms, I didn't realize), lymphatic massage pulling things out to the surface, and because it was already irritated due to the product & the shaving - the rash landed on a very unfortunate area of the body.  (Diflucan and Antifungal Cream - alternating with Coconut Oil)

Because of this itch - I haven't slept well since Thursday night.  I have to work today through Thursday.  First 4 day week since I quit - and most of those days are almost 8 hour days.  If my bosses were in town, I'd not go - but this week I am the boss.  I have to go.  So wish me luck as I sit down, cross my legs and hope that the itching doesn't go crazy while I'm at work. 

The redness has subsided a bit. It doesn't look quite as angry as it did on Saturday.   If past experiences tell me anything, the rash will be gone by day 4 of Diflican - which isn't until Tuesday.   However, my past rashes weren't this severe and angry before I started treating.   

Itchy Itchy Scratchy Scratchy

The yeast must be dying because I'm itching terribly. It's not as bad as when I had the PICC line, but it is pretty annoying. My arms (my left one more than the right) and my side and my legs and my shoulder are bothering me today. This has been going on since I started taking Diflucan. I knew I had Candida, but I didn't realize how bad.

I feel a little better emotionally today. I don't know why it took so long for me to get out of the funk, but the funk seemed to have lifted when I woke this morning which is a blessing. I don't like being in a funk.

Ups & Downs of Lyme

I wish I had something eloquent to say to describe the cyclical nature of Borrelia. Amazing how one tiny bacteria can affect your body in so many different ways. This past month I have found myself documenting any symptoms that have arisen with great intensity. The variety of symptoms I have discovered are amazing. I have a word document with list of symptoms. If I had a symptom in the day, I would simply put a Y (as in Yes). If I didn't have it, I wouldn't put anything at all. Occasionally, I put R for Reason. IE: If I didn't get into bed until 1am and got up the next day at 5am, there would be a REASON for fatigue & exhaustion.

So here we go: April 1st to 18th:

I have had FOUR days of itching (probably all Candida related)
I have had TWO days of confusion and difficulty thinking*
I have had ONE day of difficulty reading
I have had FOUR days of eye difficulty (floaters, blurry vision, double vision)
I have had SIX days of fatigue and stamina difficulty **
I have had THREE days of forgetfulness and uh .. what was I saying? (snort)
I have had THREE full days of headache pains.
I have had THREE days of joint pain or swelling
I have had ONE day of lightheadedness
I have had TWO days of moodiness/depression
I have had THREE days of bumps on my PICC line area (total of 5 bumps)
I have had THREE days of sleep disorder (too little or too much)
I have had TWO days of sore throat
I have had ONE day of Stiff Neck, Joint
I have had ONE day of Swollen Glands (Neck specifically)
I have had FOUR days of tingling, numbness, burning sensations
I have had TWO days of twitching.

While those look daunting and scary ... look at these:

I have had FOUR WHOLE DAYS of No symptoms at all.
I have had THREE WHOLE DAYS of only ONE symptom.
I have had FOUR WHOLE DAYS of only TWO symptoms.

That is a total of ELEVEN out of EIGHTEEN days where there were two or fewer symptoms.

That means only SEVEN of EIGHTEEN days had 3 or more symptoms.
Today I have 9 symptoms. This is disheartening.

Itching, Sore Throat, Joint Pain & Swelling, Fatigue, Headache, Depression (who wouldn't be depressed after realizing there are all thse things going on in one day?), swollen glands, tingling body and I slept too much. There are things that are going on that I didn't even document. This stinks. I will survive though. Always do. Just a little depressing today.


*(and those were really bad days .. I didn't count small events of confusion)
** two of those days had reasons

September Lyme Posts

I wrote this a while ago. It was never completed, but it posted today anyways. Oh well. Here it not in it's entirety.

The First Post: What my blog is about!

Next I wrote several blogs on Tick Borne Illnesses. Here they are:

Tick Borne Part 1
Tick Borne Part 2
Tick Borne Part 3

I also wrote some on my diagnoses and therapy.

My diagnosis
My therapy
A day in the life of my treatment

I talked about my PICC Line in September 2008.

PICC Part 1
PICC Part 2
"Anniversary with PICC"
Problems with the PICC
PICC line story at the hospital
More on my PICC

I also had some "itching" and "rashes" in September of 2008

Itching
Why am I itching?

I saw my blood under a really cool microscope.
Bradford Microscope

I talked about my emotional roller coaster
Mood Swings


And also saw the amazing documentary:
Under Our Skin
A review of Under Our Skin

Rash part 3

So last night I did the whole Benedryl, cream, Diflucan combo and it seems to be working. I slept for 12 hours straight! I woke up this morning and the 4th dose of Diflucan must be the magic number b/c the rash is slowly fading and the itch is pretty much non-existant. In fact, I didn't even use the cream this morning. Tonight, I will do the Diflucan and Cream only b/c Benedryl knocks me out for too long. It's like a Benedryl Coma and I have to work in the morning.

update on rash

**** New Layout for the New Year **** I may change it back to where it was before, but I think I like it. It's nice and relaxing.

Back to your regularly scheduled posting:

I still itch and it's like water torture. I got an email from my doctor this morning (yes on a Saturday) to come on by the office to have my face and arm checked out.

First things first:

My arm looked great. We changed the dressing and there were no blisters or rash under the dressing. That is a blessing because every time I get infected with yeast my picc line goes haywire.

Seconds: My nurse is almost positive it's just a yeast overgrowth. So I'm to continue the Diflucan. Last night at a moment of brilliance, I took some Benedryl. I don't know if it stopped the itching all night or if it just put me in a Benedryl coma. Either way, I got some much needed sleep. We also picked up some Benedryl Cream to see if that might help with the itching to not put me in a coma during the day. I have in the past used an over the counter anti-fungal cream to reduce the itching to a minimum, but in this particular situation that antifungal isn't reducing the itching enough. I want to share a picture, but the rash doesn't show up well on camera.

If the itching and rash isn't reduced significantly by Monday, I am to call up to the office again. They will either prescribe another antifungal medication or get me something. I dunno what they'll do. She said the option is that I could have something viral that gave me the rash. Hopefully between the Diflucan and the Benedryl cream, I will be feeling back to my normal self soon.

I promise

The Christmas ornaments will be uploaded soon. I just haven't had the time to get them on the computer from my camera yet. Maybe I'll do that today or tomorrow.

The rash is ever growing! I could just shoot myself for not starting the fungal therapy sooner. Oh well, I'm sure the rash will be a faded memory in the near future. In the mean time, it itches like a --- well I'd prefer not to use profanity on my blog!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 2009 so far.

2009 Health Bang

Happy New Year everybody. My Mantra is that "In 2009, I will be fine." I'm sticking to it even if on the first day I have started with health crisis already.

Three days ago, I noticed a bit of itching on my face. I thought maybe I had a mosquito bite. Well it kept itching and yesterday morning I noticed a bit of a small rash. So last night I started my Candida protocol (aka Diflucan). This morning (Happy New Year to me right?) I woke up with a rash on my leg too.

This is what happened here. So I am going to make an assumption that this is all Candida related (aka Yeast ~ no you can't add butter & jelly and have me for dinner!) and begin Diflucan. If the itching really drives me crazy, I'll add him a little anti-fungal cream for good measure. Of course my doctor's office is closed today and tomorrow so I won't be to get a hold of anyone from my great and powerful Oz (LLMD) until Monday. Hopefully by then, I'll have gotten it somewhat under control. I am beginning to think that part of my die off is getting a systemic yeast infection. My last treatment was Dec. 13th. Almost two weeks to the day, I begin itching.

After my 9/9 treatment, it was less than a week when I started itching and by 9/19 I was in full blown itch mode. It was at that time I realized it was yeast after doing the antifungal test.

As long as it doesn't get like it did in September/October, I will be happy. I could not sleep it was so bad during those times, but my face and neck feel like I have a bunch of little ticks crawling all over them. And my legs are starting to feel the tickles too.

Please pray for complete healing. Thanks.

Itching to death

On Friday morning, I decided to give myself a little test. I used the regular anti-itch cream on the right side of my belly (where a ferocious rash had appeared) and on the left side of my belly I used an anti-fungal cream. For some reason, I thought of yeast. I thought maybe Yeast was an issue and if so that the anti-fungal cream might help. In the middle of the morning I realized that part of my belly wasn't itching. So that evening, we used the antifungal all over. I continued this and I realized today that my belly rash is disappearing.

My physician's office is open a couple Saturday's a month so when I went on Saturday we discussed the rash. We pretty much determined that it was a systemic yeast issue and I picked up my prescription for Diflucan in order to rid my body of the yeast. I was ordered to continue the anti fungal regiment until it was no longer needed.

Then our suspicions were confirmed when I saw the microscope doctor later that day and she saw yeast on my blood slides.

P.S. I believe I have the best two doctors ever. One of them called me at home twice on a Sunday and the other emailed me a couple of times on a Sunday. :) I love my doctors. They rock.

Grey's: PICC Line Style

Summary: Jennifer gets massive rash all over arm and winds up at the hospital for an evaluation. McJeff reprives his role as Funny PICC line guy along with McHotty for a technician and McMuscles as doctor. :)

Episode: On Thursday, Jennifer arrives very late at her doctor's office hoping that someone is there to assist with a new dressing on the PICC line. Fortunately though it was late, Nurse J was there. She spent 3 hours on the phone with Rex Hospital, Dr. J, Dr. W. and Nurse M. She also wrote notes out for the hospital staff, and changed the oozy drippy PICC line dressing. On Friday, Jennifer arrives at the Rex Medical Building at 3:01 to begin the waiting for registration and for seeing Doctor McMuscles, Techie McHotty, and PICC line guru McJeff.

After moving from the registration waiting room and arriving at the radiology waiting room, Jennifer arrives at the vascular radiology waiting room. Upon waiting in the third and final room, she helps a man when he asks where they are. "Uh the hospital." That was a lot of help she was sure, but apparently he needed more answers. "Uh the waiting room?" Apparently that wasn't good enough either. :) So Jennifer provided a more detailed way to get there. "Tell them to go the radiology main desk or radiology registration and a volunteer will bring them to the radiology waiting room." Jennifer pondered whether it appeared she was the leading expert in hospital waits since they chose to ask her instead of the 10 other people in the cramped waiting room.

Finally McGuyshethinksisthetech appears in the door way. "Mrs. A?" McGuyshethinksisthetech called. Jennifer grabbed her belongings which included 4 pages of notes, a purse, saran wrap and quickly scrambled to the doorway hoping McGuyshethinksisthetech didn't notice her drooling when she was dozing off. "Mrs. A I just wanted to let you know that we have another patient in x-ray right now. It will be a few more minutes. We just didn't want you to think we had forgotten about you." She felt dejected that she had to go back to the uncomfortable waiting room chair watching the other 12 folks in the waiting rooms either dozing in the chairs or on their cell phones. Finally after 10 more minutes, Jennifer gets called to the doorway by technie McHotty.

"How are you doing?" McHotty said.
"I'm here aren't I? I can't be doing so hot." Jennifer said.
McHotty laughed and said "let's see if we can see what's causing the problems."
Jennifer notices a huge sign that says "proper attire required beyond this door" and says "HEY I'm not wearing proper attire."
McHotty says "that's for the staff" and he laughs.
Jennifer thinks to herself that she at least got a humorous tech.

First McHotty looked at Jennifer's arm and then removed the dressing so he could see the insertion point. He grabbed Doctor McMuscles to come in to look. After looking at it for a few minutes, he said that he did not think the actual catheter was compromised. He took into consideration that Jennifer was still being able to infuse a treatment on the 3rd with no problems and still got good blood return with her heparin syringe on the 4th late at night. McMuscles believes that Jennifer is having a serious allergic reaction to something that Nurse M & J are using, but of course doesn't know what. McMuscles determined that Nurse M and Jennifer should figure out on their own how to clean it the best way without leaving an itchy, blistery oozy mess in future dressing changes.

Shortly afterwards, PICC line guru McJeff waltzed in to help change the dressing with McHotty and when he saw Jennifer uttered the phrase "OOoo not you again." He winked at her and McHotty said 'you know her?' and McJeff said "of course, she's my favorite nervous, but oh so hilarious patient." As they were changing the dressing, they all were cracking up. At one point, he was taking off the stat lock (which had deteriorated from all the yelllow ooze) and he said "what's this yellow stuff?" Jennifer said "my bodily fluids, shouldn't you be wearing gloves or something?" and he said "Oooo now you tell me" and winked at her.

McJeff and McHotty began to change the bandage quickly as Jennifer says, "How many techs does it take to change a dressing?" She would have continued with the rederick of "1 to hold the PICC line, 1 to cut the bandage, 1 to push it back in a bit, 1 to write the codes for insurance, 1 to find the doctor, 1 to apply the new dressing, 1 to calm the patient, 1 to ....," but they were finding all the necessary supplies for this delicate "operation."

The new dressing for Jennifer consisted of a sterile 2x2 gauze and a hypoallergenic dressing. Upon beginning the dressing change, McJeff winked and handed her two huge rolls of the stuff and said "this is between you, me, and that guy over there" while pointing to McHotty. He said that the hypoallergenic stuff would help it breathe a lot better and have a little more protection than gauze and paper tape. He laughed and said "Don't do that again," all while pointing at the dressing that was removed that was covered in yellow ooze. Jennifer laughed and told him that Nurse J had been instructed to cover the PICC line in that manor over the phone by a doctor at the hospital.

To try to figure out the underlying problem, McJeff (and no JEFF .. this isn't you .. the guy's real name is JEFF. ) asked how it was being cleaned. He showed Jennifer a variety of supplies and finally she pointed out out two she recognized. One looked like a condom on a stick and the other looked like a vial of blood. McJeff suggested it was the blood vial looking one that caused all the blisters and begin cleaning the site with the condom looking one. It immediately caused burning and a heat that Jennifer has never felt before during a dressing change.

She calmly stated "ooo that burns quite a bit" and speculates that it is because the skin is so sensitive with the oozing blisters of fun that is causing the burning sensation. McJeff said "I've heard that one before" and winked. (Jennifer is beginning to think that maybe she should suggest to McJeff that he has Lyme Disease. After all, twitching is a symptom). He stopped cleaning and mentioned that he didn't like to torture his favorite patients though it might be a little fun. He recommended that Nurse M might not want to use the condom one from now on.

As soon as he applied the new dressing, Jennifer's arm felt warm and itchy. She was thinking at the time that the dressing either ain't gonnna work or that the condom cleanser would cause another reaction. McJeff helped Jennifer put on her Lime Green Jacket and she said "You always help me put on my clothes. At least this time, you didn't have to put on my shirt."

McJeff said "I always help a lady put on her clothes after I've finished my business with her." They laughed hysterically and Jennifer thought to herself that this could be a sexual harrassment suit just waiting to happen with all the winking and statements that McJeff is using. :)

Jennifer arrived home in the pouring rain and immediately took 50mg of benedryl for the itching and to help dry out the blisters that were still there in all their glory.

Jennifer's arm is itching worse Friday than it did Thursday. The bumps outside the dressing are smaller, but there is more of them. Sooooo in order to prove or disprove that this new type of dressing is or is not causing the problem; Jennifer is going to conduct an experiment on herself. She is going to place a piece on her belly or my leg or my other arm or something. She already did this with the tegaderm type of dressing that she has by Nexcare and no rash showed up on her belly after 24 hours. Jennifer's McHusband bedadined the spot and also alcoholed the spot before applying the dressing. She also placed paper tape on her belly as well. She discovered no rash or redness appeared at either site.

Stay tuned as Jennifer goes through the weekend with itchy skin and dreams of McHotty, McMuscle and McJeff and hopefully has no more leakage of the blisters.

Itching to death

This post is not going to sound coherent for a couple of reasons. First it won't be coherent because I'm itching to death. Second reason is that I haven't slept a full night in 2 months. I believe I've had 6 full nights of sleep in 60. The reasoning for this has varied, but this past week and currently it's because I have this "something" that has caused a rash to appear on my belly adn now on my arms and even some on my legs and other spots. I can't get rid of the rash or the itching. I've tried just about every home remedy there is and almost every single antiitch thing on the market (if not everything).

I'm exhausted on top of not getting my normal 10 hours of sleep per night, but also b/c i've been taking benedryl. I could buy some serious stockage with teh amount of money I've spent on Benedryl int eh last two months.

Give me a break from the itching please. sheesh.