Rash

The problem with self-diagnosing is that I'm wrong 99.99% of the time. I don't even know why I bother, I'm no doctor. I refuse to take medication if I can help it. I can spend more than an hour in the pharmacy aisles looking at all the medicine and not knowing what they are for; frankly, overwhelmed by my own ignorance.

One of my coworkers who I have been working closely with came back from Brazil with chicken pox. That was the diagnosis from her doctor. For two days prior we tried to come up with what it could be. A spider bite? Tick bite?

Within a few days I developed a rash and the itchiness began. Coincidence? But thanks to all those wonderful internet sites I concluded I did not have chicken pox. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something. I didn't know what and I was trying to figure it out. New shampoo? Bodywash? Soap? Laundry soap? Pistacchios? I washed everything in fragrance free, color free, sensitive skin detergent. That took me hours.

I reached my itchiness threshhold this morning. I could no longer take it and worst of all, it was spreading. It turns out I have a skin infection. A skin infection! Not hives, not an allergic reaction. Antibiotics and an anti-itch cream is my salvation...I hope. My doc asked me if I had cats? Nope, no cats. She concluded that there must have been bacteria in my nails, I scratched and that was the beginning. How disgusting is that?! There is bacteria everywhere. I ride public transport for goodness sake. Trying to keep the paranoia in check.