No, I'm Not Going to the Doctor Yet (Or, My Parents Were Right)

Saturday while we were running errands, I noticed that the palm of my left hand was kind of itchy. I mentioned it to Matt but didn't think much of it. Saturday night, I started to have excruciating pain in my arm and shoulder. I also didn't think much of it because I have a long history of shoulder problems and often when I overdo it, I'll get that kind of pain. I put some ice on it overnight and slept okay. Sunday morning I woke up and my shoulder was better, but my left hand was a throbbing, tingling, pins-and-needles-feeling mess. It only looked a little red and swollen, but I did notice my rings feeling a bit tighter so I took them off. By the time I went to work Sunday night, the texture of my hand was sort of tight and pebbly, and at the end of a four-hour interval without antihistamines, I was in agony. But, it was too late to call into work and so I went, continued to self-medicate, and it was bearable. Probably even better, because I was distracted from it.

Monday I slept all day and I woke up and it was about the same. Worried that it was shingles or something similarly contagious, I decided to call into work for my scheduled 8-hour night shift, and luckily the nurse I talked to agreed. When you work around newborns and the pregnant kind, you don't really want to take any chances.

Now, I realize this is the point at which most people would see a doctor. And in fact, I called my dermatologist's office to see when I could get an appointment, but nobody picked up, so I took that as a sign. The more I thought about it, though, the less it appealed to me to pay $60 or $100 for an office visit, plus prescription costs, to have somebody guess what was wrong and give me a few experimental drugs. Not to mention commuting into DC to do it. As you may or may not have noticed, I'm not that into doctors and I'm not that into drugs. My experience with doctors out here is that you see them for a few minutes, they cover their butts with a wide array of expensive prescriptions, and at the end of the day they're not really sure anyway.

I don't think it's shingles, because it doesn't look like shingles, this would be an unusual place to get it, and I don't feel systemically bad. Also, it's hard to think I've had the kind of stress lately (physical or mental) that usually brings out the dormant zoster virus. The only trick there was that people who do have shingles in a limb often complain of extreme pain in the whole limb before the outbreak, but like I said, this isn't the first time I've had that kind of arm pain and I wonder if it wasn't just a coincidence.

It could be some other kind of infection, bacterial or viral. It does sort of remind me of cellulitis I've seen before, but I just finished up a course of antibiotics and I don't feel systemically bad or have a fever, so I tend to doubt it's that.

It could be poison ivy, but it doesn't seem likely. This weekend we ran a few errands by car, but besides that, we just stayed in and rested up for my night shift on Sunday. I haven't even been outside, let alone near any plants, for longer than the time it takes to get from apartment to car. Plus, I've never really had an allergic reaction to poison ivy.

It could be an allergic reaction to something else. What that might be is hard for me to fathom, since I don't recall introducing any new products to that hand (especially ONLY that hand), but it's possible.

It could be dyshidrotic eczema, or dyshidrotic dermatits, or dyshidrosis, or perhaps pompholyx. (They're all different names for the same thing.) It looks like it, and it sounds like it. I wish it weren't, because the idea that it's going to last 3-4 weeks, that my skin will eventually erupt in blisters which will burst and leave "painful fissures," and that "even with treatment, recurrence is common," is not a diagnosis I wish to embrace, but alas. The kicker for me was that it's most common in people who also suffer from atopic dermatits, which of course I do. It cites for possible triggers "frequent exposure to water," and for someone who worked 40+ hours last week with an average of probably 2-5 handwashes an hour, well, that makes sense. It's also more common in hot, humid weather, and it's been in the 90s all week.

Why my left hand? I don't know, although I will say it does seem somewhat centralized around my ring finger, which makes me wonder if there wasn't dampness or soap trapped underneath my rings at some point that set off this whole problem. I do feel really fortunate that I took them off when I did (and still could), because I honestly believe that if I'd left it on one more night, they would have had to cut them off. Maybe along with my finger, I think it would have been that tight.
So my battle plan: treat the symptoms with antihistamines and steroid creams if necessary (since I have a battalion of them from back when the doctors couldn't figure out how to fix the rash under my nose), and try homeopathy to rebalance things internally. The remedy Loma Lux (available in formulations for acne, eczema, and psoriasis) gets pretty consistently good reviews all around, and a double-blind study showed good results for the psoriasis formulation. The idea that I could get rid of this rash but also gain some ground with my other various skin ailments sounds too good to pass up. I fully recognize that most conventional MD's scoff at the idea of homeopathy, but I'm also aware that there are tens of thousands of people who suffer from various ailments which have been uncured by modern medicine. It seems as though eczema falls solidly into that category. They're also known to decry herbs and chiropractic, two of the most effective interventions I've seen in my individual health. And besides: I'll try something gentle, noninvasive, and inexpensive any day before I'll subject myself to tests and drugs. Not to say I'd NEVER consider going to the doctor for this--after all, my dermatologist did clear up the rash under my nose--but that was something I'd struggled with for a year, and what finally did it was a course of prednisone, which is a pretty broad shot and not one I'd undertake lightly.

While I'm waiting for my Loma Lux, I'm taking 6C potency Sulphur (5 mini tablets, 3x a day). Together, they cost me about $30, which gives me another $50 to play with before I even approach the cost of a dermatologist visit, not to mention a pricey and possibly ineffective drug, with side effects!

According to this site:
"The person most suited to sulphur is someone who becomes tired easily yet feels it is a hard job to get to sleep. They get too hot if they lay in bed and become more and more restless the more they try to get to sleep. They sometimes can look untidy with rough hair and flaky skin and have an intelligent mind but find it hard to put ideas into practise and they can fuss over small things or details." Another site notes that the sulphur is "suited to deep thinking types with a nervous yet independent nature." Also, a "lack of energy (regained quickly at the prospect of pleasurable activity." Yup, sounds about right. Also, "midmorning hunger." Why, I've got some of that right now!

So why were my parents right? Because they didn't rush us off to a doctor at the drop of a hat, choosing instead to focus on good nutrition, lots of rest, "compulsive handwashing," and alternative cures (eg chiropractic) they were ahead of their time (at least to me!) in seeking. I thought they were just mean or strange, but it turns out that in addition to probably considering their sky-high deductibles from being self-employed, they were just following good sense.