I have some kind of a medical condition that is really driving me nuts. I don't know what it is or how I got it, but I am having some kind of random, itchy thing happen in various places on my body. My back. My legs. My feet. In between my forefinger and my thumb. My neck. My upper chest. Not all at once. One day it was just my legs. Another day it was my shins and my feet. Tonight it was my lower neck/upper back. I went to the doctor today to figure it out (it's been going on since last Thursday). Last Thursday my cleaning lady came. I also got my laundry done. So perhaps I am having an allergic reaction to one of these two things...perhaps the cleaning people used some toxic cleaning supplies to which my sensitive skin is reacting...I try to leave out my own supplies - the all-natural cleaning goods - but they clearly do not use them. So I was thinking that was it. Then I started to wear my freshly washed clothes...and the itching raged. So I thought maybe they switched detergents. Or maybe they washed my stuff in with someone else's and I am having an allergic reaction to one of those two things. So I got on the Internet and surprise surprise, there are tons of explanations for random itchy bumps. Shingles. Scabies. Hives. Generic allergic reaction to mites of some sort.

So I went to the doctor today. He doesn't think it's shingles. He doesn't think it's scabies (scabies is such a hideous word! I remember in college Liz C. had scabies - self-diagnosed - and I remember reading the description and thinking, "eeewwww"). It is kind of hive-ish, whatever it is. And it's clearly an allergic reaction. So I got all sorts of medicine. Creams and pills. And I have to change all my sheets, "butter myself up" with the medicinal creams, change the sheets again in the morning and then shower it all off. I also have to wash ALL MY CLOTHES that I have worn recently...get them out of the house. I have to vacuum and then throw out the bag (just in case). I have to take anti-histamines - non-drowsy in the morning and then super-drowsy at night. All this...and the itching may still continue for up to 14 days!!!! ARGH! One good thing is that I am headed out of town for a few days. I am going to ask the building to fumigate my apartment while I am gone. Seems like good timing and there certainly aren't mites at my mother's house.

Ugh. I am sick of scratching.