Only I would get poison oak in the dead of winter. And only I would get a case so bad that it becomes systemic, invading my body/bloodstream and popping up everywhere and not responding to even high doses of steroids (which are making me bat-shit crazy too btw). And only I would ALSO get a major case of the FLU + Laryngitis while my body battles this foreign toxic substance coursing through my blood/body. Oh yeah. That's how I roll peeps.
Seriously though, I'm in a pretty miserable place. I am beaten down by this thing and feel very much at the end of my rope. I am on 80mg (daily) of Prednisone (steroid) which is doing NOTHING. I am taking Claritin during the day and Benadryl at night. I have completely lost my voice from the laryngitis. I look and feel like....poop. In fact, I look like a leper and judging by how the little boy at the post office reacted to me today (recoiling with terror and asking tentatively: "what happened to your face!?"), I realize that I truly do look just as bad as I THINK I look. This is not a figment of my imagination. I am absolutely scary looking right now. And I FEEL even worse than I look. The 24/7 pervasive, painful, achy, all consuming desire to itch the skin off my face, body, inside my nose and eyes... oh, don't even get me started. The poison oak has taken over my entire face. And the pain, the oozy, nasty, swollen, raw painful lesions. Honestly, I am NEVER going camping, hiking etc ever again. The mere thought of going through this again is to enough to swear me off of my favorite activities ever. I'm terrified that this is just never going to go away. And that my face is going to end up all scarred from this. I'm not a vain person, I never wear make up I wear my hair up in a ponytail every single day, I wear comfy clothes and shoes, but the thought of being scarred for life all over my face from this is utterly demoralizing.
In case you were wondering I have tried several homeopathic treatments, multiple all natural remedies, Tecnu, Zanfel, Caladryl, Calamine lotion, Salt baths, cortisone creams and basically everything under the sun. Absolutely NOTHING is working. I am on day 10 of this hell and it's worse than ever. I spent the whole day crying today. I'm just spent, emotionally and physically. I want to be well again. I want to be functional again.
Now, of course, I fully understand and realize that we are just talking about a case of Poison Oak here and not some horrible life threatening disease or something. I know. I really do get that. I'm grateful for that, I'm aware, I truly am. But, in the meantime, this is a very nasty case, covering my entire face and parts of my body and utterly debilitating not to mention that the treatment isn't working so I am admittedly feeling very bummed out in addition to just cranky from the pain, discomfort and side effects of the medication...
So, bear with me as my life is completely on hold while I desperately try to heal. If you have any suggestions other than what has already been attempted, I'm open to any advice. The doctors seem to think that continuing to increase my Prednisone and extending its duration is the ONLY option and I, quite frankly, cannot continue to deal with the side effects of the Prednisone much longer.... :(
