My journals, part III (or something)

[Andail]

Time to write what's happened to me recently.
An endless period of recurrent illnesses, colds and other tiring affections has triggered some sort of skin disease; your humble narrator is now decorated with horrible eczematous rashes all over his once so smooth body.
This has been going on for around a month, resulting in a neverending itch, sleepless nights and minus five points in charisma.
You never think about how much you need sleep until you miss it. One night is okay, two can be endured, but after a while the constant lack of rest really gets to your nerves; not only do you get physically fatigued, but soon depression comes about. I have lost all motivation to do anything, my studies depend on my classmates' willingness to include my name in the group projects they do, and all sort of creative work has lost its meaning.

Last wednesday I had a date which I really couldn't afford to cancel, so already on Monday, I had to come up with a plan.
For three days, it is possible to raise so much willpower that the scratching can be at least minimized or restricted to other parts of the body than the face and the hands - the visible parts.
But it is during the sleep - be it not long periods - that most of the itching takes place. I can tell you, waking up by having scratched your eyelids - the most fragile piece of skin there is - feeling blood on your fingernails and a terrible burning sensation all over your face, that's one of the more anguished forms of awakening I know.

The only solution I could come up with was to tie my hands to the edges of my bed, just as they do with severly mentally ill patients, and probably also in certain sexual games of sadistic nature, and at least know that however good or bad I sleep, I won't be able to scratch.
During the first night I was completely sleepless. Being unable to adjust it, the pillow felt awfully flat, and additionally I could only lie on my back, despite being used to lie on one side, as most people under the age of 60 do.
I was like a zombie the following day in school.

The second night was slightly better, I slept in periods of two hours, waking up by my attempts to break free from the primitive loops that are really easy to escape from when awake, but pretty secure when you just pull and pull like an animal.

The third night was good, I slept the whole night and awoke thoroughly rested, my face more or less free from the rashes.  The date was succesful and I will see her again this week, if my condition is good.

At the moment, it's neither worse or better. I can't party, because the cigarette-smoke is a real killer to my skin. Even alcohol worsens my condition.

On top of it all, a certain foreign student called me today to tell me that she had found out she had scabies, and wanted to tell me that consequently, so could I have. Thank you very much. That would be the only thing I got from her that lasted.
I guess I have to see a doctor.
Life is miserable.

To be continued....

[Darth Mandarb]

As an insomniac I can sympathise with the not sleeping.  It's a miserable feeling.  I have gotten to the point where I no longer try to sleep.  My nights consist of computer, gameboy advance, watchin' Sara sleeping (with envy), and TV.

There are nights when I have just stared at the clock for literally hours on end just watching the minutes tick by ... over ... and over ... and over ... it's quite torturous.

Just imagine when it all clears up and you're all better how good it'll feel.

Last night I had another migraine (something else I'm plagued with!) and it just wouldn't go away.  I finally fell asleep around 6am and when I woke up about 2 hours later it was gone and it was the best feeling!

Well anyway ... I hope you feel better soon.

]).]v[.

[SSH]

This has been going on for around a month, resulting in a neverending itch, sleepless nights and minus five points in charisma.
You never think about how much you need sleep until you miss it. One night is okay, two can be endured, but after a while the constant lack of rest really gets to your nerves; not only do you get physically fatigued,

Ha! You don't know what tiredness is.

In the year-and-a-bit since my daughter was born, I have slept for 6 hours in one go ONCE. Generally, I sleep by 11.30, wake up at 2, 4 and 6 and then maybe have to get up between 6.30 and 7.30. I look after my daughter until 11.30 and then work until 8pm. My wife sleeps less than I do. So, look on the bright side: there's always someone worse off than you.

On the other hand, the reason for my lack of sleep makes it all worthwhile. I suppose that your reason doesn't...

Seeing a doctor sound like a good idea: or even a pharmacist might be able to give some advice.

[Ptraci]

You could try one of those anaesthetic products used before skin treatments or wax. As SSH said a doctor or a pharmacist would give you better advice, but that's the only quick solution i can think of to get some sleep without itching.

I'm also an insomniac, but I try to enjoy it whenever it's possible, like when it's really late in the night and I can see old cinema on tv  

[Pesty]

Here's my advice. Calamine lotion is God's gift to the bad skinned. I don't know if you can use it with scabies (there are some skin conditions that I think calamine actually makes worse. It'd be best to ask a pharmacist or read on the packaging first), but I do know it's nice and soothing to use. Another thing that is good is cortizone cream. Not the ointment, that's icky sticky. Cortizone cream on the sores really makes the itch cool off some. And if you live anywhere near dairy farms, there's this stuff called Bag Balm that is used to sooth chapped cow udders and it's really nice too.

The calamine lotion is probably your best bet for a night of sleep, though. It saved my sanity when I had chicken pox. The other suggestions are more to heal the sores.

[DragonRose]

Huttah!

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003217.htm

[remixor]

Geez, I can relate to the insomiacs on this board (anyone who's observed my habits on #ags relative to my time zone probably knows this...).  I literally have periods when I do not sleep for up to three days at a time.  In the last 6 months it's more common for me to simply not go to bed than to even get a couple hours of sleep a night.  I keep myself going by catching little naps throughout the day in between classes and so forth.  I'm sure I don't average more than three or four hours a day (when my sleep is distributed evenly anyway).  

[Pumaman]

It can be cured quite easily by some lotions:

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.asp?TopicID=403&AreaID=2202&LinkID=1805

But yeah, while the itching lasts I sympathise with the irritation, there's nothing more annoying than having to scratch but knowing it will make things worse.

[Evil]

Sorry to here that man. As for my 2 cents on it, pure aloe is the best stuf you can get. Sitting in a chair, watching tv, covered in goo, and itch free. I swear man, get an aole plant or some pure aloe. It may be expensive but it is way worth it.

[Nacho]

 

I´m sad to read that, Petter, i was really happy to see that you were posting one of that "extremely long posts" which I love, but now I am a little sad to see that most of the news are bad. At least you still see things that make you feel better.

I really had to make a routine to fight against insomnia. I was a "deep sleeper" when I was a baby, an insomniac during my infance, and now, in my last years, I´ve become a person who really needs to sleep 8 hours per day. More hours of sleep make me remain awake the next night till very very late... Less hours make me feel like a zombie, tired and angry next day.

My advises: No more than 1-hour "siesta", awake early in the mornings and never go to bed after 1 a.m. Sport allways help.

But I suppose that this won´t work with that crappy skin problems... well... good luck mate.

[quintaros (at work)]

I don't know how easy it is to make anything of medicinal value from an aloe plant but I do know that they grow like nobody's business.  You don't need a green thumb for this plant to thrive.

[Evil]

Yeah man. They dont have any medical value, so to speak, but its like frezing boogers and wiping it on your skin. It feels good. =^_^=

[BruisedWeasel]

Oh sweet Chris(t)! My hotty is covered in nasty itchy sores! How could this have happend? My poor Andail, did I not tell you never to play with lepers? Have you not been warned against dead rodents? Now you are covered with plague, and will be scarred forever when you recover! I can never refer to you as my hotty again, because you have been tainted. I hoped this day would never come, but I must set my sites elsewhere. Curse your unclean body.

[Andail]

thanks for your support, people.
I didn't know insomnia was so common. Surely, my two-three weeks of suffering doesn't seem much compared to e.g Scottish's or Darth's hardships. You seem to go through what my parents went through with me, Scottish, when I was a baby.
I had these rashes back then as well, and that's what makes me quite confident I haven't got scabies after all.

As for lotions and creams, I've tried most of them. I've stayed away from cortizone for health reasons; those things are awfully strong and will do bad for the body in the long run, although sometimes momentarily soothening.

Farlander; i'll write you another long thread some day when more interesting things happen!

Bruised; Come on, I can still be your hottie. Right after these rashes go away, I'll send you a photo

[Matt Goble]

Hi Andail,

Not being fuuny, but there was an article in the papers over here a couple of weeks back about a women who has found a certain breed of fish that love unhealthy / dead skin and will gently nibble it off you.  I've thrown the paper out, but it may be worth a google (Anyone else remember seeing this in the Metro?)  Supposedly it worked better than any cream of lotion and impressed this woman so much she has started breeding the fish.  She described it as a tickling sensation as they sucked the bad skin flakes off, leaving the good stuff.

But whatever, I hope you'll find a quick solution to your problem.

Matt

[earlwood]

Gross Mat, I would hate to have fish touch me man, I would simply cheesegrate the rashes and such off, then you can throw it into someones salt if you really hate them.

When ever I can't sleep I count sheep, its kind of a clique (misspelled) but it works.