Itchy and scratchy in It's a llittle llazy over here

. . . more so the first bit. Though I’d be lying if I said I was avoiding the second bit.

I’ve pretty much given up trying to understand what my skin is doing to me. Today, my back is sore. By this time tomorrow, it’ll probably have settled down and my arms will have flared up. I’m going to need to see the doctor, if only to get a repeat prescription of steroid cream and make sure that I’m OK to use the steroid cream on my face when that flares up. As a rule, they tell you not to use the over-the-counter stuff on the face, but that’s largely to stop idiots rubbing it into their eyes. There’s no warning about that on the prescribed stuff I got, and the doctor didn’t say I couldn’t. . . still, best to check.

It’s a bit beyond steroid cream at this point, though. Sure, a five day course of the stuff I was prescribed will take down an isolated area, but it’s not isolated areas anymore, it’s widespread patches appearing at random. I’d rather save the cream for suppressing any really bad/visible patches, and let the rest run its course. Most of the time, that’s about all you can do.

In the meantime, it’s anti-histamines, moisturisers and cool showers only from this point for at least a week, to see if that calms things down. Hot water seems to be a major trigger for my oh-so-precious skin. It seems like the areas where I’ve been most affected are the areas I’d tend to blast directly with the hot water when in the shower, and I’m sure it’s a contributing factor. I love hot showers far too much - always have. I’ve been restricting the length and temperature a bit for the last few months, but I think at this point I have to go room-temperature and just suck it up for a while, just to see if it helps. I tried to have a warm bath the other day and I had to get out almost immediately because it was that or scratch the skin off my shins if I stayed in. Hot water sends the itch crazy.

You shouldn’t scratch, of course. But anyone who’s had eczema knows. . . sooner or later, you will. Oh, you will. Maybe there’s someone out there with the willpower of a frickin’ saint who manages not to do it, but the rest of us? You crack eventually. Everyone cracks eventually. You just have to try to make sure it’s not every time.

I may try a dairy-free week some time soon, just to see if that might be a trigger. You never know. Certainly seems like I’m generally allergic to something. Hell, I’ll probably try anything for a week to see if it works. It gets to that stage; you see a story on the internet that someone’s brother’s wife’s cousin knew a guy who cured his eczema by putting a sheep on his head, and no matter how daft it sounds, there’s a little voice in your head saying, ‘I wonder where the nearest farm is?’.

Which is ridiculous, of course. It’s goats for eczema, not sheep; everyone know that.