So, Monday morning, before I get in the shower, I notice a rash on my abdomen. Little tiny red bumps. No itching, no swelling, no other symptoms. Just this vaguely bumpy rash. But I had to report it to my psychiatrist, so I called her to check in and she called me back that afternoon. She told me to get into my physician and have it checked out as soon as possible. See, while I was reasonably sure that the rash was benign, there’s this little thing called Stevens-Johnson syndrome that is a rare, but serious side effect of one of the drugs I’m on (Lamictal) which can be life-threatening. So, again, while I was relatively sure there was nothing to this rash, I was still mildly panic-stricken.
On Tuesday, there was fortunately no visible difference in the rash. No better, but no worse. In looking at it more closely, Terry discovered that it pretty much seemed to be the areas of skin that I had exposed to the sun on Friday when we were out working on and sailing the boat. We suspected it was some sort of reaction to the sun or sunscreen.
I worked from home on Tuesday and ran out to see the doctor in the early afternoon. She checked it out, we agreed that there were no dietary or soap/lotion/etc. changes recently and she didn’t believe it was a drug reaction. She has had people who have reactions the first couple of times they are in the sun for the season. She’s also had people who have an allergic reaction to old sunscreen. Since mine was technically from last year, we’ll throw out the little bit that was remaining and already bought a new spray can for me and for Terry. So, she prescribed an allergy medication (Allegra) and a topical cream. So far, no change, but I’ve only taken one pill and used the cream once.
I called the psychiatrist back today and let her know what the physician had to say. I’ll be seeing her next Tuesday, so we’ll see if the rash has cleared up by then.
On the stitching front, I was able to finish the other half of the Italian cross stitch band on Barnabee on Monday night. Yesterday evening, I worked and then slept, so no additional progress. We’ll see what I can get done, if anything, the rest of the week. Hopefully, I will get some stitching in this weekend, if it’s not too nice. 😉
Sorry to hear about the rash, but at least it’s not an allergy to the drugs, right? Just as a side thought – could new meds make you more sensitive to the sun and you developed a rash that way? I’ve had that kind of reaction to meds, so that’s why I thought I’d throw that out there.
I hope it’s nothing. I also get rashes from sun exposure, and the kids all seem to be allergic to varying degrees to all the suncare products on the market. Sigh. Take care!!!
Good thing the physician didn’t think it was the meds – that could’ve been really scary!
Both my dad and I have “sun allergy” – we get small white bumps all over when we’ve been exposed to the sun without heavy sun block, and trust me, that ITCHES! Strange how your rash didn’t itch, really, if it was supposed to be from some reaction to either the sun or the sun block?
Here’s to hoping it’ll pass quickly! 🙂
Glad to hear it wasn’t anything life-threatening or serious.
I hope your rash clears up soon, and am glad that it isn’t a drug reaction. Glad to hear you finished up the band that was giving you trouble – hopefully you’ll be more inspired to continue on now that that’s done.