Perhaps I Was Too Rash...

It was like the vacation that follwed me home. Or maybe the ghost of sinus infections past. In any event, on Tuesday morning following our return I woke to find myself covered with a hideous red rash. At that point it didn't itch, so I thought perhaps it would go away. No such luck. By the time I got home that night, the rash had turned into welts all over my body (with the exception, thank goodness, of my face) and it itched constantly. I spent the entire night trying not to scratch (without a lot of success). I tried cortisone cream, baking soda bath, antihistamines--nothing worked. I went to work exhausted and wishing I had a burkah to wear. I called the doctor and it was determined that I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I had taken in Nevada. The following day I could stand it no more: I called the doctor again and asked for something, anything, to stop the itch. This time they wanted to see me, so I went to Cambridge after work. The doctor took one look at me and said, "yes, that looks just like when my daughter took that antibiotic." I left armed with an industrial strength cortisone cream and some powerful antihistamines that would also help me sleep. I had never heard of this antihistamine, so upon looking it up I discovered it's also a veterinary drug. I'm taking horse tranquilizers! They worked, though--knocked me out cold and stopped the itch (along with the cream). It's now been over a week and the rash is just beginning to fade.