What Am I Allergic To

Whew! The hot dry weather we have been having has not really agreed with my skin. It has dried out much faster and wen it gets dry it gets sore. As its been sooo hot I have felt like I have needed two cool baths a day- this has helped with the soreness but need to be very careful not to increase the dryness.  So I have been keeping well hydrated by drinking lots of water and applying moisturiser. I have also stayed well out of the sun and the heat whenever possible.  Luckily our patio area is in shade for most of the day after about 11am. I used to think this was a negative but now it is an absolute positive !  So I can still sit outside with friends and enjoy the garden not being in the sun!  Currently wearing at least two light layers of clothing so that any sun cannot hopefully get through. I also have a shawl that has an inbuilt sun protection factor of 50 which is just perfect for wrapping up in and not getting hot while being protected. I wear a big hat...

My next mission was to find products I CAN use. I trawled the shops in our high street and well it difficult. I checked skincare, haircare and basic household products ad could not find anything that was suitable for me with the allergies Next, I tried the internet. I basically went about it this way. First, I tried the brands I knew, brands my friends used and then did a search for skin-friendly products under various search terms.  This took a long time.... even when I found the brands often, surprisingly often there were NO ingredient listings! On some, there seemed to be partial listings and a very few actually did list the full ingredients. So with many could not tell if it would be Ok for me or not.  I decided that the only way I could be sure would be to contact each manufacturer and ask them if the product would be any good for me. So I composed a letter and emailed it out to probably over 30 companies.  I have to say most were very helpful, some assigned a...

I rang the doctor surgery the next morning, it was a Monday and typically there were no appointments left. The receptionist asked if I needed to see a doctor urgently- hmmm I thought well no I am not bleeding or having breathing issues so No - but I said maybe I need to see someone- so she booked me in with a nurse for half an hour later. Thank goodness our doctor is close by as the walk there was a nightmare, my arms felt heavy and the blisters were now filled with a weird fluid.  I went in to see the nurse who took one look at my arms and said you need to see a Dr today - now! She said she thought it was infected and that I would need antibiotics. she didn't really want me to leave the surgery and sorted it out for me to see the Dr as soon as he had a gap. I went in to see our doctor, I had seen him before and he is a very calm, measured doctor, nice and professional. However, I saw the look on his face when he saw my arms and knew he was shocked at what he saw.  I r...