Skin Woes: Part 3
Medication for eczema. The second round. Prior to my solo trip, my primary care doc wrote three scrips for me: a 7-day round of an antifungal for eczema, a new, not so great smelling shampoo and a scalp serum. Everything else in my check-up was A-OK, but when I pulled off my trusty headband, all was revealed and she got to work on her tablet.
Once I finally started the 7-day round of pills- the weird kind too, that have the tiny balls in them, I started on the weekend to test out how they’d make me feel. Some of the side effects listed were dizziness and nausea, with a warning to ensure the pills were taken with food and avoiding use of heavy machinery (seriously?). Since I suffer at random from pretty bad nausea (no diagnosis, apparently just the pressure in the air due to weather or something else that’s not really a thing…?), I was concerned these side effects would hop right on board with me. Glad I started on a Saturday with nowhere to be because BINGO, dizziness AND nausea were front and center, so bad that I had to just lay down.
The downside: it was the weekend and I wasn’t quite able to grasp how long it took between taking the pills and the side effects taking hold. On Monday, I had to stay home sick because of it. On the bright side though, that sick day allowed me to evaluate the time it took for the nausea to start: 25-30 minutes. Tuesday and through the rest of that dreadful week, I took the pills immediately prior to leaving for the day…I could be safely out of my heavy machinery vehicle and in my office where I could at least be still and pretend to be ok until the dizziness subsided: approximately 45-60 minutes.
In the end, though, it worked. The pills rid my scalp of the eczema with a little help from a sulfur-smelling shampoo and serum for backup. Go figure, someone that is not a dermatologist did me more of a solid than my well-intentioned but not aggressive enough dermatologist.
A few weeks later and I’ve only had to wash my hair with the sulfur shampoo a few times, for ‘maintenance’. I do hope to have a completely normal scalp by 2020, or I’ll have to consider moving to a whole new state.
This wraps up my skin woes series, but if any new torment goes down, I’ll be back with more.
