I'm an Allergic Mess

Gosh, I'm a miserable allergic mess right now.

It all started when I ran out of All Free and Clear liquid laundry detergent. That's ok, I thought, I have a bottle of Arm and Hammer Liquid Laundry Detergent, Perfume and Dye free "dermatologist tested for sensitive skin." Well, I don't know what kind of testing was done but it turned into a nightmare for me.

I started getting itchy, and before I knew it, most of my body was covered with a rash made worse by the itching. I'm itchy on my calves, behind my knees, on the front and back of both thighs, the back of my waist, and on both forearms. It makes it hard to sit still and sleep.

I'm treating it by washing my clothes in the right detergent, using lotion, and apply hydrocortizone cream sparingly on the worst parts. Because I'm nursing, I don't want to use too much. It's been two weeks and I'm very slowly improving.

But then my eyes decided to get in on the allergic action. I always have seasonal (winter) allergies. This year my nose isn't too bad; which might be helped by my current dairy-free diet. But my eyes...oh, my eyes are horrible. They itch like crazy and are tearing nonstop. I started taking Claritin but that wasn't enough, so I bought some antihistamine eye drops. They sting when I put them in but they help. When with both of those, though, my eyes are tearing constantly and feel gummy. The skin at the corners of my eyes and lower eyelid are now dry, raw, peeling, and swollen/puffy from the irritation.

If that isn't bad enough, the corner of my mouth split open and chapped.

So, if you see me in real life...no I don't have leprosy.

So, I've been motivated to do some major cleaning, especially in my bedroom. That's where my allergies are the worst because it is the most neglect part of the house, cleaning-wise. So, I started going through the clutter. My bedroom is the dumping ground for some of the clutter because our attic entrance is in there. I had a pile I needed to sort through: does it need to be stored in the attic, is it going to Goodwill, or does it need to be tossed. Scott went in after me and vacuumed most of the room. Already I feel better in there. I'm working on the bedroom some more today.

But now I'm noticing I feel pretty bad downstairs, too, so I think I should find some time to vacuum and dust downstairs today. There's clutter down here to, but I'm been making a dent in it for a while now. Then I think about the fact that I need to do some school with the kids, wash dishes, clean the bathroom (it's reached my disgusting limit), do a gazillion loads of laundry, go to the library, go to the grocery store, finish Christmas shopping, finish Christmas decorating, cook meals, pay bills, etc. Suddenly, I'm feeling overwhelmed....