October 3, 2008

NOTE TO MYSELF: Do not make up home remedies


The other day I came home exhausted. My legs were killing me because I had been scratching them all day. Several years ago I started showing signs of psoriasis and over the past few years it's gotten worse. Normally my psoriasis is something I don't care to talk about and it has been the cause of much pain and anguish. It is really living hell.
Tired and sore after a 12 hour day, I decided that I was going to take a bath. And not just any bath, I was going to take a real long bath. As I ran the water I thought that maybe I should try some bubbles. How great would that be? So I started off to the 'girls only bathroom' looking for the bubbles when it occurred to me that I had just bought an all-natural save the earth organic substance that I had been wanting to use. The product was a castile soap that promised wonderful things when diluted in certain measures. It could be used for a variety of things -- from cleaning your infant or the diaper pail, personal hygiene, or eliminating odors -- you name it. The trick was all in the dilution.
And thinking that I was really going to spoil myself, I probably added another half ounce to the first ounce I had already dumped into the tub. The smell of peppermint told me that this was just going to be great.

I spent the first few minutes scrubbing my legs. And I mean really really really scrubbing my legs. I was going to get rid of the pain and get my relief. After 10 minutes I realized I wasn't getting any relief. And if I wasn't mistaken I was actually starting to feel worse. As I slowly stood up to rinse all the soap off my body, I winced. My skin felt like it was on fire and looking at my legs, they were beet red. I wanted to scream as the water hit my skin. But that might draw attention and the last thing I wanted was attention. I didn't want anyone to know about this stupid thing I had just done. Best to just grin and bear it. My little secret.
When I was done I put on a long pair of pajama bottoms and went downstairs. Every move I made hurt my skin. I realized that my skin was starting to stick to my pants as I shifted around trying to sit down. My wife (somehow noticing my discomfort) was asking me if I was alright, "Yeah," I quietly mumbled while inaudibly adding, "It's all just rosey."
I went to bed that night cursing myself. Thinking I should have grabbed the bubbles. And for three days I walked around trying to not let my clothes touch my skin. That's a real hard one to pull off. It's like getting a paper cut and then bumping it all day long.
I was going to keep this a secret, but when I came home tonight the first thing I thought about was taking a nice long bath. Yeah, that wasn't going to last very long.

3 comments:

tkdmama said...

Oh my!! Home remedies are evil things:)

ZDub said...

I bet it was Dr. Bronner's! That stuff is strong. Can't imagine what it that felt like.

Thanks for following my blog and I will be checking in with you!

Take care,
Zak

Something Happened Somewhere Turning said...

TKD...Yes! And sometimes they burn.

Zakary...I'm not going to come out and say that is was DB, but there's a good chance that it might have been DB. Thanx for reading and it's been my pleasure following your blog.

I have to go. It's popcorn night and 'Chuck' is on.

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