lizard girl

[the_siobhan]

It occurs to me that one of the reasons I might be so cranky is that I'm suffering from the constant low-level pain that hits me every winter as my skin tries to depart for a more comfortable climate.

When I was a kid I grew up in old houses with steam radiators and I had more than a few apartments with them when I was living alone. Modern houses, however, have forced air.

We have a humidifier. I put pots of water on the heat vent in my room. I slather myself with lotion. I chug bottles of water all day long. And my skin cracks and peels and bleeds, my nails break off at the quick and every inch of my skin itches like mad.

I tend to limp first thing in the morning and every once in a while at work I'll look down and realize I'm leaving streaks of blood all over the paperwork. But most of the time I honestly forget about it. Until moments like last night when I wrapped up my burn, did a quick pain check and realized it hurt less than my feet do.

But it might be a part of why I hate this time of year so much.

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Yuck. Sounds like you have it much worse than I do. I just slather on Moisturel and scratch all winter.

[nefinjer.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you do this already, but on the off chance you don't... leaving a really thick coating of lotion on hands and feet and then covering with cotton gloves and socks on the appropriate parts each night helps a lot. In addition to what you do, it could be beneficial.


And if you do do this... I'm at a loss and I'm sorry you hurt.

[eilis40.livejournal.com]

My skin is hating life right now, and I'm in a warmer clime than you are! The worst is when we have La Nina weather conditions...it is SO cold and dry that my skin actually hurts!

My Secret Santa at work got me an aromatherapy humidifier. I am loving it!

[2ndaryairplane.livejournal.com]

baby blood baths are a killer for these thing i hear...

hrmmm...

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Now that's something I haven't tried yet...

*looks with interest at the neighbours' houses*

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

That happens to you too? I keep a humidifier next to my bed all winter and I moisturize like crazy. In the dead of winter, I have skin lotion at work, in my purse and damn near every room of the house. I've woken myself up in the middle of the night by scratching so hard that I draw blood. At it's worst, my skin looks like scales, just like lizard skin.

I've started to experiment with rubbing oil on my skin as soon as I get out of the shower, as well as using aloe vera gel, which gets absorbed faster than cream or lotion. I completely relate to always feeling sore and cranky and uncomfortable. It sucks large.

[2ndaryairplane.livejournal.com]

might be a long shot, but if you are using any kind of body wash, try not to... let the skins natural oils linger abit.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

If only you weren't a vampire, you could follow the run around.
I mean, for example, we have humidity to spare, here.

I mean, it's 9:12am-ish, and we're at 56% humidity.

If I blow hard enough, it might just get to Canada.

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

Gurk. I thought I had it bad with a little winter eczema. I'll stop feeling sorry for myself now, and send nice a nice squelchy wallow up your way.

[razorjak.livejournal.com]

seems like we need to find you some virgins so as to be able to bathe in the healing powers of their blood :-)

[eciklb.livejournal.com]

Is the humidifier built in to the furnace? Those are helpful but I don't find them as useful as the cheap little vaporizers they sell for sick people. I keep several of those running all the time, and it helps keep me from turning too scratchy. It also cuts down on the heat bill, since humidity really affects how you perceive temperature.