So late yesterday afternoon I took off to go see my doctor. I'm not sure why I waited this long to have this rash looked at. By then I was fighting actively to not claw the skin off my leg. I got there barely in time for my appointment thanks to stop lights that took FOREVER to turn green.
I like my family doctor. I've had a couple over the few years I've been in the bay area. Some seemed too self involved and others dangerously incompetent. Worst of all, most seemed to want to fight me for control over what kind of care I got. Some insisted that I have cadillac treatment that was expensive and unneccesary and others acted like they owned the pharmacy. This guy is finally the right mix. I feel like we work as a team and he in some cases will go along with my ideas.
After cursing at the scales for making me heavy and frightening the nurse with my blood pressure (I took the stairs 3 levels up) I settled in and waited for the doctor. He came in and we exchanged pleasantries. Then he put on gloves and took a look at my rash. He stared at it several minutes from different angles. (does that actually help?) Then asked about the pain scale. I played along and gave him some numbers. He pronounced it "ugly" and I agreed.
We tried to figure out what it was. He nixed hives, but wasn't so sure it wasn't shingles. We considered a contact dermatitis since it was kind of in spots that we consistant with my running. He wasn't sure it was poison oak (west coast poison ivy) but couldn't rule it out. I have literally rolled in poison oak and not gotten it, but you can develop a reaction to it at any point in your life. Then we discussed treatment. I asked him to treat it aggressively since I might interview for work and didn't want to look diseased.
We agreed on a course of steroids, two different antihistimines (one over the counter for days, a prescription for nights that would help me sleep) and an anti-viral just in case this was not a contact dermatitis. As we discussed the meds and got to the steriods he paused and our conversation went like this:
him: There are some side effects to this. It might be a mood elevator.
me: [looking surprised] I have no problem with that.
him: Sometimes it causes a euphoria.
me: [looking incredulous now] Cool!
him: and then some times it acts as a appetite surpressor.
me: [wanting to hug him] Really? Can I get this for a very long course of treatment?!
He thinks I'm nuts. He might be right. I nearly laid rubber on my way to the pharmacy. This morning I'm a very happy camper with a very low appetite though my rash still inches despite the antihistamines. I'll deal with it.
hmmm... that is not fair, the steriods I was on did not elevate my mood, it sucked actually, they make me actually very depressed...they do however curb my appetite, until of course I remember to eat, then I forget to stop. I think the side effect it gave me was more accurately, you forget what to do with food. You forget to eat it, and then when you remember and start, you forget to stop when you are full. It was not fun. Whats the name of yours so I can request them next time lol? I wanna be euphoric and skinny!!