365 Facts: #104 (Medical--Hives)
(Okay, total dork alert: When I saw that I was on #104, my brain immediately went, "Oldies 104.3!" Methinks I've listened to the radio too much. Although I don't believe that station exists anymore.)
Okay, so I know I've already said I was relatively healthy after having rubella, and I didn't miss another day of school until the sixth grade...but that's not to say I didn't have any issues *at* school.
I've always been a person of routine. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every school day for lunch for several years, for example. When I was working at the bookstore, I had a specific routine I followed when I opened. I hated when R would be there early because he would throw me off and I'd seriously be lost for a few hours. Really, between stuff like that, my social issues, and my Rain Man-like numbers thing, I wonder if I'm very very mildly autistic or something. Anyway. But within my routines there was some room to play. For example, take the PB&J sandwich. You could substitute regular Skippy with crunchy Skippy. At some point they came out with honey Skippy, so that was also a possibility. And, with jelly, well, go to town. Sure we used grape jelly much of the time, but there was also strawberry, or peach, or apricot...or raspberry. Raspberry makes me think of my deceased grandmother (the one who took care of me when I had strep; she passed away about 10 years ago now). She lived with my aunt and uncle, whose property abutted O'Hare, and on the O'Hare side of their far fence grew raspberries. My cousins and I would pick them and eat them in the summer, straight off the bush. So, raspberry was always okay. Dad had picked out this fancy-pants brand, Schwartau, and he spread that on my sandwich one day.
At the same time, I'd also run out of chewable vitamins. Up until then I'd always taken Flintstone vitamins, but for whatever reason we went with the Scooby-Doo ones. So, that same morning, I took my first Scooby snack--I mean, Scooby-Doo vitamin. I was on my way, la-di-dah.
However, at some point (I presume after lunch), something bizarro and gross started happening. I broke out in this horrible...thing. I had all these raised blotches on me--my arms, which I could see, and my chest and probably my legs (I don't recall those specifically, but definitely arms and torso). I got sent to see the nurse. The front part of my school was kind of odd. There was this large lobby area with this fountain in the middle of it, and the place was covered in blue tile. The office was on the east side of the lobby, and behind it and down a hall was the little nurse's office. However, if you were sick, you'd end up laying on a couch in the lobby. That's where I got sent. Clearly something was wrong with me, so they didn't want to send me back to class, but at that point I think mom still worked days (I believe this was in March) so it took her a while to come and get me. I think she still worked downtown at that point. (Mom job-hopped for a while when I was a kid.) Now, as if it wasn't bad enough having to leave class and lay on the couch so that everyone who went past the office knew something was wrong with me, we had a fire drill that day. Oh, you have to be kidding me. And when you're used to doing a fire drill with your class, and not via the lobby, and you're already feeling miserable, well, it was NO FUN WHATSOEVER. It was March, and it was cold, and I think it was drizzly even, and I had to go out there without a coat since I was nowhere near my classroom. The only plus side was that I was able to see the firetrucks out front--yes, the actual fire department performed the drill, and they got to turn on the alarm to test it. However, that was no consolation. Eventually I got picked up and taken home. I don't know that I went to the doctor, but possibly. Mom has this medical book and she may have just consulted that; it was pretty clear I had hives as a reaction to something. The raspberry jam and the vitamins were the only things different in my diet/routine, so we figured one or the other (or both) caused the hives. I have never had either of them since. Never. I think I stopped taking vitamins after that, and the bottle of Scooby-Doo vitamins wasn't touched again until we finally pitched them when we moved, I believe. As for the jelly/jam, I know we had other Schwartau flavors and I never had a problem with them (dad was partial to strawberry), and I've had other raspberry jellies and jams and never had a problem, so I honestly doubt it was my sandwich. Still? I'll probably never eat it again. When you're eight years old and your mom has to help bathe you because of the welts on your body, well, you really don't want to go through that again. That's about all I recall, like mom bought Aveeno for my bath or something to help calm my skin down. I'm a modest person. I'd been taking showers by myself for a bit by that point. I really didn't want my mom seeing me naked. But I probably had the splotches on my back, and I couldn't reach them. Oh, they were uncomfortable, and large (like one inch by two inches) and irregular, and they were warm. I don't like being warm. Luckily, though, I think they must have settled down by the next day. Either that, or we had a day off or something, because I know I didn't miss school for it. I have not had hives since, thankfully, and I hope I never will again. Even now, 21 years later, I can feel the warmth on my arm as I think about it, and see the oddly jigsaw-like shape of the welts.
I really think it was the vitamins that did it. Years later, as a senior in high school, my mother the pusher was trying to get me to take a teen multivitamin that she'd gotten from Avon. Yes, Avon had vitamins. Avon had lots of things. Finally, to shut her up, I took one...and my face promptly broke out. Realize that by that point I wasn't eating super-horribly and probably didn't really need a vitamin, but my mother was convinced I had poor nutrition. I only took the one and stopped, and not so long later I went for a pre-college physical. I told the doctor what happened and he figured I had a reaction to the binders in the vitamin. Hmm. Interesting. This is what makes me think that Scooby caused the hives. This is also part of the reason I don't take vitamins and prefer to eat better instead. (That was also the last time I saw a doctor until a month ago. Yes, I'm bad. But what's that adage about apples and doctors?)
Okay, so I know I've already said I was relatively healthy after having rubella, and I didn't miss another day of school until the sixth grade...but that's not to say I didn't have any issues *at* school.
I've always been a person of routine. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every school day for lunch for several years, for example. When I was working at the bookstore, I had a specific routine I followed when I opened. I hated when R would be there early because he would throw me off and I'd seriously be lost for a few hours. Really, between stuff like that, my social issues, and my Rain Man-like numbers thing, I wonder if I'm very very mildly autistic or something. Anyway. But within my routines there was some room to play. For example, take the PB&J sandwich. You could substitute regular Skippy with crunchy Skippy. At some point they came out with honey Skippy, so that was also a possibility. And, with jelly, well, go to town. Sure we used grape jelly much of the time, but there was also strawberry, or peach, or apricot...or raspberry. Raspberry makes me think of my deceased grandmother (the one who took care of me when I had strep; she passed away about 10 years ago now). She lived with my aunt and uncle, whose property abutted O'Hare, and on the O'Hare side of their far fence grew raspberries. My cousins and I would pick them and eat them in the summer, straight off the bush. So, raspberry was always okay. Dad had picked out this fancy-pants brand, Schwartau, and he spread that on my sandwich one day.
At the same time, I'd also run out of chewable vitamins. Up until then I'd always taken Flintstone vitamins, but for whatever reason we went with the Scooby-Doo ones. So, that same morning, I took my first Scooby snack--I mean, Scooby-Doo vitamin. I was on my way, la-di-dah.
However, at some point (I presume after lunch), something bizarro and gross started happening. I broke out in this horrible...thing. I had all these raised blotches on me--my arms, which I could see, and my chest and probably my legs (I don't recall those specifically, but definitely arms and torso). I got sent to see the nurse. The front part of my school was kind of odd. There was this large lobby area with this fountain in the middle of it, and the place was covered in blue tile. The office was on the east side of the lobby, and behind it and down a hall was the little nurse's office. However, if you were sick, you'd end up laying on a couch in the lobby. That's where I got sent. Clearly something was wrong with me, so they didn't want to send me back to class, but at that point I think mom still worked days (I believe this was in March) so it took her a while to come and get me. I think she still worked downtown at that point. (Mom job-hopped for a while when I was a kid.) Now, as if it wasn't bad enough having to leave class and lay on the couch so that everyone who went past the office knew something was wrong with me, we had a fire drill that day. Oh, you have to be kidding me. And when you're used to doing a fire drill with your class, and not via the lobby, and you're already feeling miserable, well, it was NO FUN WHATSOEVER. It was March, and it was cold, and I think it was drizzly even, and I had to go out there without a coat since I was nowhere near my classroom. The only plus side was that I was able to see the firetrucks out front--yes, the actual fire department performed the drill, and they got to turn on the alarm to test it. However, that was no consolation. Eventually I got picked up and taken home. I don't know that I went to the doctor, but possibly. Mom has this medical book and she may have just consulted that; it was pretty clear I had hives as a reaction to something. The raspberry jam and the vitamins were the only things different in my diet/routine, so we figured one or the other (or both) caused the hives. I have never had either of them since. Never. I think I stopped taking vitamins after that, and the bottle of Scooby-Doo vitamins wasn't touched again until we finally pitched them when we moved, I believe. As for the jelly/jam, I know we had other Schwartau flavors and I never had a problem with them (dad was partial to strawberry), and I've had other raspberry jellies and jams and never had a problem, so I honestly doubt it was my sandwich. Still? I'll probably never eat it again. When you're eight years old and your mom has to help bathe you because of the welts on your body, well, you really don't want to go through that again. That's about all I recall, like mom bought Aveeno for my bath or something to help calm my skin down. I'm a modest person. I'd been taking showers by myself for a bit by that point. I really didn't want my mom seeing me naked. But I probably had the splotches on my back, and I couldn't reach them. Oh, they were uncomfortable, and large (like one inch by two inches) and irregular, and they were warm. I don't like being warm. Luckily, though, I think they must have settled down by the next day. Either that, or we had a day off or something, because I know I didn't miss school for it. I have not had hives since, thankfully, and I hope I never will again. Even now, 21 years later, I can feel the warmth on my arm as I think about it, and see the oddly jigsaw-like shape of the welts.
I really think it was the vitamins that did it. Years later, as a senior in high school, my mother the pusher was trying to get me to take a teen multivitamin that she'd gotten from Avon. Yes, Avon had vitamins. Avon had lots of things. Finally, to shut her up, I took one...and my face promptly broke out. Realize that by that point I wasn't eating super-horribly and probably didn't really need a vitamin, but my mother was convinced I had poor nutrition. I only took the one and stopped, and not so long later I went for a pre-college physical. I told the doctor what happened and he figured I had a reaction to the binders in the vitamin. Hmm. Interesting. This is what makes me think that Scooby caused the hives. This is also part of the reason I don't take vitamins and prefer to eat better instead. (That was also the last time I saw a doctor until a month ago. Yes, I'm bad. But what's that adage about apples and doctors?)