Signs.
Sometimes, life gives you signs.
For instance, a week ago, I realized that my ear piercings had begun to close up. Having lost the only pair of studs I'd owned some time ago, I took the next best thing (these earrings that had these tiny dice on them), soaked them in alcohol, and punched them through to re-pierce my ears. I'd done this before many times, no problem, so it was kind of a surprise when they started swelling and leaking clear fluid over the next few days. No big deal, just some minor irritation and lymph, I thought. So I just soaked in saline water for five minutes twice a day for the next four days. Except, it really really wasn't getting any better. Even when my piercings were new and I barely cleaned them at all, they had never gotten anything more than mildly sensitive, so this was really new to me. But I kept soaking them, thinking they'd get better.
Yesterday, I woke up and felt really itchy in patches all over my body. Since I always get itchy arms towards summertime, I didn't really think about it until I made my daily check of my ears and realized: hey, what if this is an allergic reaction? My mom has sensitive ears, which means she can't stand earrings with nickel/cheap metal in them - although I'd never had a reaction myself, I had also always made sure to get hypoallergenic earrings for those I'd conceivably wear for more than a few hours. Except, these had been a gift. So, with that thought in the back of my mind, I went to school and then went to work, and bought some claritin just in case, with the earrings still in.
When I got home, House was on. It was the episode from way back when the show was still good, when the nun had the copper IUD that caused a gigantic allergic reaction.
Hmmm, I thought. Is this a sign?
This morning, I woke up to find out I had broken out into hives in two places on my legs.
Yeah, definitely a sign.
So I took out those cheap earrings (felt more like I had to rip them out, considering all the lymph that had dried and cemented them into place), soaked my ears in saline water again, and - yikes! I had no idea that they had gotten this bad, but my piercings were just completely swollen, red, and very very angry at me. I put in (forced in, with a great deal of gruesome pain, believe me) my mom's hypoallergenic earrings, and, yes, relief. That constant throbbing sensation from my ear lobes faded away as if it had never been, the swelling has gone down considerably, and I still itch but it's fading fast.
So, yes, life gives you signs. Follow them.
Also, don't give friends and co-workers earrings as gifts unless they're hypoallergenic or unless you're 100% sure (as in, you asked them and they know for sure) that they don't have sensitivity to nickel or low-quality metals.
For instance, a week ago, I realized that my ear piercings had begun to close up. Having lost the only pair of studs I'd owned some time ago, I took the next best thing (these earrings that had these tiny dice on them), soaked them in alcohol, and punched them through to re-pierce my ears. I'd done this before many times, no problem, so it was kind of a surprise when they started swelling and leaking clear fluid over the next few days. No big deal, just some minor irritation and lymph, I thought. So I just soaked in saline water for five minutes twice a day for the next four days. Except, it really really wasn't getting any better. Even when my piercings were new and I barely cleaned them at all, they had never gotten anything more than mildly sensitive, so this was really new to me. But I kept soaking them, thinking they'd get better.
Yesterday, I woke up and felt really itchy in patches all over my body. Since I always get itchy arms towards summertime, I didn't really think about it until I made my daily check of my ears and realized: hey, what if this is an allergic reaction? My mom has sensitive ears, which means she can't stand earrings with nickel/cheap metal in them - although I'd never had a reaction myself, I had also always made sure to get hypoallergenic earrings for those I'd conceivably wear for more than a few hours. Except, these had been a gift. So, with that thought in the back of my mind, I went to school and then went to work, and bought some claritin just in case, with the earrings still in.
When I got home, House was on. It was the episode from way back when the show was still good, when the nun had the copper IUD that caused a gigantic allergic reaction.
Hmmm, I thought. Is this a sign?
This morning, I woke up to find out I had broken out into hives in two places on my legs.
Yeah, definitely a sign.
So I took out those cheap earrings (felt more like I had to rip them out, considering all the lymph that had dried and cemented them into place), soaked my ears in saline water again, and - yikes! I had no idea that they had gotten this bad, but my piercings were just completely swollen, red, and very very angry at me. I put in (forced in, with a great deal of gruesome pain, believe me) my mom's hypoallergenic earrings, and, yes, relief. That constant throbbing sensation from my ear lobes faded away as if it had never been, the swelling has gone down considerably, and I still itch but it's fading fast.
So, yes, life gives you signs. Follow them.
Also, don't give friends and co-workers earrings as gifts unless they're hypoallergenic or unless you're 100% sure (as in, you asked them and they know for sure) that they don't have sensitivity to nickel or low-quality metals.