Friday, July 27, 2007

Call me Dumb...

But I think I finally figured out what has been causing my rash, nearly 2 weeks later. My new bedsheets.

I bought the sheets on our anniversary trip, tossed them into the washer and put them on the bed Sunday night. Monday afternoon I'm noticing the dots. A week later Sunday I'm washing the sheets all over again, just in case. Along with all the other bedding. The rash still persists.

Last night I woke up after 2 hours of sleep and could not stop itching. Oh. So. Painful. So more than an hour later I get up and take some medicine and then I went back to bed. The pain persists. Finally wildly wondering... what if I took the sheet off? So I popped off my end of the sheets and pushed it all towards my husband (yeah, I'm a loving wife like that, I didn't want to wake him up at 5am) and in 10 minutes I was feeling soooooo much better. I doubt the medicine could have kicked in that fast.

Geesh, you'd think I would have figured it out faster! The picture is of my right side - a side I like to sleep a lot on. In fact that rash is dominantly on parts of the body that touch the sheets the most. My front and sides are badly rashed, my back not so much.

The sheet is a fitted queen size bedsheet from IKEA, brand new, 100% cotton. Washed with the laundry detergent that I've been using for the last 3 years and vinegar in the rinse cycle. I wouldn't recommend buying it. :P

Hopefully it'll abate soon! :)

Leah

7 comments:

atet said...

Wow -- I wonder if it's the dyes they used? You might want to check it out with a doctor just in case. What if this happened from handling FABRIC??!!?? EEEP!

Leah Spencer said...

I know... that's what scares me. I use 100% cotton for quilting! :P All my fabric is prewashed though, and I never had that problem with my stash, so hopefully I'm safe. :)

The next few nights will tell me if it was the sheets or not. I want to stop itching! :)

Paula, the quilter said...

Wow, Leah. Being an allergy detective is no fun. Ask me how I know this. I hope it is only the brand of sheet. Take care.

Sweet P said...

DH and I had the same thing happen to use when we stayed a hotel for a weekend several years ago. I hope your rash goes away faster than ours did.

QuiltingFitzy said...

I really hate to ask you this...but did you stay overnight in a hotel while you were away? Could you have gotten bedbugs? I sure hope not, I hear they're hard to get rid of.

Try not to change too many things at once so you'll be able to isolate the source.

Norma said...

We have only found one kind of laundry soap that my husband and daughter can use. Of course, its FRESH START and if you can find it in a grocery store, its one of the most costly brands. Maybe they have added something to your brand of soap and it is a combination of the sheets and your clothes. We tested a lot of brands before finding one they could use and that gets so expensive. Hope it is the sheet and easy to eliminate.

Pamela (Peni) Teel said...

May I play mommy? If you had a larger "herald" patch on your chest or back when you started breaking out, it could be pityriasis rosea. The good news is it can go away on it's own but not quickly. But if that's what it is, how have you stood the itching??

(I had this once, took a dermatologist one shot to relieve it and two weeks to fade away, but my sister said she wouldn't be seen in public with me were she not my SISTER.:)