The Weirdness Continues...



 


Only this time it's not house related.  Its Bfth related!

If you know me, you know I've had some "weird" health issues in the past.  Nothing too bad, but strange (ostochondritis and pityriasis rosea to name two).   I've also got some life threatening food allergies (eggs, poultry, and shellfish) that keep me on my toes.  (And keep me away from restaurants.  I'm still seeking a "safe" place to dine out.  Sadly, the one place that I found was REALLY safe isn't in PA or NJ; only in the New England area and upstate NY...100 Grille I need locations closer to me!)  I've also got the seasonal allergies (who doesn't?).  But what happened the other night/day really has been stumped.  I hate having mysteries that even Nancy Drew couldn't solve. But here's your chance to pull out your magnifying glass and try to solve my mystery.

Thursday was like any other day.  Even though it was a federal holiday (Juneteenth...let's not forget it.  It's important AMERICAN history), I was working remotely.  After work, we had an early dinner and headed to ShopRite for groceries.  Came home, watched some tv and turned off the light around 9:30 or so.  So far, so good.

Around 10:30 I got a text from my son.  (He's one of the few people who can get through to me when my phone is set on do not disturb for the evening.)  He was responding to a text I sent hours before, so I leaned over to look at it and my phone was way too bright.  It hurt my eyes.  I only got a glimpse of it (spoiler:  it wasn't important) and I laid back down.  And while I'm not sure exactly what I did next, I think I rubbed my eyes.  I get itchy eyes a lot and it's hard NOT to touch them.  I probably shouldn't have, but...

My left eye started to feel "gritty"; like there were grains on sand in it.  Impossible, but I've had that feeling before when I had eye allergy issues.  So I tried to ignore it.  Then my right eye started bothering me.  Again, tried to close my eyes and ignore, but I couldn't.  I got up and went to the bathroom.  I put some cold water on my face.  I went back to bed.  I tried to lie down, but I was too uncomfortable.  Sitting up was somewhat better, but not much.  I couldn't keep my eyes closed because it was too uncomfortable, but I couldn't keep them open either.  (I know this makes no sense.) I kept going back and forth between closed and open (although it was "semi" open).  I kept getting up.  It seemed like moving around made things "better" (although not really), or maybe I should say more tolerable.  I walked through the house and noticed that areas of the house that were brighter (due to the outside lights) made things worse and being in the darker areas were "better."

For hours I got up and down.  I tried to sleep (hubby was blissfully snoring beside me.)  Lying down didn't work, so I propped myself up.  I'd close my eyes for a few seconds (I kept counting...trying to keep them closed for a minute), only to try and open them again.  I tried to focus on other things.  For example, this craziness with my eyes seemed to screw up my sinuses and became very congested.  Focus on the congestion, not on the eyes.  It didn't work.   I felt some discomfort in my chest.  I figured I was starting to have a mini-panic attack.  Again, I tried to focus and be calm.  I wasn't dying; I was just having an issue with my eyes.

For the next several hours, I tried to sleep (failed), put allergy drops in my eyes (failed...they were puffy and swollen and I couldn't see what I was doing even with the lights on in the bathroom), putting more compresses on my eyes (which didn't seem to help), taking some (generic) Tylenol for my awful headache and trying to get to sleep.  Around 2:30 in the morning, after I had taken some Benadryl (I keep liquid children's Benadryl in the bathroom cabinet which I find works better than a full capsule for me), I finally managed to fall asleep.

I woke up late (for me), around 6:30. I had woken up earlier but managed to go back to sleep.  Interesting note, when I woke up, I was crying.  During the hours that I had been awake, my eyes HADN'T teared up, which I thought was unusual/bad.  My eyes did get "gunky", but there were no tears...

When I got up for the morning, my eyes were not much better.  But I could (sort of) keep them open and managed to get eye drops into them.  I tried to watch the news, but I couldn't.  The light was bothering me so I had my husband go out to the car and get my sunglasses.  (Remembering an episode of The Good Fight where Maia scratches her cornea and is crying all the time due to light and is gifted a pair of sunglasses by Marissa.)  That helped somewhat, but I was not able to really focus.  

I tried to lie down and nap, but no dice.  I ended up taking a (generic) Zyrtec (I know, probably too much allergy medication) and a hot shower.  The shower definitely made me feel better and I used a washcloth to make a warm compress for my eyes which helped somewhat.

Thankfully it was a slow(ish) summer Friday.  I was able to work on my laptop, but slowly.  (I wore the sunglasses OVER my reading glasses.)  For the most part it was a beautiful day outside (which have been rare) and I was really annoyed that I couldn't go out.  (No worries...it poured several times later in the day.)  

All in all, as the day progressed, I did get better, but did not fully recover.  I was able to take a late lunchtime nap (it was the sound of pouring rain that woke me up) which helped.  I had very much wanted to out that night to a historical presentation in town (the first time that the society had an evening program that I could attend), but I couldn't do it.  Although the drive would have been just over a mile, I didn't feel comfortable getting behind the wheel of a car.  Furthermore, I was exhausted.

After dinner (the first meal I ate...I didn't even have coffee that morning), I took another hot shower, added some more drops to my eyes and Benadryl to my stomach and went to bed.  While I had been able to (mostly) focus during the day, I could not do so any longer.  Thankfully, I could lay down and sleep.

I probably slept 10 or so hours last night.  (Amazing!)  I woke up feeling much better.  I could open my eyes with no difficulty.  My right eye feels almost normal.  My left eye is getting there.  I was actually able to really look at myself in a mirror this morning (which I couldn't do yesterday) and my eyes are still very puffy/baggy.  (I look worse than those women in the commercials for products that get rid of under eye bags.)  However, I was able to sit down and write most of this in one sitting.  I was able to watch the news, drink coffee and do my daily NY Times puzzles.  I am still tired and a little "off", but think I will be able to resume "normal" activities for the weekend.

The question remains, WHAT happened?  I obviously had some sort of allergic reaction, but what?  It wasn't ingested, it started in my eyes and went from there. It's taking a long time to get back to "normal." (Maybe this is because of my age?).  What happened?

I can't think of anything unusual that I did on Thursday night.  The only thing I CAN think of is that I applied calamine lotion to my left arm.  But I would have washed my hands after doing so.  (I would have right?  I can't remember.)  Everything else was pretty much the usual day to day.  What happened?

I will continue to work on this puzzle, but as always, if you have any thoughts please share.

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend.  As temperatures heat up all over the country (for the most part), keep that sunscreen handy and stay safe!


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