I have a rash. I was going to post a pic, but I don’t want both of my followers burning up the phone lines with 9-1-1 calls on my behalf. I may or may not call my dermatologist. I have been trying to self-medicate as usual, because of course I am convinced that I have more medical knowledge than someone who has completed med school. So I gathered up all the available ointments, unguents, balms, lotions and creams that are in our house and are not related to insect repelling, cooking, or furniture refinishing. Although that Minwax did promise me a smooth, glossy finish.
After rounding up all the bottled and tubed suspects, the most promising looked to be a small tube of a steroid cream called Halog. It hasn’t even reached its expiration date yet. Score! That’s a definite bonus as most of the medicine I find in my sock drawer that I self-prescribe has been around since before there even were expiration dates, so that medicine can never go bad.
Based upon my vast internet-based knowledge of skin rashes and the ready availability of this half-used tube of Halog, I made the informed decision to use it. Nothing has changed. Then I checked the side effects of Halog:
- mild skin itching/burning/irritation
- skin rash or irritation
- changes in color of treated skin
- blisters
- pimples
- crusting of treated skin
I had all that before the Halog. I now have that after the Halog. How can I tell if the Halog worked? Perhaps it didn’t work and the original symptoms continue. Perhaps the Halog cured all the symptoms, and the resulting symptoms are just the nasty side effects of the Halog.
I’m almost concerned and confused enough to call my dermatologist, but first I think I hear my sock drawer calling to me.
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 