I had seen two doctor's prior to that. The first one was not at all concerned and barely looked at it. Told me to take benadryl. The second doctor was at Urgent Care and she, without really looking at the rash, told me I had really bad eczema. Told me it was the worst that she had seen but told me to buy expensive lotion and a list of other eczema related advice.
Two weeks later, it was beyond any kind of itching that I could imagine. I don't think I could have itched more had I rolled my naked body in a patch of poison ivy!
The dermatologist did a biopsy and determined it was a "drug eruption." The only drug I'd taken that was new, and the rash started around the same time as the drug started, was lithium. I'd had the rash since late October. This was now January. It had only gotten worse and was spreading.
So there went yet another drug that was managing my mental health. I had huge success with lithium in stabilizing everything. I was able to go off of my anti-depressant and I was even sleeping!
I am now on round two of a steroid regimen. Hopefully that will kick it. If not, I'll see a doctor who specializes in allergies and somehow, someway we will survive this rash.
For the time being, we've decided that we are going to try to manage my mental health without meds. The doc doesn't seem completely hopeful that this will work but she's willing to work with us. The withdrawal process was awful. The spiraling from meds to no meds was awful.
Some days I can see why she's not so hopeful. Some days I think it would just be a lot easier to go back on the meds. Most days, I'm glad I'm not on them. Most days, I can see where all this is going. Most days, that's ok.
No matter what happens, it will be a journey. The one that I'm meant to be on right now in my life. I will learn something from all of it, other than new things that I'm allergic too! I'm learning. It's all a process. I am hopeful that not being medicated works. We have a plan in place if it doesn't.
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