Blister bluster ...

This past month (5 weeks actually!) has been the roughest I've had in a while, and I'm SO glad it's over!

I woke up one morning with a sore spot on the side of my tongue. I figured I'd bitten it in the night, got a canker sore, it'll clear up in a few days. Nope. Instead of getting better, it got worse. WAY worse. It got bigger, for one thing, and more started showing up ... your regular run of the mill canker sores don't do that. I had various sizes of blisters all over the inside of my mouth ... on and under my tongue, inside my cheeks, on my gums, the roof of my mouth, and down my throat ... I couldn't eat or drink without severe pain; I could barely talk. I ate tiny bits of oatmeal when I could, sipped water when the pain wasn't too bad. 

 

I went to the outpatients department at the hospital twice (my dr was away) and they barely looked at me, said it's nothing, sent me home. I should own shares in Oragel by now, I've gone through dozens of tubes of the stuff to help ease the pain, but nothing helped solve the problem. When it finally started to get a little better, the blisters spread to my lips. I looked like I had the worst chapped lips ever, with crusted scabs on and all around my mouth. I barely left the house, it was so painful and embarrassing.

I spoke to pharmacists about it and then finally my dr, and it was suggested that it might have been caused by wearing a mask. When we had our last lockdown and some local cases, the stores got very strict and I forced myself to wear one whenever I had to. 

 

Asthma & breathing-wise, it's difficult. PTSD makes it even harder. But they say that masks keep the goobers out and keep your own goobers in, so I wore it. But what about if you're basically allergic to everything, and when you put on a mask you actually trap the allergens in there close to your face? The only thing anyone could come up with that could have caused this huge reaction I was dealing with was that I was exposed to an allergen that likely got trapped in my mask and I was repeatedly re-exposing myself to it every time I wore it, then it spread like wildfire and got out of control. I have no proof that this is what happened, but it's the only thing anyone could come up with that makes any sense.

 

After the blisters spread to my lips my dr got concerned that they were getting infected and wanted to prescribe me an antibiotic ointment. I'm allergic to antibiotics of all kinds. I've ended up in the hospital with anaphylaxis for using eyedrops for pinkeye. So of course she was really hesitant in even mentioning it to me. This was at the 5 week mark and I was desperate, so I said that in my experience with antibiotics, it takes 48 hours before the reaction is at its worst. I told her that I know I can survive 2 days for sure and that if she could hit me hard with antibiotics for that long, I would be ok. OMG the look on her face was priceless. But I know what I can handle and she knows that, so she went along with it with a few conditions. When I saw the name of the ointment when I picked it up I have to admit I got a little nervous. I've used it and reacted badly before. But I knew I had 2 days.

They were a miserable 2 days, and I did use 2 epipens and a lot of benedryl, but it worked. The mess didn't spread any further, and after the 2 days I tapered off using the ointment unless it felt absolutely necessary. 

 

Then I found an absolute miracle cure for the residual chapped lips. Once the crusty part was gone (yep - ick!) it was still raw and sore, but I got thinking about when my sister had told me to use Vitamin E on my arm when I burned it last month. (Yes, I'm a walking disaster). So I got the Vit E gelcaps ... I pierced a hole in the end of one and squeezed out the oil, spread it on my chapped lips off and on through the day, and within 3 DAYS it was cleared up completely. I will never be without this stuff in my house from now on. 

 

I had a couple of small blisters pop up inside my cheek the other day ... I literally felt them appear ... but I popped them and rinsed them out repeatedly and nothing more happened. 5 weeks of misery and no absolute definitive cause except for a theory. 

 

I get that masks are important and safe for many reasons and for many people. But if there's even a chance, and there is, that this is what caused my misery, I'm out. I can't and won't go through that again and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Well, maybe a couple of people ....