Google Diagnosis Reveals A Common Problem
Zyrtec Withdrawal: It's a thing...
I was scratchin' like a rehabbed junkie and mad at myself for becoming a victim of side effects.
On Sunday I made myself some fancy spa water. It's was all fine and dandy until a couple days later when I started itching. When I went down my mental list of what I was doing differently I said, "Ah, it must be the lemons." I've broken out on my face before from drinking lemon water every morning...
As the itching increased, I wondered how long it would take with me drinking plain water to flush the itch out. I was itching from the inside out, turning red in the places I had scratched. No rash. I kept feeling for fine bumps and didn't feel them anywhere.
Yesterday was Christopher's last day of school. At 4:15 am I woke up itchy. I had slept restlessly.
So as I lay in bed calculating how much time I had if I could fall back to sleep right now, and I realized my scalp was itching. BAD. I was no longer wearing the scarf that usually stays on my head all night. Looking in the mirror I had obviously scratched like a mad woman in my sleep. I did not have bedhead. I had junkie-head and my hair was not dirty.
I went on about my day - a scratchin' fool. It wasn't until I was out in public at a photo shoot with Papa Bear that I was aware of how badly I needed to scratch. One time I thought it was a bug in my shirt and I kept looking to see if something was crawling on me. I could not wait to get back home and take a shower, assuming at the time that "outdoors" had heightened my itching.
I didn't get to take a shower right away because Christopher was playing outside and Papa Bear wasn't home. He asked me to come and take pictures of him while he was trying to dunk the basketball. I was itchy and irritable but obliged. I felt like mosquitos were biting me and I kept looking to see if one had landed on my knee. I said, "I'm going back inside, something is biting me."
I came inside, didn't see any bites. I went down my mental list again of what I was doing differently and said, "Well I did stop taking my allergy medicine." If I was itching this bad from the lemon water, I'd have a rash by now.
I'd also used a different shampoo and conditioner the last time I shampooed my hair. Could that make my whole body itch, without an accompanying rash?
I took my shower and shampooed my hair. I had temporary relief from burning my scalp with hot water. I thought I'd take a Benedryl so I could get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow would be closer to two days that I hadn't had the lemon water.
I sat under the dryer after 9:00 to dry my hair. My scalp was already itching again and I'd used a dry itchy shampoo. I got my laptop and googled, "Side effects from not taking Cetirizine." Cetirizine is the generic form of Zyrtec.
That moment when my eyes scanned the first article of VERY many....
I could have cried, but I was too mad and itchy. This is exactly why I don't like to take medicine. I happily enjoyed Spring this year, taking my allergy medicine and vitamins faithfully because I bought one of those seven days pill boxes. I had stopped taking them on Monday when I refilled my pillbox. I had 15 pills left out of 90 and said, "I'm tired of taking these. Spring is over."
Since I had a google diagnosis from reading countless articles sharing the exact symptoms I couldn't stand the way I was feeling. At this point, I was itching between my toes and feelin' like Pookie from New Jack City, "Ish just be callin me man, callin me man. I just gotta go to it."
And I popped a Zyrtec, saying I'd deal with this better tomorrow. My skin calmed down and I was able to go to sleep. My feet felt better by this morning.
It's now been about 15 hours since I popped that pill. I'm scurd. I have a high tolerance for pain, but not for itching. Itching makes you feel crazy. At this point I'm going to try to make it until it gets really bad like last night, and then take a half of one. I've got 14 pills left. I can do this.
I made it through Decaf Rehab weaning myself off caffiene. I don't like having to do anything unnatural to feel better. Those were some monster headaches. I'd rather go through that again than face the itching I experienced last night. I've written about my fear of caterpillars. I'm not going to go so far to say I'd rather face my fears with caterpillars than itch again, but y'all this is serious! So serious that I might rather step on a caterpillar.
What I know for sure is that next year, I will go into spring unarmoured because I can't go through this again.
Have you ever experienced drug or caffeine withdrawal, faced your biggest fear or survived Spring without meds?
Pray for me!