A few months ago someone suggested a joint venture to me, the largest either of us have ever attempted, and I’ve been working on it since. It probably won’t pan out until 2010 or 2011, so I’m not sure how much time I’ll be devoting to other things.

For the past several weeks I haven’t felt inspired to post much, as you probably noticed. To be perfectly honest my skin is going haywire and it’s very difficult for me to focus on anything but resisting the itch. That includes socializing, art projects, and eating.

Summer is always one of the outer circles of hell.

On Monday and Tuesday it was about 95′F at the office, so I was expecting some kind of dermal explosion.

On Wednesday it showed up. I woke up with my face, chest, arms and knees breaking out. I put on my office clothes and planned on going in, but after a few minutes in them my skin hurt even more, and began to swell, so I changed and called in sick. By midday my eyes were half shut from being swollen, and I had a few bleeding gashes on my face and arms. My legs were ripped up and it hurt to bend them. It’s nothing compared to how my eczema used to be, but it hurt to touch things, and the pain was very distracting. Maybe it’s just me, but when my whole body is breaking out like that I end up feeling a bit ill as well. And of course, it can be difficult to feel professional when your face is bleeding and won’t stop.

Yesterday I stayed out of the sun as much as possible, including taking my parasol to the bus stop.  It’s treated with SPF 30, the closest thing I can get to sunscreen. [If you have any suggestions for a sunscreen for insanely sensitive skin, please let me know!]

Today my skin is feeling much better. My left arm is still breaking out, and several tiny infections are brewing, so I’m trying to keep them as clean as possible. My right arm is fine though. My face has some long cuts but they’re healing well. It also has red swollen spots that burn, and I’m not even sure what they are, but I’m touching those as little as possible. My left foot has at least 12 little boils on it this morning, hopefully more won’t pop up. I’m wearing jeans so I can’t scratch my legs no matter how much I want to.

I tried to stay upbeat this week, and did a fairly good job, and rarely mentioned my skin. The best part was that people chose to ignore it, so I was able to pretend that I looked more ‘normal’.

Currently Building for the Eczema Boil:

• I’m writing three posts on homemade bandages; two on knitting and one on reclaimed socks.
• I’m working on an interactive .pdf allergy card, since the previous one I found no longer exists.

Current Eczema News:

• It’s summer. There are little boils between my fingers, and on the soles of my feet. My arms and legs are flaking. Although it’s hot, I’m wearing jeans as much as possible so that I can’t scratch the back of my knees.
• My sister figured out that she has a reaction to olive oil, and gets eczema on her hands and feet. She’s been avoiding it for a couple weeks and now it’s mostly gone! I’m happy that she’s not in pain anymore, and to see her being proactive with her health.
• We have a Dyson vacuum! Orion’s nose and my skin are happier.

Current Art Projects:

• Teaching someone the basics of artistic nude modeling. This is kind of tough, because I grew up around artists so it was always intuitive for me. But I am enjoying the challenge!
• Processing the RoboGames photos.
• Restoring vintage family photos for two clients.
• Discussing several ideas for art bots for next years RoboGames.

While they list several things that may be triggering a reaction and you don’t know it, the first thing on the list struck me as particularly interesting:

Limonene, a zesty compound in lime and other citrus fruits, gives many people watery eyes and a burning sensation in the nose, according to James Wedner, MD, chief of allergy and immunology at the Washington University School of Medicine. It might even irritate your skin, whether you touch, eat, or drink products containing limonene.

That’s one reaction I have to lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges, tangerines, and tomatoes.  I’ve thought it was the citric acid, but I’m wondering if it’s the limonene. I’m adding it to my list of things to research.

As you can see, I had half of an eyebrow. The rest of the hairs had been scratched out at that point. The area around my lips was swollen and was mostly chapped pieces of skin with raw pink flesh underneath. My eyelids were raw – you can see a little blood on the one on the right – and underneath my eyes was swollen from scratching as well. The phone is hiding my neck, which had open wounds at the time.

For a larger version of the original Polaroid click here.

Over the years I’ve experimented with different fabrics and techniques, and come across two in particular that work for me.

• Improvised Sock Bandage
• Custom Knit Bandage

Socks, or heavy denier stockings, can make great bandages when you’re in a hurry. I recommend cotton, especially pima, as the smoother fabric will leave less lint in wounds.

Knit bandages can be fun because you choose the yarn, color, etc. These are often very simple to make, from a knitter’s perspective, and also very easy for people who are just learning. While wearing these people frequently tell me they look cool, and ask where I bought them. It’s a nice change from having the wounds sneered at! I’ll cover both techniques with pictures and full explanations in upcoming posts.

Do you use bandages for your eczema? What kinds have worked for you?

Me: “Yeah.”

RPG: “That’s a random thing to be allergic to.”

Me: “No more than anything else.”

RPG: “So, like, anything with corn?”

Me: “Yeah.”

RPG: “It’s in everything!”

Me: “Yeah.”

He thinks for a few moments, eyes darting around like the mouse in his head got trapped in a maze. And then he asks my favorite question. The one with such an obvious answer.

RPG: “What do you eat?!”

Me: “Everything else.”

That’s five to represent the millions of people in the world with eczema.

If we don’t talk about it, no one will know that it’s not just a ‘rash’. If we don’t talk about it, people aren’t aware of how physically painful and psychologically warping it can be. If we don’t talk about it, people will continue to think it’s ok to laugh at someone because they’re different.

Maybe you have eczema and would like to write about it but are nervous about the blog part. Maybe you’ve never set one up before and are worried it’ll be too much work.

You work on it when you want to. Do what you’re comfortable with, what fits your schedule and your life. You can reveal or hide what you choose [because believe me, half of my life with eczema isn't on this site and never will be].  Don’t feel pressured to blog as frequently as other people do – that’s their site and we’re talking about yours.  That is, if you want one. If so, keep reading, I have resources to recommend.

Havi Brooks of the Fluent Self has a fantastic series called Ask Havi, where she helps unravel and soothe worries about living, and blogging. She even taught a teleclass – that I participated in, it was great – helping people get their ducks in a row and blog.  She covered everything from panic attacks about writing style to what companies have great web hosting.

Are you still worried about the set up? I have three methods to recommend here, and two involve the talented and hilarious Johnny B. Truant.

1. Wordpress it yourself. There are lots of blogging platforms, but Wordpress is easy to use but powerful if you want it to be. You’ll get an address like eczemasucks.wordpress.com and choose from the dozens of standard themes. And then start writing.
2. Do it yourself with a little free help. Johnny has a great free e-book; How to Launch a Blog in Under an Hour for STUPIDLY Cheap. This option gets you a .com and uses Wordpress. The first month – for hosting and whatnot – is $15, and $10/month after that.
3. Have Johnny do it. Don’t want to set it up yourself and want the ease and official feeling of a .com? Johnny has a great service where he’ll get your blog running for you for $39. There will also be the charge for hosting from the provider, but that’s normal. [Disclaimer: that is an affiliate link. That means if you take up the challenge to blog and use this link Johnny gives me 50%.]

You can set it all up yourself, and feel great about it afterward. But if you’d rather have some help, I recommend Johnny. Partly because his free e-book is easy to understand, partly because he has an awesome sense of humor.

If you do start an eczema blog, or any kind of site, please let me know!

Why am I asking you to add your voice to the internet throng? Because no one else is you [obvious I know, but bear with me]. No one else has your perspective, your ‘take’, on reality. And people need to hear it.

That’s why we read blogs. To find out what’s happening, what’s out there, what we’ve never thought of or experienced.

Last night I tried it on the least sensitive part of my leg and I rather like it. It stung for a second, but was nothing really compared to razor burn. It also didn’t take long to remove all the hair. My skin was just as scaly afterwards, but seemed to itch less, based on how little I scratched it in my sleep last night. The most sensitive areas, like ankles, didn’t hurt much either. The trick there was short, quick strokes. It’s also easy to hold, maneuver, and clean.

The only real problem with this method is that it takes awhile. It isn’t nearly as fast as shaving, so that still works in a pinch.

Also be forewarned that if anyone if within hearing range while you use it – it’s a little loud – you may get a very concerned ‘What are you doing in there?” And when you explain that it’s a contraption that using spinning gold discs to grab and rip out hair, they’ll most likely tell you you’re nuts.