summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2013-05-19 06:10 pm
summercomfort) wrote2013-05-19 06:10 pm
A low note and a high note
So a few years ago when I started taking Chinese medicine again, at night my thighs would be super itchy and any scratches turn into long streaks that bump up from the surface of my skin. After about 15-30 minutes, it would naturally subside. At the time, I freaked out and stopped Chinese medicine. A year later when I visited a different Chinese medicine doctor, he basically said that these are negligible and not worth investigating, and to focus on fixing the main problem is fixed (ovulation). By now the itching would sometimes be on my upper arm/shoulder areas, or at my lower back. After I took some ovulation-inducing medicine last summer, the itches were pronouncedly worse, and in particular, I would itch behind my right knee. The itching would subside after I ovulate. So I figured that it's just a weird indicator that hormones are being active in my body. It just kind of became one more mysterious thing that my body did that I would just ignore.
Starting about a month ago, though -- it has been getting worse -- I would get minor itches during the day, usually at the knee, wrists, and chin. In general, the itchy areas would be larger and feel warmer. One place would subside and another place would instantly start. The streaks are wider, and the duration of the itching would last longer, as well. It would be especially bad at night, when I would sometimes itch from 10pm-midnight, making it hard to sleep.
The internet provides no answers (although now I've looked at a lot of images of scabies and celiac disease on Google Image search), and I never itch when I go to see the doctor, making it rather hard to diagnose. I think I might be newly allergic to something? Top possibilities are sugar, gluten, dairy, and stress. Starting this week I've been tracking what/when I eat, and when/where I itch. I'd have a good day where I barely itch at all (even had pearl milk tea with no sugar and no boba). But then the very next day I'd itch for 2-3 hours at night (drank half a cup of sweet milk tea had ate a bit of soba). It's very confusing and has made eating food a fraught experience.
These last few days I've been trying to avoid sugar, carbs, and things with a high glycemic load, but as a result, I've been pretty low-energy. Today I woke up tired, have been unable to focus, and took a 3-hr afternoon nap. While itching is not fun, low blood sugar is not fun, either. I'm currently at a state where I'm just fucking tired of my body being weird and mysterious. To be honest, I don't need an extra thing to deal with right now.
I think what I will try next week is to avoid gluten. That requires cutting out my morning muffin, sandwich bread, and noodles/pastas. :/
Oh! I promised a high note! I have been thinking about getting a Surface Pro ever since reading the Penny Arcade review of it -- lightweight tablet with actual wacom pen and full functioning operating system sounded awfully tempting... But then I remembered that I already have a tablet computer with an actual wacom pen and a full functioning operating system. I haven't actually used it since 2007 (doesn't serve well as a primary computer, not as optimized for drawing as I'd hoped). I've lent it to various friends since 2007 -- first to Cat, and then to Chris. Since Chris wasn't using it, I asked for it back, and I spent this morning playing with it. It's actually quite impressive how well this computer from 2005 (Compaq TC1100) holds up in 2013. The processing is a bit slow, and of course, quite heavy compared to the iPad. But it has a great handwriting recognition system (I can write words by hand, and it'll automatically convert it to text. It also comes with a great note-taking program). The speakers are great, and it chugs along decently on Windows XP.
One of the reasons I stopped using it in 2007 was because drawing with Photoshop on the tablet is super-awkward (Photoshop is very keyboard-shortcut dependent, and its menus and toolbars aren't optimized for tablet "point-and-click" style operation.) But now there are lighter and cheaper drawing programs that have interfaces optimized for tablet drawing. So I downloaded and played around with Sketchbook Pro, which seems to be pretty solid. I think what I'm going to try during the summer is to do pencilling/inking using Sketchbook Pro, and do paneling, touchup, and dialogue in Photoshop on my regular laptop. I think this would greatly reduce the back pain that comes from being hunched over an Intuos for hours on end.
Here's a little doodle I did in Sketchbook Pro today. (Their free trial allows for 15 non-consecutive days, which is pretty considerate of them...)
Starting about a month ago, though -- it has been getting worse -- I would get minor itches during the day, usually at the knee, wrists, and chin. In general, the itchy areas would be larger and feel warmer. One place would subside and another place would instantly start. The streaks are wider, and the duration of the itching would last longer, as well. It would be especially bad at night, when I would sometimes itch from 10pm-midnight, making it hard to sleep.
The internet provides no answers (although now I've looked at a lot of images of scabies and celiac disease on Google Image search), and I never itch when I go to see the doctor, making it rather hard to diagnose. I think I might be newly allergic to something? Top possibilities are sugar, gluten, dairy, and stress. Starting this week I've been tracking what/when I eat, and when/where I itch. I'd have a good day where I barely itch at all (even had pearl milk tea with no sugar and no boba). But then the very next day I'd itch for 2-3 hours at night (drank half a cup of sweet milk tea had ate a bit of soba). It's very confusing and has made eating food a fraught experience.
These last few days I've been trying to avoid sugar, carbs, and things with a high glycemic load, but as a result, I've been pretty low-energy. Today I woke up tired, have been unable to focus, and took a 3-hr afternoon nap. While itching is not fun, low blood sugar is not fun, either. I'm currently at a state where I'm just fucking tired of my body being weird and mysterious. To be honest, I don't need an extra thing to deal with right now.
I think what I will try next week is to avoid gluten. That requires cutting out my morning muffin, sandwich bread, and noodles/pastas. :/
Oh! I promised a high note! I have been thinking about getting a Surface Pro ever since reading the Penny Arcade review of it -- lightweight tablet with actual wacom pen and full functioning operating system sounded awfully tempting... But then I remembered that I already have a tablet computer with an actual wacom pen and a full functioning operating system. I haven't actually used it since 2007 (doesn't serve well as a primary computer, not as optimized for drawing as I'd hoped). I've lent it to various friends since 2007 -- first to Cat, and then to Chris. Since Chris wasn't using it, I asked for it back, and I spent this morning playing with it. It's actually quite impressive how well this computer from 2005 (Compaq TC1100) holds up in 2013. The processing is a bit slow, and of course, quite heavy compared to the iPad. But it has a great handwriting recognition system (I can write words by hand, and it'll automatically convert it to text. It also comes with a great note-taking program). The speakers are great, and it chugs along decently on Windows XP.
One of the reasons I stopped using it in 2007 was because drawing with Photoshop on the tablet is super-awkward (Photoshop is very keyboard-shortcut dependent, and its menus and toolbars aren't optimized for tablet "point-and-click" style operation.) But now there are lighter and cheaper drawing programs that have interfaces optimized for tablet drawing. So I downloaded and played around with Sketchbook Pro, which seems to be pretty solid. I think what I'm going to try during the summer is to do pencilling/inking using Sketchbook Pro, and do paneling, touchup, and dialogue in Photoshop on my regular laptop. I think this would greatly reduce the back pain that comes from being hunched over an Intuos for hours on end.
Here's a little doodle I did in Sketchbook Pro today. (Their free trial allows for 15 non-consecutive days, which is pretty considerate of them...)
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