In this last week of June, I’ve decided it is turkey
time. But not in the way you might
think. For instance, Thanksgiving before
last, my then-four-year-old granddaughter decided that if eating too much
turkey makes you sleepy, and if her uncle Joseph was napping after dinner, that
must mean that he was sleeping with turkeys.
My turkey tale is twofold. Both parts are related, though
in an obscure way unless you add “cold” before turkey. You see, as of today I
am going cold turkey on two of the biggest elements of my lifestyle: dairy products and scratching.
I love all things dairy:
a cold glass of milk, plain Greek yogurt with frozen blueberries, all
cheeses, and all ice cream or frozen custard flavors. Today I gave my last half gallon of milk and
a lovely cheese tray to my son. (We
purchase our groceries separately.) Then
I collected the remaining dairy products—Greek yogurt, cream cheese, Half &
Half, and heavy whipping cream—and put them in my daughter’s refrigerator. Normally, there would have been butter as
well, but I ran out of it a couple days ago.
Why am I ditching dairy?
Because I’m hoping that doing so will calm down this
post-steroid eczema flare. Dairy is not
all I’m ditching, but it surely is the hardest . . . well, except for bread and
sweets.
Eczema (specifically, atopic dermatitis) has ruled my
life since the initial flare early in the spring. I’ve made a host of small changes to my
lifestyle: lukewarm showers instead of
hot ones, unscented glycerin bar instead of soap and body washes, dermatologist-approved
All instead of a cheaper laundry detergent, and so on. None have made a difference. Every morning and evening I grease up with
cold-pressed, unrefined virgin coconut oil, sometimes with a little tea tree or
lavender essential oil added. I’ve tried
everything that anyone has recommended, and still the coconut oil is the best
for staving off the incessant itch for a few hours.
Thus, we come to the second part of my cold turkey
tale. I finally went back to the
dermatologist today. She agreed that it
was bad, very bad and put me on an antibiotic for the skin infections that have
popped up where my aggressive fingernails have been. She talked at length about next steps, which
include lab work and methotrexate and lots of money since my insurance isn’t so
great this year. Then, she ordered me to
stop scratching.
I’m usually good about following doctors’ orders, and I
am committed to not scratch under any circumstances. But it ain’t easy. In the six hours since I left the dermatology
clinic, I have learned a surprising truth:
I scratch all the time: a little bit here, a little bit there. It’s a deeply ingrained habit. I mean, while I was driving home and giving
myself a pep talk about not scratching, I suddenly found myself scratching. In fact, I just did it again!
I must admit that I am not cold-turkeying coffee. I’m doing that one gobble at a time—mixing
with Teeccino (my favorite healthy coffee substitute)—and should be caffeine-free by next week. I did not want to add
excruciating headache to the mix. Hopefully,
I will learn to sleep scratch-free without the turkeys.
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