Ha! Easier said than done.

I went to my allergist yesterday. For several weeks now, I would have these itchy break-outs all over my body especially on my back, arms and legs. These itchy episodes occur anytime during the day and even in the middle of the night when I'd have to wake Joen up just to apply some chinese cream on my back (chinese cream referred to me by Ate Joyce, bought by Papa at some chinese store downtown).

So just to check whether or not I have developed new allergies, I went to Jeremy's allergist yesterday. At first, he scratched my skin with a popsicle stick to see if my skin would raise. True enough , my skin did raise. What was funny was after he did the popsicle stick test, the OTHER UNTOUCHED side of my back started to itch. They witnessed the building of an "island" on my skin. It was huge pa gyud daw! How timely for the doctor to see! Anyway, as far as my new itches are concerned, he diagnosed me with DERMATOGRAPHISM which is a fancy name for "hyper sensitive and dry skin usually triggered by cold weather or a dry environment". He gave me tips on how to take care of my skin. I had no idea that shower scrubbing is a No-no and that you are not supposed to scrub on your arms and legs because technically, unless you went swimming on a puddle of mud, those parts of your body are clean. I asked him about the dead skin cells bit and he said that they shed by themselves and you don't need to scrub them off. I should only use unscented unflavored soap like Dove or Neutrogena on my armpits, groins, feel and hands. The WORST point? Not showering on really hot water anymore! Waaa!!! I LOVE hot water all over my body, especially for those days when we're at the gym. Ngerr.

Next, he did the prick test to see and confirm allergies. So far:

NOT ALLERGIC TO:
- grass
- pollen
- weed
- orange
- tree
- ragweed
- mold
- cockroach
- diluent
- most especially, dogs. (He did another prick on CONCENTRATED dog particles and still, negative. Yippee!!)

I AM TOTALLY ALLERGIC TO:
- Cats. Aaall kinds of cats too
- House dust. All kinds of house dust
- Dustmite 1
- Dustmite 2
- Histamine

This is what dermatographism looks like.