Ok, for about 4 or 5 months now I've been dealing with steadily worsening hives. Only, they'd only show up in the evenings mostly....and they would never be in the same place. At first I thought it was stress (I first noticed them just before we bought our house, so I thought they were completely psychological....with a mother and sister who are both hypochondriacs....that's what I assumed). Anyway, after the stress levels died down, they didn't go away...they continued getting worse. Finally, about Wednesday, they were so bad that at midnight I was at the 24 hour Kroger getting Benadryl (I left my stash at mom's house....brilliant me). Now Benadryl knocks me out anyway so I took it right before bed...didn't notice the massive difference it made until morning when I woke up to *no itches* It surprised me how much of a relief it was right away. So I'm thinking to myself has it really been that bad recently? Did I really get used to a constant undercurrent of the "itchies?"

Apparently I had; all day Thursday I was half distracted off my work by the feeling of "not itching." Finally I took a moment to think about *what* was not itching; I kept feeling like there was something I was missing. Finally, epiphany: My Scalp Doesn’t Itch! Yes, it took me several *hours* to realize that I’d been dealing with an itchy scalp for those 4-5 months…even before the “hives” started appearing. About that time Ralph and I switched to an anti-dandruff shampoo. So, I’m most likely allergic to something in the shampoo.

Now, switching gears: late last week I got a job working over by where my husband is working, and I put on my watch as normal, forgetting that I can’t stand to have the thing on for longer than a couple hours. On the drive home one day, I complain to Ralph. I also gripe that I don’t have enough jewelry that I can ware on a daily basis; all my stuff that I wear is nice stuff…gold and silver and all. Ever since I got my ears pierced, I’ve been picky because anything that was not Sterling Silver or pure 14karot Gold, I got bad infections to. Now that I’m adult I’ve just been telling myself that I have to acclimate my ears to wearing earrings.

Well, :: (Mr. Chemistry) put two and two together. Apparently there is a common denominator between common metals in jewelry/watches/cheapo eyeglasses (all of which I've reacted to) and anti-dandruff shampoo…Zinc. So we have a possible culprit…I’m just getting myself to the doctor as soon as our health insurance kicks in so I can verify/refute it. I’m defiantly allergic to *something,* but no saying for sure just yet…