Recently I've had to turn to this blog three times to look up stuff that has happened. Sometimes it really comes in handy. But, my posting for the past year has been a bit spotty. What if I had to look up something that happened in 2009?
So, for the record, my annoying and stupid allergies started in 2009. I started having trouble with my earrings. I thought my ear piercings were getting infected, because they kept getting puffy, itchy and sore. This went on for a while, actually. Then one day I happened to mention it to my friend Laila, and she told me that it sounded like I was having an allergic reaction. Sure enough, as long as I stuck to plain gold earrings, my ears were fine. That kind of sucks because I don't really care for gold, but at the same time, not wearing earrings isn't that big a deal. I can wear some silver earrings, but not all.
In January I started getting weird itchy, scaly patches on the palms of my hands. I know that doesn't sound all that serious, but you'd be amazed at how much stuff you touch with your palms. They were constantly irritated to the point where my skin was cracking and bleeding, and the only thing that helped was covering my palm with a bandage. Of course it is very difficult to keep a bandage on your palm because you flex your hands so much, so I looked ridiculous.
I asked my doctor about it, and she said it was a contact dermatitis, and recommended that I start wearing gloves at the gym, when I washed dishes and did any cleaning. That helped a little, but mostly with the extra irritation. The itchy/scaly part didn't go away.
Then I got my iPhone, which I immediately tucked into a plastic case to keep it protected. And lo and behold, over the next four weeks, my palms cleared up. I consulted Dr. Google, and my symptoms seem to fit very well with a diagnosis of a nickel allergy. It usually starts with trouble with a piercing and then is exacerbated by a cell phone. Unfortunately, the treatment for a nickel allergy is pretty much "stop touching nickel, dumbass." However, I was perfectly content to wear earrings sparingly, look dorky in gloves at the gym and keep my phone in a case.
But lately it's affecting my wedding ring, and that is not ok. White gold is apparently made with nickel in it, I guess to make it less yellow, and yes, my wedding ring is made of white gold. I love my wedding ring. It wasn't terribly expensive, but it is in a Celtic knotwork pattern that suits us. I love that it matches John's ring, but is just smaller. I love that he carried it around on our wedding day and then put it on my finger and we started off on this new part of lives together. And now I can't wear it for more than five minutes at a time, which is really upsetting. If you need me, I'll just be over here trying to find a cure for nickel allergies. Or a way to coat my wedding ring so I'm not actually touching it when I wear it.
yay for a return to blogging!
Oh, I wish I had something helpful to say. I cannot even imagine how upset I would be if I suddenly couldn't wear my engagement ring, so I am feeling for you.
Oh my goodness that must be so upsetting! But I may have an idea for you, as I have done some work as a silversmith/jeweller.
Go to a manufacturing jewellers (ask around to find the best one) and see if they can do something like stretch your current ring to make it about half to one ring-size bigger. Then see if they can solder a piece of palladium or rhodium (both white metals) underneath, where it touches your finger.
The end result will not look identical to your original ring, but there must be some modifications that will help!
A low-tech temporary solution is to coat the inside and outside of your ring in clear nail varnish. Let it try for a whole day before wearing the ring. Of course, this may also cause skin irritation, but you don't know if you don't try :) It's an old trick for copper rings, as they look pretty but turn skin green!
Best wishes :)