i'll never forget the first time it happened. it was late in the evening on december 26, 2012 & i was sitting on the couch with my mom in raleigh, nc. i was in town visiting for christmas & was really hopeful to head out of town the next day. i had already been stranded an extra day due to some extreme weather heading through. i love my parents, but about 6 days in their house is enough.
so i was on the couch with my mom, watching a movie & my head started to itch right above my left ear, not far from my temple. i could feel a small bump & thought to myself
well i must've gotten bit by something.
it was the dead of winter so there weren't really bugs with bite out & about but my parents live among trees & wildlife so i just told myself something bit me. i headed out of town the next day without a second thought about it.
about a month later, the itch returned & it was starting to spread all over my scalp. i call it "the itch" because that's what it mainly was & it was bad. all day, every day. itch. i tried head & shoulders, tar shampoo, new shampoo, old shampoo, a new hair brush & nothing changed. the itch would come & go every couple of weeks. sometimes i would get three weeks of itch-free life before it would return with a vengeance.
it was embarrassing. i would be out with friends & there i was scratching my head like some 6 year old with a lice problem. it was horrible.
i waited 3 months to go to the doctor.
i was living in south carolina & working for the state which means my health insurance sucked. i'm a generally healthy person & i was paying medical bills pretty much the entire 2 years i lived there. the state insurance covers no preventative care. they'll cover everything if you get cancer but they don't cover the test for cancer. so i started using the health department for my yearly physicals & birth control & avoided the doctor at all costs.
march 2013.
3 months of living with the itch & i had enough. i knew it wasn't going to be cheap but something had to be done. i went to the dermatologist at the cost of $100 a visit. the first time, she said she had no idea what it was. she thought it might be an infection of the hair follicles so i left with three prescriptions:
- 150 mg of doxycycline (oral steroid): 1 tablet a day with food indefinitely
- ketoconazole shampoo: use 3 times a week as shampoo replacement
- clobex spray: spray on affected areas before bed every day
now the bill at the pharmacist was a good $85. the dermatologist said to try this for 6 weeks & come back. so that's exactly what i did.
may 2013.
went back to the dermatologist at the cost of another cool $100. the itch had finally started to subside, but was still around a little bit. it was kind of like that bad hamburger you eat in the cafeteria - you eat it & its gone but it still hangs around. it follows you around all afternoon & taunts you. the itch was like that. it taunted me. so the dermatologist had a new plan...kind of:
- 150 mg of doxycycline (oral steroid): half a tablet a day with food indefinitely
- ketoconazole shampoo: use every other day as shampoo replacement
- clobetasol propionate shampoo: use on the off days of the ketoconazole as shampoo replacement
so i was basically using prescription shampoo every single day. every day. my hair definitely didn't smell like roses. the dermatologist wanted me to come back 6 weeks later but i got the job in arkansas & hit the road.
september 2013.
6 months of being on the steroids & i was over it. when i would stop taking the steroids the itch would return so i would start taking them again. it had now become a vicious cycle. i was riding on a carousel that i never intentionally bought a ticket for.
one day i just stopped taking the pills.
i realized i had been on an oral steroid for 6 months & i'm not about that life.
october 2013.
arkansas is this amazing state where you can take your birthday as a paid holiday & going to the doctor is like christmas.
so i found my way to a doctor of internal medicine, who referred me to a dermatologist, who tested me for a staph infection. that was his initial thought. if it was a staph infection i might be able to rid it from my life forever. it would be difficult, but it might be gone.
staph infection results: negative.
so i have scalp acne & i'll have it for the rest of my life. the itch is my new best friend. GREAT.
i don't run around telling people this because i still find it rather embarrassing.
the dermatologist wanted me to go back on the steroids. he said that was really the only way to manage the problem. it wouldn't be every day, only when i had a flare up, but i was flared up most of the time. sooooooo pretty much every day & i told him no.
i'm not sure when it happened, but i started eating salads at lunch. the u of a gives the coordinators an awesome meal plan & something clicked in my head. instead of using my meal plan to eat crap food, i should use it to eat healthier. i should use my meal plan to improve my health.
december 2013.
anyone who knows me well, knows that i am a serious creature of habit when it comes to food. when i find something i like i stick to it.
iceberg lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, cheese, sunflower seeds, croutons, bacon & ranch with half a chicken breast & a glass of water.
& i pile it high. my salad is always overflowing in my plate. i love every minute of it & i started looking forward to my salad at lunch.
then i went to visit my parents around the holidays & something happened. i wasn't eating salads for lunch; i was going out with my mom & eating nc bbq for lunch, bojangles for breakfast & mom was making steaks & pasta for dinner. there were cookies & cakes, soda & hot chocolate. not only did i gain 6 lbs, but for the first time since late october the itch returned. the first time i scratched my head i realized that it hadn't itched in months.
light bulb moment: eating better was improving my skin.
january 2014.
i stopped making new years resolutions. i just don't do it anymore. i just want 2014 to be a good year.
around the middle of january i found myself making a huge mistake. i watched "hungry for change" on netflix & i instantly wanted to start shopping organic. that expensive urge passed & what stuck is one of the doctors who said:
"as i got older i saw that my hair was getting brittle & my skin was getting blotchy & so was the hair & skin of my patients. so i started eating healthier. i wanted nice skin & hair."
& that's when i realized that i was on the right track. if i could have salads for lunch & dinner i might be able to clear up this whole scalp acne situation. i could divorce the itch. that would be amazing.
february 2014.
i went grocery shopping on february 1.
i bought a ton of stuff to make salads at home. i bought chicken that i can just throw in the crock pot with a little marinade & have with my salads for dinner.
saturday & sunday nights were both chicken & salad nights for dinner. i feel like i'm off to a really good start. i'll have to learn how to spice it up - add some variety, change it up a little bit. i'm sure that'll come with time.
i feel so much better throughout the day when i eat healthier. i don't get that afternoon slump anymore.
the itch is my motivation. i can't take it anymore.
i'm not doing this as a diet. i'm not doing this to loose weight.
i want this to be a lifestyle change.
i want to be a better me.
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