Now I somewhat understand mange

Sorry if that sounds strange, but we have fox in the area right now that are dying from mange. Basically, they are dying of starvation or hypothermia because they are itching to death. That is how I felt last night with sleeping or lack of sleeping and day 3 or 4 with poison ivy.

I finally fell asleep around midnight. I was up at 1:30 am to put cream on my arm. I woke up at 5 am itching like crazy. I put on my cream which helped, but I couldn't fall back asleep. I even tried to take a nap today as I've had about 15 hours of sleep total for the last 3 nights, but it was a no-go. I was too itchy.

So, I went to Target and bought a hydrocortisone cream. It works about as good as the Sarna cream works, if as well. I also bought a diphenhydramine hydrochloride (HCl) tablet (same as Benadryl) and HCl cream. I can't use both, but I should try one. I'm not sure which,  but I need a good night of sleep!

Besides that, I've been on target with eating today, by some miracle. Maybe I'm too itchy and tired to be hungry? Kind of like a mangy fox? Ugh... poison ivy stinks!

I guess the only good news in all this is that my son who had slept so little the night before last, slept 14 hours last night, so I at least got the 5 hours of interrupted sleep. It could have been worse.

It's been hot today, so no working in the yard, but I will do it tonight after dinner. I'm on a mission!  And I think the poison ivy is getting better. The sores on my stomach are drying up and are less itchy. And the scale was done 2.5 pounds today. Though you can't tell it by my arm. My arm is so swollen - looks and feels like someone pumped a 20 ounce bottle of water into all the loose skin - filling it up again like when I was fatter.

Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll feel better and will see even more droppage on the scale.

Stats for 6/27/12:

Highest weight: 275  Now: 172.4