To make a long story short, right now I am in Northern Cyprus, approximately 6,000 miles away from my primary doctor, and tomorrow at 7:00 am I will begin the colossal schlep home, which will get me there too late to get to my primary doctor, though I assure all concerned that I will be on the phone to his office as soon as they open on Tuesday.
Earlier this week, I was diagnosed with ringworm and given a tube of antifungal/steroid ointment with instructions to use it for 2 weeks minimum even if the rash went away. The rash spots look less angry than they did at first, but there are more of them. And I wasn’t really itching much at first, but now I think the itching is going to drive me INSANE. And you can imagine how much I am looking forward to a total of 14 hours on airplanes!
What can I do? I am trying hard not to scratch, but as you can imagine, it’s difficult. The ointment is supposed to be used twice daily, and it helps the itching somewhat…but I put some on at 6 pm, and within 4 hours I was itching again. I don’t have a lot of options at my disposal short of trying to go speak Turkish (which I don’t speak) at the ER. I took some Benadryl, which I am hoping will help me sleep. And I don’t have a bathtub here, much less oatmeal…
How large is the itchy area? Putting a bandaid over an itchy bug bite always helps, so if it isn’t too large an area you could get yourself a couple of boxes and give it a go.
Yeah, it’s pretty much the entire front of my torso, so that isn’t going to cut it. I’m having slightly paranoid thoughts about someone noticing and not letting me on the plane.
Don’t do what I did. I had a systemic infection, and I thought I could deal with it over a long holiday weekend. The itching was so bad that I scratched all the hair follicles off my forearms (permanently). By the time I saw my doctor, he sent me to the ER.
I should have used rubber points, like the ones for cats.
My sympathy also. I had massive food allergies as a child, with hives and itching that would not stop. I slept with gloves on to keep from scratching to the bone. Benedryl helps, so does ice. I hope you make it home ok.
Topical anaesthetic with benzocaine or the like might help. Anbesol for tooth and mouth ailments is good. Also, spraying really hot water in the shower on it might help. Sorry your resources are so limited!
More Benadryl. I have an aunt who gets insane allergic reactions to bug bites and she’s been instructed to take 100mg of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) when she gets one. It might make you drowsy as hell at that dose, but will really help! Also, mixing antihistamines is OK, so if you take a couple diphenhydramine plus a cetirizine (Zyrtec) or loratadine (Claritin) - the ones that are anitihistamine only, without pseudoephedrine - you may get better relief with those working together. The second two are instructed as once a day on the box, but you can definitely take them every 12 hours.
I know this because I was scripted similar dosing when I had a case of hives that lasted nearly 6 months and we never did find out what caused it. Also, I work with stray animals and have dealt with many coworkers including myself with ringworm. I haven’t had it in years at this point, but taking at least twice as much antihistamine as labeled on the box did help.
Also, once you get home, get thee to a drug store and get yourself some Lamisil spray. That stuff only requires application once daily and it always worked within a week for me. Way better than the prescription stuff!
Another thing that kills ringworm is UV light. If you can get yourself into direct sunlight without sunscreen for 15-20 minutes a couple times a day, it will also help and you’ll get a burning sensation at the lesions. It’s weird, but the burning indicates it’s working. One of the things we do to “treat” cat carriers and cat furniture is to put it out in the sun for a day, and we use UV air cleaners in the isolation wards. Hmm. What else. Oh, and for treating clothes, heat above 130F kills it, so either hot water wash if the washer water gets that hot, or hot dryer - stick a meat thermometer in the center of the load when you think it’s at its hottest and make sure it’s at least 130 for about 10 minutes.
An icepack will definitely numb the pain, but I don’t know how you could keep one cold the entire flight. Perhaps an entire cooler filled with ice packs or something.
I’d also wear mittens or rubber gloves so you can’t scratch yourself when sleeping. Speaking of, if I was in your shoes I’d try to sleep through the flight, though not everyone can do that. Maybe Nyquil or some sleeping pills.
Just don’t wrap your drugs around your body in silver packages; I’ve got it on good authority Turks don’t like that kind of thing.
You might want to try a pharmacy, even if you don’t speak Turkish. I know in other countries (Greece, for example), it’s very common for pharmacists to speak English, and they can dispense medicines that would require a prescription in the US.
Already did that - that’s where I got the 2nd tube of ointment. I am bringing both tubes home to show the doc and am curious to see what he has to say. And good thing I always have Benadryl around for other allergies! I gunked myself up again before bed so I could get some sleep, and it more or less worked. Off to the airport, and fingers crossed that we don’t have a 2- hour wait for Customs and immigration on the other end!
Home now! We were in flight the entire time my doctor’s office was open, so I will call first thing in the morning and hope they can squeeze me in. Back to the land of 24-hour pharmacies! Oatmeal bath time, I guess?