Enormous hickey

[bleep]

Enormous hickey

If those are caused by bedbugs, I'd never go to bed again. Thanks for posting. I imagine it must have been deeply alarming when they first popped up! Is it beginning to fade yet?

[GettingSerious]

Enormous hickey

No, I know it's not bedbugs. never had them, but i have friends in NYC and know that they cause ITCHY horrible lesions like clustered mosquito bites in sentisitive individuals (some people apparently aren't sensitive.) plus, i have a tempurpedic, and I've always assumed (with no evidence whatsoever) that tempurpedics are immune to bedbugs (though not the bedding, etc).

DERM APPOINTMENT, STAY TUNED......

[GettingSerious]

Enormous hickey

well, update. you know that skin thing? rare condition, turns out. my derm was so psyched she pulled out her textbook and called me over to her computer so we could look up PubMed topether.

she proudly exclaimed that mine was the most "extensive" case she'd ever seen (not that she's seen many - nor has anyone). she showed me the pic in her textbook, and indeed, that silly f*** had barely a dot on him compared to my rosy bum, which at present was speckled with various pinks and reds like a murderously minded songbird's egg.

anyway, it's benign. pleased to have a diagnosis, please to have an antibiotic. seems to be clearing things up. typically, i would go on at length about this and that and write a silly post to try and make someone smile, but, uh, something else has come up since then.

i woke up on a houseboat.

hmmm. how do i put this?

i had an episode of infidelity.

a hot, desperate, weird, downward-spiral with someone more f***ed than me epidsode of infidelity.

anyway, making gyro meat now. hope it turns out. riiiiiiight.

[bleep]

Enormous hickey

So it was completely unrelated to baclofen? Just some weird thing? That's good, although I doubt you see the positives from where you're standing!

And houseboats are cool, I hope you had fun.

[Murphyx]

Enormous hickey

I had to look up gyro meat, I assumed "making gyro meat" was a sexual euphemism I was unaware of. You can imagine my disappointment. I hope there was no disappointment your end GS. Did the other person notice your non-rash?

[RudyB]

Enormous hickey

murphy, her belt loop looks like a turd.

gs, you naughty gal! hope the motion in the ocean was smooth and good, and the meat tender, juicy, and yummy.

[redhead77]

Enormous hickey

GettingSerious;1148408 wrote: well, update. you know that skin thing? rare condition, turns out. my derm was so psyched she pulled out her textbook and called me over to her computer so we could look up PubMed topether.

she proudly exclaimed that mine was the most "extensive" case she'd ever seen (not that she's seen many - nor has anyone). she showed me the pic in her textbook, and indeed, that silly f*** had barely a dot on him compared to my rosy bum, which at present was speckled with various pinks and reds like a murderously minded songbird's egg.

anyway, it's benign. pleased to have a diagnosis, please to have an antibiotic. seems to be clearing things up. typically, i would go on at length about this and that and write a silly post to try and make someone smile, but, uh, something else has come up since then.

i woke up on a houseboat.

hmmm. how do i put this?

i had an episode of infidelity.

a hot, desperate, weird, downward-spiral with someone more f***ed than me epidsode of infidelity.

anyway, making gyro meat now. hope it turns out. riiiiiiight.

I LOVE gyros! One of my absolute favs. How do you make it? Do you buy lamb and then shred or grind it up, or what? My mouth is watering. Not because of your houseboat experience, either.

I'm glad your rash is benign. I guess you must be over it, as you must have decided to disrobe last night. From what I remember, your boyfriend lives in a different state. I would imagine this complicates things.

Will you go back on bac, now that you know the rash isn't caused from it?

Take care of yourself today...and always. :l After seeing those pics, I couldn't imagine what the diagnosis could be. At least it wasn't syphilis. :H

[Bruunhilde]

Enormous hickey

GS Glad to hear it, the benign/clearing up status that is. What's this about infidelity? Hmmmm. I can't say I've always been an angel but what's up with your primary relationship that you needed to step out? I'd rather hear about that than lamb meat. Poor sheep baby....

[fennel]

Enormous hickey

I don't usually venture too far from the "Journey" thread, but I was immediately drawn to the title of your post...I have to say, you're a fantastic writer! Do you write professionally? I'll keep my eye on this thread. What causes the condition you have? You mentioned that you're now on antibiotics...

[GettingSerious]

Enormous hickey

You know, I just want to start off by saying thank you so much for not roundly condemning me for my infidelity confession. I posted a little late in the evening EST, and got a couple of responses soon thereafter, none of which branded me with a scarlet "A" right off. Oh, those are just our international friends, i thought, wait till the Americans wake up. Then you'll really be castigated, flagellated and hung out to dry like the harlot you are.

But no one did. And you know, I just want to say thanks. Believe me, I'm certainly taking care of the self-flagellation on my own. I was kind of unhappily anticipating some sort of public stoning when I came back here (deserved though it may be), but there wasn't one. I just wanted to say thanks for being cool about it, MWO community.

That said, I saw there were a couple of queries since I last posted. I'm shite at quotations, so dork that I am took notes as I read. Here are my replies:

Slippery Pete: heeded your advice and common sense - didn't cold turkey any ADs. Upon advice of Shrinker, am discontinuing Zoloft by halves. Down to 25 mgs per day. And you know what? I think Zoloft might be an evil fat drug. I started Zoloft maybe two months ago. I won't say immediately, but soon thereafter, I began having food problems. For example, there I would be, sitting in my office, 10:30 a.m., after a full breakfast, not hungry at all. I'd be editing some word document, minding my own business, and all of a sudden my brain would go

TWICE BAKED POTATOES! WITH EXTRA SOUR CREAM! AND CHEDDAR AND BACON!

(Remember Boogie Nights? The way "Dirk Diggler" lit up in neon? kinda like that) Well, that's gone now. hooray. i don't even really like twice baked potatoes. The weird thing is that since I decreased my dosage I haven't wanted to eat anything except for Cobb salads and thinly sliced roast beef. I'm not even kidding. I've probably eaten 16 Cobb salads in the past five days. yesterday, all I ate was 4 pieces of deli roast beef (and a half a Cobb salad). but seriously, my appetite is the least of my problems right now.

Bleep: I cannot rule out the possibility that my not-a-rash was related to Baclofen. I did not tell any of my health care providers that I was taking it. But even if I did, I don't think I would have gotten any reliable info and I would be no more confident in telling you that the two were wholly unrelated. This is because the cause of my condition is "etiology unknown." In medicalese, this basically means "f-- if I know." So in my mind, if no one knows the cause, no one knows that Baclofen is NOT the cause. All I was told is that there has been an "association" (not an established cause and effect) between this condition and use of Tylenol, Advil, NSAIDs, etc. I take those like 5x per year. so that wasn't it. The Shrinker is convinced it was the Zoloft. The derm tells me it wasn't. My faimily thinks it was the stress of the cancer diagnosos. I have to say, I don't care what the cause. The abx is causing some fading of the purpura. They now look more like thumbprint-sized bruises all over the front and back of my legs, so I now look more like I've been in a series of go-cart accidents as opposed to an argument with Ralphie Cifaretto and his baseball bat.

Murphy X: I am sorry to disappoint. I will say, however, that as far as gyros go in the U.S., there are those who may find themselves standing on some street corner at 3 a.m. next to a schwarma cart, drunk as a skunk, shoveling strange meat into their mouths whilst heaving and grunting in satisfaction. Sexy? Non. But that's all I got. And as for the not-a-rash.....yes. I managed to hook up with it. Is that a comment on the power of my mojo? Of course not. I'm female.

Redhead: I am obsessed with gyros. I accosted the Greek sub guy across the street last week and asked him what he put in his gyro meat. He told me a combo of beef and lamb, so that's what I used. 1:1. it came out OK. The problem is you REALLY have to grind it smooth, otherwise it comes out the consistency of meatloaf. That's how mine turned out. VERY good taste, but just too grainy. I might try again, perhaps. But, you know, if you search for gyro meat on Amazon, apparently there's a retailer that will deliver 5lb frozen to your house. Good reviews. I'm seriously considering that. Gyro meat. Amazon, can you believe it?

Bruunhilde: I promise, I'm going to post about The Infidelity. I meant to tonight, but time got away from me, and I need a little time to compose my thoughts about it. I'm not proud, and I'm not happy. I'm disgusted, weirded out, and turned on, all at the same time. It's f---d. I always thought that my bf would be the last man that I ever slept with. Now, that's just not true anymore. This probably sounds strange, but I wish I could tell him about it. He would just LOVE the story--it's hilarious--except for the fact that it was ME with some other guy's -- well. you know. And I need help, because I can't stop thinking about it--the fact that I did THAT, AND the fact that I loved it. AND because The Suitor doesn't have the good goddamn common sense to get used for sex and go gently into that good night. AND because The Suitor is a bizarre man-child, has an obvious drinking problem, and probaby an undiagnosed mental disorder or three.

BUT: If God, the Devil, or George Burns is keeping score Up There, I told The Suitor about bac. I wrote it on a cocktail napkin and stuck it in his shirt pocket.

Of course, now I'm paranoid he's going to find MWO.

Fennel: Thank you so much for your kind compliment! What, may I ask, is the Journey? I am happy to know that my posts entertain some folks, but really, I get so much out of organizing my thoughts in a humorous way. It gives you (me) perspective - if I can make this questionable/terrible/scary thing funny to someone, can it really be that bad? Also, I don't want to put the exact name of my "condition" here in case it gets googled by one of the myriad people I've bragged about my "rare" condition to lately--yes, paranoid perhaps, but people, I'm baring my soul here! Try this: My Anonymous Jaunt Overwater Could Cost His Intimacy.

[GettingSerious]

Enormous hickey

Oh, one or two other thoughts I forgot.

1) this is a baclofen board, not As the World Turns, i am reminding myself after re-reviewing my last post. People are here to discuss baclofen, not the lurid ins and outs (pun SO intended) of others' love lives.

Bac to Bac (Amy Winehouse's next album?) I am not drawing any conclusions, but note that said escapade occurred after i seriously decreased my baclofen intake (with concomitant increase in ETOH consumption) because of the the not-a-rash. I had actual cravings during the day on Saturday (The Infidelity occurred Thursday). I have recommitted to bac, best I can at the moment, and estimate that I am at between 80mg - 130 mg daily (I kind of just take it whenver I see it lying around the house). I am still drinking, but not terribly, embarrasingly so. No cravings during the day.

2) I'm not asking this question for me - it's for a friend. Is there such thing as a Madonna/whore complex for ladies? Because I...I mean my friend...tried to look it up on the internet and just found endless resources about guys' hangups in that department. Again, I realize this isn't LoveLines or LovePhone or whatever, but you know, if anyone has any knowledge in this arena I'd appreciate it.

[bleep]

Enormous hickey

Well, it started off as being a purported baclofen SE, so I wouldn't feel too bad. Besides, it's been hugely entertaining thanks to your delivery, and that makes anything worthwhile. The write up on Wikipedia is disappointingly bland, but thanks for the heads up. Change your brand of razor immediately!

What's the long term prognosis? Is it fading yet? Will it randomly reappear for the rest of your life?

Good luck going forward with baclofen. You've seen what it's capable of, it's just a question of numbers now.

[SlipperyPete]

Enormous hickey

Good to hear youre' going on back on bac. Like bleep says, you'll see how awesome it is.

And like you said, we're a bac forum, not a look down on you from a moral soapbox forum. If you told us you were planning on taking 5 Xanax and drink 2 bottles of wine to have a roaring good time, THAT's when we would've gotten angry. Plus, alcohol has made most of us do regrettable things.

Funny that you mention Dirk Diggler. I've mentioned here that I was his body double for the money shot at the end.

[Bruunhilde]

Enormous hickey

GS, I get that infidelity confusion thing. I semi-cheated on my long term boyfriend a couple of times when the relationship was dying but he was in such a bad place I felt I couldn't yet ditch him. I fooled around with a couple of guys I was dating in other ports of call in my travels. It was like therapy for me at the time, and looking back I realize I should have just ended the boyfriend relationship and been honest about my need to move on. But that was twenty years ago, can't say what I'd do today.

Glad your not-a-rash is improving.

Regarding your taking the baclofen whenever you notice it around the house - I think the bacsters here will counsel you to be very disciplined about how much you take and when. As you climb in doses, being erratic can derail your progress completely and cause undue side effects.

Good luck!

[GettingSerious]

Enormous hickey

spots are better! Wore something above my knees for the first time in weeks and week (during the day) and no second glances nor concerned inquiries. They're there, but very, very much faded. sort of like faded thumbprint sized bruises. i have a followup with the derm, will ask what the likelihood of iti coming back, etc.

what should I do with my thread now? "enourous hickey" is obviously over! do i just start another thread?? go back to a previous one? to be honest, I can't even remembr which ones I started before! anyway, moving to NYC! without a job, no less. cripes. took 80-100mg bac today. trying to keep very much in mind others' advice RE: sticking to solid schedule. having a very hard time with that. at the moment, i feel very much the baclofen dilettante - not taking it to seriously get anywhere, just taking it to take it. BUT, i will be unemployed in the near (very expensive) future. I might just have my time to do nothing but ferment in bac.