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Another letter arrives from the hospital. This time it’s quite a thick wadge. This time it’s another appointment. Now I’m to be patch-tested for allergies. This may be a sign of what caused the psoriasis, though I suspect that that is just stress. I don’t think it’s coincidence that it started appear not long after the Fox’s stroke & just never been properly treated since. The ointment I was given the one time I had previously visited the doctor on the matter, had eased rather than banished the problem. Since the GP said it was the only thing available for an itchy scalp was what I’d been given I hadn’t gone back. However, this time, when I went back & got sent to the hospital, I’m glad to say it seems to have gone this time.

The wadge contains all sorts of info about how to prepare myself for the patches & what to expect afterwards.

Why I am having these tests? Partially it’s because when I had my last op last October, I was asked if I had any allergies. I said yes though I had never been formally tested. I’ve known for some time certain materials cause my skin to blow up into prickly heat blisters, itchy & very hot, some even bursting. The hospital was rather alarmed when I told them, on one occasion, most of my body was covered is such blisters within half an hour of coming into contact with whatever had caused it & when I saw the GP he reckoned if the treatment didn’t seem to be working & it got worse I was to go straight to hospital as I would be going into anaphylactic shock. As it happened the treatment solved the problem as quickly as it arose & nothing more was done about it. The hospital last year, however, was alarmed & nervous about operating in such circumstances. They insisted I needed to have it checked out. So next month I’m off to have it checked out.

I’m quite expecting to find that I’m not allergic to anything. Whatever the result, I’m still going to avoid materials that I know have an adverse effect on my skin. It may just be intolerance but it is very uncomfortable. I occasionally try out the materials but the effect is always the same. I’ve not grown out of them.