WORST Itch or Rash You Ever Got?

[Unperson 309]

I was in college. The dorm I was in had a laundry with machines, soap and everything. I did my first week's laundry and wore my slacks and shirt in class the next day. By noon, I was starting to itch something fierce!

I scratched, I clawed, finally I went into the bathroom, took out my hairbrush (I had long hair then) and viciously scratched my private area with the bristles! When I got to a mirrir, I found I was bright strawberry red from neck to ankles. I went to the nurse. She took one look, handed me a bottle of calomine lotion and said "You did your laundry with the dorm detergend, didn't you? How much did you use?"

"I used the usual amount, a cup!" I answered. She sighed and said "The school buys PRISON soap! It's concentrated. You yse half a tablespoon for light loads a full tablespoon for heavily soiled stuff! You probably put about ten to twenty times that amount!"

I was miserable for a week! My...er... private areas... were raw, oozing and intensely itchy! I bought a wire dog slickerbrush to scratch with. Horrible!

So, DUers, what's the worst rash you ever had? Poison Ivy? Allergy? What?

309

[Canuckistanian]

1. Poison Oak, 1990

A simple walk in the forest caused a month of agony. Both legs covered in blisters.

[arwalden]

2. Poison Ivy, 2003

I didn't have a clue what it even LOOKED like. Now I can spot it from 30 yards away.

-- Allen

Oh! An ex-boyfriend gave me crabs. Does that count? --- That's not really a rash... more of an "infestation"... but it sure did itch.

[kayleybeth]

17. I'm immune to Poison Ivy

Don't know why, but I can pull it up with my bare hands and it does not affect me at all. Just lucky, I guess. No one else in my family has the immunity.

[Texasgal]

3. Does a burn count?

In the early seventies here in Austin, my hippie parents would host all night BBQ's and music out at the lake.

My brother and I, playing around decided that we would do the "nestea plunge" ( a popular commercial at the time ) walking back-wards into the lake and falling.

As I was walking back-wards, I fell booty down on a trashcan BBQ pit. I had criss-cross burn marks right on my ass!

It burned, and chafed.... it took weeks to get rid of my flame kissed buns!

[LWolf]

4. Poison Oak when I was in 8th grade

in 1972.

It kept spreading. It was all over my face, in my ears, nose, eyes, scalp, arms, hands legs, fingers....swollen, oozing and itching insanely.

[guitar man]

5. Boot camp

Standing at attention for hours, unable to move, let alone scratch the worst jock itch imaginable. That was 23 years ago and I still wake up at night clawing at it like it is still there.

[Raven]

6. Chickenpox when I was a kid.

Mom said not to scratch or I would have scars so I used to roll around on the hall rug...like a dog. Ug!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. Chickenpox when I was 28.

Auuuugh.

[Raven]

13. Oh,oh! Will got chickenpox in college and

came home to recover. I took care of him and as a result, got Shingles. Actually, Shingles was worse that Chickenpox. Just a warning: the Chickenpox virus stays dorment in your nerves for years. If, later, you are exposed to someone with Chickenpox, you could get Shingles. You don't want to get Shingles so beware of friends with little kids!

[On the Road]

7. About 1987, I Had Poison Ivy So Bad

my left hand swelled and my fingers looked like sausages with warts. My wedding had to be physically cut off with tin snips to keep circulation going.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Poison Oak. I'm one of those people who gets it BAD.

I seem to get it once a summer, in some fashion or another, too... If nothing else, the cat gets the oil on him and brings it home.

I have found only one thing that helps:

http://www1.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&productId=10156&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10001

Jewelweed is the ingredient that makes the difference, I think.
The stuff really works.

[democracyindanger]

10. Hilarious. About the same thing happened to me.

In college, returning after the Winter break. My older sister had done my laundry before I left home.

A couple of days later, I showered, changed, then went off to class. I started to get an itching sensation about halfway through; by the time class was over it felt like my boys were on fire.

I went to the first restroom I could find, checked my shorts--and discovered a small clump of detergent that didn't dissolve during the wash. Amway brand--probably the same as prison soap. I walked back, gingerly, to the dorm in commando mode.

Lesson? Always Check Your Shorts.

[arwalden]

12. Maxim: Don't Overload The Washer

and the soap will have a fightin' chance at dissolving.

Corollary: it's hard to argue AGAINST having someone ELSE do your laundry for FREE even if they *do* overload the washer.

-- Allen

(Prison soap... funny!)

[rfranklin]

11. Jock Rot in Bangkok--of all places!

Red raw burning patches where my jockey shorts made contact on the inside of the thighs. Man oh man that was hell!

[izzie]

14. Scabbies(Sp) as a kid and 3 or 4 of us were put out of school with it.

So we may have itched but we also had a great time playing.

[MissMillie]

15. Shingles when I was 13

I'm not sure it qualifies as a rash, but let me tell you, not itchy but PAINFUL.

[Raven]

16. Oh Honey! Awful!

I had them in my early 50's and I thought I would die. How did you get them at such a young age?

[Endangered Specie]

18. I dont know how... but I got a nasty ass rash in my

belly button (innie)... since Ive moved to the dorms, Ive gotten rashes, itches and whatnot just about everywhere... but Ive never had on in that particular orifice before :shrug:

It got to bleed at one point, which is quite a strange, and disturbing sight.