Important life lesson--always wear sunscreen. Oh god, the pain...

[JeffreyWilliamson]

Okay, so I have mild psoriasis, and I have read that a little sun can actually go a long way towards treating it. Over the years I have mulled getting a membership to a tanning salon, but never have. I live at the beach, and have talked about going to lay out a couple of days a week with friends for months but have always put it off. Today I called up a friend and we went.

We stopped at the store to get some sodas and a couple of towels. We checked the sunscreen aisle, but after a few minutes we decided to go without because we were only planning to be out for an hour or so. We left and hit the beach at about 11:30.

We decided in the end to lay out for 15 minutes on each side and then hit the water to cool down. Afterwards I came home, ate lunch, and decided to work in a nap. I woke up a couple of hours ago when the alarm went off and as I usually do I got up, hit the snooze button, and threw myself back on the bed.

As soon as I hit it was absolute agony...

I jumped up and felt like I was on fire. I went into the bathroom, hit the lights, let my eyes adjust, and looked in the mirror. FULL. BODY. BLISTERING. RED. PAINFUL. SUNBURN. Everywhere but where the swim trunks covered.

Fast forward to now. I'm coated in vitamin lotion, have the A/C on high, and about 3 box fans strategically pointed at me at differing angles. I'm also full of pain relievers. It feels better, but every time I move it's like a billion tiny needles are poking me.

Let this serve as a public service announcement--if you go out, no matter how little time you plan on being out--wear sunscreen. For my part I am seriously considering never going outside again for any reason.

<curls up into painful, red ball and rocks back and forth wishing he had never woken up today>

[Taverner]

1. Ow!

Aloe Vera might help

If you can get any benzocaine spray, do it

Burn spray usually has it

[enlightenment]

2. Try a cool bath with colloidal oatmeal.

Aveno makes a drugstore variety of it - or just grind regular oatmeal very, very fine and sprinkle about a cupful in your bath.

Then smack yourself a few times for foolishness and remember that it's really not worth the pain or the danger of skin cancer.


Edited to correct spelling

[JeffreyWilliamson]

5. The thing is, even at the time I new it was foolish to do it...

I just kept telling myself that it wouldn't be bad because we were only going to be out for a little bit.

I'd totally be kicking myself right now, if it wouldn't kill me.

[enlightenment]

8. I know. It always happens that way.

Do be careful though. It's the kind of mistake that lingers in such a painful way!

Hope you feel better soon.

[LWolf]

3. Ouch.

I also have very mild, intermittent psoriasis.

It seems to flare with stress. I've noticed the opposite, at least for the outbreaks on top of my scalp. Time in the sun seems to aggravate it.

Can you tell, under the burn, if the sun had any affect?

[JeffreyWilliamson]

9. From what I understand...

It's the melanin that will eventually stop the psoriasis, so I will have to wait until a tan develops. Something about melanin production in the skin cells blocks the immune system from attacking the cells and causing the accelerated skin growth that leads to the red patches.

I have had friends that went to tanning salons a few times a week and as long as they kept going they were tan and claimed to have no symtoms at all. For my part so far, I can't tell that the psoriasis has been aggrivated at all, but I can no longer see the rash because the rest of me is now as red as they were.

[LWolf]

21. I hope you cool off sooner, rather than later.

:(

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. go to a nursery or florist and buy an aloe vera plant pronto!!! it really works

[Demobrat]

22. Yes this is true.

I got a terrible burn in Mexico once, in a remote place where there was no drugstore. The hotel I was at called the doctor, he came and broke a piece off of the huge aloe vera plant out front, and showed me how to use it. Now I keep a little one out on my deck for kitchen burns. Works like a charm.

[Minimus]

6. Ouch! I feel so bad for you. I have only had a few sunburns in my life

and they were very mild but they hurt.

You must be very fair and burn easily. Yes, always wear sunscreen is great advice for everyone.

Take care of yourself!

[proud patriot]

7. Redhead here. Very Experienced with sunburns

1) pain relieving spray , first aide aisle.
2)vitamin E take one a day .
3)Aloe Aloe Aloe
4)drink plenty off water
5)soak in cool bathes
6) damp towel on bed
7)wet compresses or clothes

All have helped me

[JeffreyWilliamson]

12. I'm going to head out in a little bit and try to find some pain relief spray.

Will taking oral vitamin E really help?

[proud patriot]

16. It's what your skin craves to heal and be healthy

don't go broke buying it for pain .

anytime I worry about my skin I take vitamin e

[JeffreyWilliamson]

18. The skin lotion I put on earlier has vitamin E...

I just started taking a new multi-vitamin this week and I bet it has vitamin E as part of the supplement.

[Dora]

10. 100% aloe vera gel, mixed generously with lavender essential oil

You'll stink like a lavender field, but lavender oil does something miraculous on bad sunburns. It's a no-fail combination.

[proud patriot]

14. really ?

I'll get some lavender oil , but I always though
oil on a burn was a no no ...

[Dora]

42. lavender oil is good stuff

It's very healing.

You're right - do not put butter, petroleum jelly, or any other oils on a burn.

Lavender essential oil is different from other household fats/lipids. (NOTE: do not use fragrance oil, only use essential oil). I've put the aloe/lavender on my husband's back when he's spent too much time in the kayak, and it really speeds the disappearance of the red, burned look. The skin looks healthier, albeit much more tan, but it doesn't look as traumatized.

[Lars39]

11. Panama Jack has some stuff that has lidocaine in it to help with the pain.

[bertman]

13. Oatmeal in a bathtub of cool water. Go to the link.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1887142/home_remedies_for_sunburn_relief.html?cat=5

I hope you feel better.

[CoffeeCat]

15. If you're in pain, do this...

I just got over a horrendous case of poison ivy. It was so bad that I was on steroids.

If you hurt, take some Tylenol to help with the pain and inflammation, but also---get in your car, turn on the
air conditioner full blast and as cold as you can get it. Just let the air hit you. I promise you, that you will
feel such relief that you won't want to leave your car.

I asked my Dr why this relieved the poison ivy itch and burning and she said it is because the cold fools
the nerve endings. Your nerve endings are so busy reacting to the cold, that the pain and burning seems
to subside.

Do it up...I'm tellin ya, it works!

[JeffreyWilliamson]

17. Good advice...

I realized something about cold air was helping when I stood over an A/C vent earlier so I turned all the units up in the house and pulled out the box fans from the closet. I'm sitting here surrounded by box fans now and actually for the most part feel fine. When I move around it hurts some, but the breeze stops the pain pretty quickly. As soon as I move away from the fans it's agony again.

[depakid]

19. An hour or so at that latitude this time of year will do that

Thanks for the public service announcement- people definitely need to be reminded.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

20. It was a pretty stupid decision on my part...

We were like, "One hour, what can happen?" Apparently this can.

[depakid]

30. It's worse down under (less UV blocking ozone)

Last "winter" (Austral summer) we were out for about 45 minutes on a beach at almost the same latitude south. I thought I'd gotten every spot gooped, but somehow missed a patch above one knee. With predictable results.

Yep, make sure to use that sunscreen!

[Sal Minella]

28. Yes -- unfortunately you chose the time of day when the sun is most direct,

and a time of year only days from the solstice -- you could not have made a worse choice, unless you laid out at the equator.....

[no_hypocrisy]

23. And visit a dermatologist to make sure you don't have permanent damage.

I was exposed to enough sun at age 2 that I suffered a THIRD degree burn on my upper arm. I couldn't move my arm without insufferable pain and a huge scab.

Three years later, a second degree burn on my upper chest, with a large blister.

I'm now being monitored by a dermatologist four times a year. She's already found one site of malignant melanoma and no guarantee it's the last.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

25. Are the sites she has identified located in the regions that were burned? n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

27. One of out of two biopsies were on the arm, yes.

My parents didn't understand how sensitive I was in the sun. Apparently I have mishapen moles pretty well distributed. Funny thing was I didn't lie in the sun all that much when I was younger.

I'm forever beholden to my dermatologist and my surgeon.

[Maru Kitteh]

38. I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Thanks for talking about it, and I'm very happy to hear you are being monitored as well as you are. It's really great that you are helping to spread awareness. Without being too indelicate, may I ask how that happened to you at such a tender age?

[no_hypocrisy]

41. My parents simply left me out in the sun (and in Miami of all places!)

without limit or sunscreen. And check THIS out: my father was a physician, who should have known better. Not to mention the tip-off it was folly: alabaster skin and red, red hair. It was my first exposure to the sun.

The second time with the blister on my chest (it was disgusting to look at and I was always afraid it would burst) was on Long Island, and oops, they did it again.

Ignorance, just abject ignorance.

I certainly was told to expect the possibility of cancer by dermatologists since the 1970s due to the solar radiation I absorbed. I hope anyone reading this visits their dermatologist at least once in a while to be examined from head to foot just to rule out skin cancer. Most of it is slow developing and you have a better than good chance of preventing it from spreading and metastisizing.

[lindisfarne]

24. Drink lots of water. Do you have an aloe plant? Or 100% aloe gel? (Anything

Aloe really helps with sunburn.

You'd think all nurseries would have aloe plants, but they don't, so if you're planning that route, call before driving. Otherwise, most health food stores/depts. will have 100% aloe gel.

And stay out of the sun.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. Been there, done that. I am so sorry. :^( Only cool baths until you heal. No hot showers or

you will cry!

[NNN0LHI]

29. The Sunscreen Song

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5NAPZp2w-o

http://www.bondon.com/sunscreen_song.html

The Sun Screen Song

One of my favorite songs, is commonly referred to as "The Sunscreen Song". It is what sounds like a commencement speech, set to music. In fact it is not a real commencement speech (though it should be!), but rather a column that appeared in the Chicago Tribune on June 1, 1997 entitled "ADVICE, LIKE YOUTH, PROBABLY JUST WASTED ON THE YOUNG" by staff writer Mary Schmich.

Sometime around Thursday, July 31, 1997, Mary's article found it's way onto the internet in the form of an email hoax, claiming to be the 1997 commencement address of Kurt Vonnegut to MIT grads. The real address that year was actually delivered by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on June 5. You can find it posted on MIT's website.

A year later, the email re-circulated claiming to be Kurt's commencement address to the Class of 1998!

The email caught the attention of Australian film director Baz Luhrmann, who is best known for two films — "Strictly Ballroom," about competitive dancing, and a 1996 remake of "Romeo and Juliet," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

Luhrmann eventually tracked the source of the speech to Schmich, and contacted Chicago Tribune management to buy the rights to the words to turn it into a song. He took Quindon Tarver's "Everybody's Free (to Feel Good)" song, remixed it, and hired Sydney actor Lee Perry to read Schmich's "speech". The end result became the seven-minute long "Sunscreen Song".

The song received heavy airplay from American radio stations nationwide after KNRK in Portland aired an edited (about 4 1/2 minute) version in the spring of 1999 -- about the time of graduation that year. According to Luhrmann's label, Capitol Records, it became the most requested song on radio morning shows in Atlanta and Philadelphia

The lyrics to Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen, by Mary Schmich:

[Rainngirl]

31. Oweee!

So sorry. I offer another vote for Aloe. And cold washcloths--anything to get the inflammation down.

[dysfunctional press]

32. instead of too much sunshine, try vitamin d for the psoriasis.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

33. Actually I've read a little on that as well...

I mentioned upthread that I've started a new multi-vitamin. That's primarily because it contains vitamin D, and I'm hoping it helps.

[Maru Kitteh]

40. Be careful though. D is a fat soluble vitamin, so it can be overdone to toxicity

A,D,E and K are all fat soluble.


I hope you feel better soon.

I'm sure it feels better not to move too much right now. Have you ever thought about writing an article for your local paper or a favorite magazine? You write well, and it would be a good way to pass some time while you radiate heat and pain. :-)

[rustydog]

34. I made the same mistake at the Mariners first home game

Neglected to sunscreen the lower legs and FRIED my knees!

[Geoff R. Casavant]

35. God, you have my sympathies

The worst I had was just my feet. They swelled with edema, and it was agony wearing my uniform shoes for three days. I can't imagine your agony, and I hope I never have to.

[skorpo]

36. Apply Vinegar to all sunburned areas using a spray bottle...

It stops much of the pain and itching.
It's an old fashioned remedy from my grandfather.
It works well if you don't have any sunscreen on your skin.
Don't worry the smell goes away soon after the vinegar dries.

[Maru Kitteh]

37. Solarcaine. It's expensive but SO SO SO worth the money.

Get thee to a pharmacy or box store and get some.

If you start running a fever, have sever pain, headache, confusion or vomiting, please seek medical attention right away.

Sun poisoning is real and you need help if you have it.



And (in your mothers voice) DON'T DO THIS AGAIN.

[gauguin57]

39. I, too, use Aveeno products, plus hydrocortisone cream (helps with the itch) and aloe

(and aloe right from the plant, if possible).

Make sure you stay moisturized ... cuz once you start peeling (and if you're red and blistered, you WILL be peeling), you'll be grateful to have moister skin.

[redqueen]

43. After 15 minutes per side?

You poor thing... I hope you're feeling at least a little better by now.

And on the bright side, you'll never make that mistake again, I'm sure. :pals:

[WillyT]

44. Good Thing You Weren't At The Nude Beach...

Skin that never sees the sun
has a tendency to become undone
especially around the bun.

:evilgrin:

It's a pain I'll never forget.

:shrug:

[Arkansas Granny]

45. I've always found Noxzema facial cleanser to be effective for sunburn relief.

The menthol, camphor and eucalyptus oil have a cooling effect on the burn and the moisturizers in it keep the skin from feeling so dry and stretched. Good luck. I know how painful sunburn can be.