The to-do lists are everywhere!

It has been a little over two weeks since I have taken any Zyrtec and I'm mostly itch-free.  I think that may just be the thing I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving!  I was beginning to think I would never be free of it. 

I'm also surrounded by to-do lists.  I have my Christmas shopping list that I've been working on for a couple of weeks now, my Christmas card mailing list, and now a "things to take to mom's tomorrow" list for Thanksgiving.  I'm preparing either breakfast or brunch for everyone (depending on how early I can drag myself out of bed and over to Pensacola).  Then there's the stuff-to-do-for-clients list.  That one has stuff like designing Christmas cards, revising Christmas cards, and ordering Christmas cards, as well as shipping a print order that I had to place specially for someone due to an oddly sized print. 

Add to that the items I need to finish making before Christmas gets here in!  Tomorrow is one month before Christmas!  I ordered more yarn yesterday so I can finish Tyler's blanket.  It's the softest stuff I've ever felt and totally awesome.  It's also the most expensive yarn I've ever bought, and so I had to look for a deal.  (Found one!)  There are a few other things I'd like to crochet before the big day is here or else my gift list is going to have a few holes in it!  So I really need to get on the ball with that...  I think after this blanket I'll tackle the small stuff next and then start on the next blanket.  I don't know if I can make two blankets before Christmas, though.  Ack!

Portrait bookings have picked up A LOT lately, and I am so excited about that!  Seriously, I'm in love with working as a photographer.  I rented an L lens to use this weekend since Borrow Lenses was having a promotion.  It was delivered on Monday and would you believe I haven't even taken it out of the box yet?  Insane, right?!  I need to take it out and play with it tonight so I'm ready for tomorrow.  I'll probably practice on SADIE!  We're dog-sitting for some friends so we have a Pomeranian for 11 days.  David has dubbed her a pogo-ranian because she bounces so much.  Now I'm calling her Pogo.  I need to get some great shots of her and Bailey playing.  They're BFF's and adore one another.  But in order to do that, I would need to straighten up the living room, and that, quite frankly, just isn't at the top of the list right now! 

What about you?  Are you ready for Thanksgiving?  And Christmas?

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I hate Zyrtec.

I seriously despise the stuff at this point! I've been taking it daily for a couple of years now and decided a few months ago that I was ready to try going off of it. Boy was I in for a nasty surprise! I had noticed in the past that when I missed a couple of doses I would get itchy, which I found unusual since I'd never had skin allergies before I started taking it. But I dismissed it as a coincidence... Until I tried going off of it for real and just about clawed my skin off.

It started out as a small itch here and there. Scratch and it would go away. But the longer I was off the Zyrtec the worse the itching got. The night I finally figured out what was happening was seriously one of the worst nights of my life! When I laid down to go to bed the itching got worse. So I scratched. And that didn't help. So I scratched some more... Until I knew I was about to start damaging my skin! Then it moved to my back. It seems to be a couple of isolated points that itch intensely. My stomach, the tops of my legs, and my back seem to get it the worst. That night I resorted to using my hairbrush to scratch my back. And it provided no relief.

By this time - around midnight - I had put two and two together. I went downstairs and got some Benadryl, thinking that if it really was an allergic reaction that should help faster than Zyrtec. Wrong. It did NOTHING! Finally in desperation I jumped into a cold shower. That calmed the itching for the first time in about an hour. But it didn't last. About 30 seconds after laying back down I started to itch again. My brain settled on the next option after Benadryl... Something topical! So I found the Calamine lotion and proceeded to attempt to pour it down my back. (I should mention David was at work this particular night so I was left to my own devices.) All that accomplished was a bunch of pink splatters on the bathroom floor. No relief.

We are approaching 1:30 in the morning now and I have to work! So I pulled out my phone and consulted Dr Google. Turns out I'm not the only person to experience this. I was shocked by the pages of results my google query of "zyrtec itch" returned. At this point it has been at least half an hour since I tool the Benadryl and I was itching so badly I thought I was going to go insane. I was actually shaking at this point. So I went downstairs and found my zyrtec and took one then came back upstairs for a second cold shower. Thankfully the Zyrtec worked pretty quickly and my skin stopped feeling like it was on fire with itchiness. The spots where I had scratched almost raw still hurt, though.

I continued to take my Zyrtec daily for about a week while I researched the issue. Turns out if you quit cold turkey the itching can last for two weeks. TWO WEEKS?! I couldn't even survive one night! So I decided to titrate down. I took half a pill every day for a couple of weeks. Then I went to 1/4. At each step I experienced some itching but nothing like the night from hell had been.

I'm now down to 1/8 of a pill and only taking it when the itching starts instead of daily. I'm going longer between doses I think... But I had a spell of the itches tonight and they had the potential to have been just as bad as the first night. I suffered for a little while before I decided they were getting worse instead of better. And they stopped within 10 minutes of taking an 8th of a pill.

The information out there on the causes of this bizarre side effect seems to be speculative. The manufacturers deny it and there doesn't seem to be a fast answer to getting off of the drug. I don't care now if I need the antihistamine or not... I'm not going to continue putting a chemical into my body that does this to me. If you're ever considering using this handy over-the-counter med, I'd encourage you to think twice about it.

Sent from my iPhone

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