Just My Luck

Hey…

I want to talk about something pretty personal, as far as the posts on my blog usually go. I know – what a way to break the silence. I’m sorry; I just needed someone to talk to about this.

Around Wednesday last week, I noticed two or three red patches on my stomach. I was a little confused, but I assumed they were just marks left from my clothes. 

The next day rolled around, and it was still there. I wasn’t exactly sure if they were the same positioning, so I used a pen to draw rings around them. Sure enough, the day after, they were still there – and in the same place. By this point, a couple more had appeared. 

I did some googling, and diagnosed myself with Pityriasis Rosea. It’s a mouthful of a name, but literally translates to “scaley pink” in Latin. Sounds lovely, am I right?

The symptoms (which didn’t consist of much other than the patches) matched pretty well, so I assumed it’d be that. At this point, I was just relieved it wasn’t anything terrible. 

But after a bit more reading, I learned that the rash can spread across the entire chest, stomach, back, upper legs, and upper arms, as well as sometimes to the face and neck. Frankly, that’s horrendous news, being a 15 year-old who has to do PE lessons in a skort (skirt with shorts attached) that literally does nothing for covering anyone up, not to mention the class of judgemental people I’d be with.

Then, I read on the NHS website that it typically lasts from two to twelve weeks, but can last up to five months. After it’s cleared, it takes a few months for skin to return fully to normal. 

Surely there’s some sort of cure, you might ask? Nope. The only treatments listed are to relieve the itching that comes along with the rash. Thankfully, I haven’t experienced any of that yet, but then again I’ve only been dealing with it for a small fraction of the time…

Cause of the rash is uncertain, but it’s thought to be caused by some sort of viral infection, and isn’t spread from person to person. I have zero clue how I managed to get it.

The worst part of this is knowing that there’s nothing I can do to stop it, and no way of controlling how far it spreads. As a person who hates to be confined and trapped, it really scares me quite a bit… 

As for my symptoms, the rash has slowly been spreading higher up my stomach, making its way to my chest and down past my hips to my upper thighs. 

I’m terrified, and I just needed someone to talk to about this, so thank you for reading if you did…

–Awkwardsaurus