原因はハッキリとは分かっていないのだが、体中に湿疹が出てしまい、皮膚科に一ヵ月ほど通っている。患部は主に背中に集中していて、医者にかかる前は痒くて眠れないほどだった。我慢強いのか、バカなのか、風邪でも何でも私はよっぽど酷い状態にならないと医者へは行かない。つまり医者へ行ったということは限界だったという事だ。ちょっと耐えられなくなっていた。
　何か食べたものが悪かったのだろうか、布団にダニでもいたからなのだろうか等と、理由をいろいろ考えてみた。気になり出してから数カ月は経っているので、食べ物ではないだろうという診断。患部を顕微鏡で見てもらって、ダニや虫さされではないことが分かった。原因を特定できないが、医者はとにかく症状を抑えるために治療と飲み薬・塗り薬を処方してくれた。そして一ヵ月が経ち、当初の患部は変色してしまってはいるが、痒みや凸凹はほぼなくなった。

　ところが今度は手足に別の発疹が出るようになってきた。医者の説明では当初の湿疹を直すために使っていた塗り薬が、湿疹に対する私の体の過剰な反応を抑える効果があるそうで、それが逆に入り込んできたバイ菌などを殺す私の自然治癒能力を奪ってしまっていたそうだ。そこで塗り薬を軽いものに変え、細菌感染を治療する飲み薬を追加で飲む措置を取った。これでどういうことになるか、薬をしっかり服用しながら、またしばらく様子を見ることになる。

　それにしても気になるのが、湿疹が出てきた原因だ。私は過去に2度、帯状疱疹にかかっている。帯状疱疹は疲れやストレスが溜まると罹りやすく、抵抗力が落ちている高齢の方に多い病気だ。私は昨年末にかけてかなりプレッシャーがかかる状況が続き、忙しくもあったので、もしかしたらまたかと思っていた。
　しかし今回の湿疹が出た箇所は身体を一周するような帯状ではなく、背中全体に広がっていたので違うだろうとも思っていた。それに帯状疱疹を患っている時に患部を触られた時の、あの飛び上がるような激痛もなく、ひたすら痒いだけだった。看護婦さんに「ストレスですかね～？」と聞いても首を縦に振らない。原因は判然としないが、とにかく皮膚は何かあると異常がすぐに表に出やすい場所ではある、とはおっしゃっていた。
　私としては原因が特定できないと予防する手立てがない。念のために血液検査もして、中性脂肪の値が高いので改善しなければならないことは分かったが、皮膚の病気には直接関係はない。手詰った。

　病気をすると、普段は滅多にそういうことがないので、私は非常に気が滅入る質だ。確かに病気をすると新しい経験にはなる。服用を指示された薬のことを自分でやはり調べてみるし、医者や看護婦さんたちと話をできるのも勉強になる。何でも自分の力にしていけば良いと思う。
　ただ、やっぱり何も無いに越したことはない。当たり前のことだが、食べる物に気を配り、適度の運動をして健やかに暮らしたいと思う。そのような気持ちは洗礼を受けて益々強くなってきている。神さまからお預かりしているこの身体を大切に管理することは私の義務でもある。

　人生で一番、痒かったね～

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Unknown Cause

　I have been going to a dermatologist for about a month because of eczema all over my body, although the cause is not clearly known. The affected areas are mainly concentrated on my back, and before seeing the doctor I was so itchy I couldn’t sleep. I don’t know if I’m patient or stupid, but I don’t go to the doctor for anything, even a cold, unless it gets really bad. I mean, going to the doctor meant that I was at my limit. It was a little unbearable.
　I wondered if it was something I had eaten that was bad, or if it was because I had dust mites in my bedding, and tried to think of various reasons. The diagnosis was that it was probably not food, since it had been several months since I had become concerned about it. I had the affected area looked at under a microscope and found that it was not a tick or an insect bite. Unable to pinpoint the cause, the doctor prescribed a treatment and some oral and ointment medicine to control the symptoms anyway. A month passed, and the itching and bumps were almost gone, although the original affected area was discolored.

　However, another rash began to appear on my hands and feet. The doctor explained that the ointment I had been using to treat the original eczema had the effect of suppressing my body’s overreaction to the eczema, which in turn deprived me of my natural healing ability to kill bacteria and other germs that had entered my body. So I changed the ointment to a lighter one and took an additional dose of a medication that treats bacterial infections. We will have to wait and see what happens with this for a while again, while I take the medicine well.

　Still, I am curious as to the cause of the eczema. I have had shingles twice in the past. Shingles is a disease that is more likely to occur when people are tired or stressed, and is more common in elderly people who have lowered resistance. Toward the end of last year, I was under a lot of pressure and busy, so I thought it might happen again.
　However, I thought it might not be the case this time because the eczema was not in the form of a band that circled my body, but rather spread over my entire back. And it didn’t have the intense pain that makes you jump up and down when someone touches the area when you have shingles, it just itched. I asked the nurse, “Is it stress?” but she wouldn’t shake her head. She said that the cause of the problem was not clear, but anyway, skin is a place where any abnormality tends to show up immediately.
　As far as I am concerned, there is no way to prevent it unless the cause can be identified. I also did a blood test just to be sure, and found out that my triglyceride level was high and needed to be improved, but it was not directly related to the skin disease. I was at a loss.

　When I get sick, I tend to get very depressed because that rarely happens to me. Certainly getting sick is a new experience. I still look up the medications I was instructed to take, and I learn a lot from talking to the doctors and nurses. I think it’s good to make everything work for you.
　However, after all, nothing is better than nothing. As a matter of course, I want to live a healthy life, paying attention to what I eat and exercising moderately. Such feelings have become stronger and stronger since my baptism. It is my duty to take good care of this body that God has entrusted to me.

　That was the itchiest itch of my life!