Main » July 2004

July 29, 2004

How dry I am...

I woke up this morning to a burning lower lip. Though I had put moisturizer on them, the lower lip was so dry that it split. Ouch! I slathered moisturizer all over it. There is currently a blister over the cracked area. I hope it improves by next Monday when I have to go back to the 'snake pit'. Dryness seems to be a pretty common symptom in conjunction with rosacea.

On another front, our new team leader Bob sent yet another self-promoting email. To hear him tell it, he is responsible for running the school now. He is even taking credit for the new 9th grade science center. This is a little irritating as I personally spent over 40 hours at home working on the layout and supply list for it. No one else helped and I did it on my own without being asked. Of course at the end of the year I didn't even receive a certificate of thanks for this though they gave out more than 30 certificates for all sorts of reasons. I guess I don't suck up enough. At least the other Biology teachers know the truth. I responded to Bob with a brief note telling him to go work on his boat. Nothing else has been sent this week. Grrrr!

Posted by Ken Albin at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)

July 27, 2004

Why Florida??

The redness and dryness are better today. We even went out awhile to look at guitars in a new local store. I really don't need another guitar but just wanted to get out. There was a really nice hollow body Guild I played on in the store. Another thing I'm trying to get over is having rosacea pop up when in potentially embarassing situations like playing in front of people. It's funny for a teacher to be this way, but I am painfully shy. Anyway, I forced myself to be a little extroverted this time and no obvious rosacea problems. I don't have this shyness problem around students. I guess I'm used to it after all these years of teaching. And no, I didn't bring the guitar home! Now that Fender amp I was playing through was tempting.

Posted by Ken Albin at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2004

Overheated, Allergies, and Other Fun Things

I made the mistake of working on my amatuer radio antenna when it was very hot. By the time I was finished and came inside I was nauseous. I threw up lunch and sat down with an icepack. The heat started up the rosacea somewhat, so I put on extra moisturizer. Some day I'm going to learn.

I've been sneezing/coughing all day as well. Because of the haywired immune system people with rosacea often have allergies. All in all, not a very fun day here at Albin Manor! Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Posted by Ken Albin at 07:21 PM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2004

Hot, Hot, Hot!

It's another sunny day, 93 degrees. Great for normal folk but death on rosacea. I've stayed in all day. If I can fight off the mosquitoes tonight I'm going to drag out the 8 inch telescope and enjoy the heavens. There's nothing like looking at the galaxies, planets, and nebulae. It reminds me how insignificant our problems actually are.

Posted by Ken Albin at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2004

Assertiveness

The rosacea and dryness are both a little better. I got caught up on my sleep and have been very lazy today. The cats, all 5 of them, have demanded some petting and brushing time. Other than that, not much happening here. It's night now and raining heavily. If it clears up by tomorrow I may go out and metal detect. With so little time left before school starts I'm not on any schedule.

Posted by Ken Albin at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

July 19, 2004

Insomnia

Well, last night I had a little rosacea flareup on my chin. I moisturized the dryness problem but it itched enough to keep me up most of the night. Two hours sleep, so I look and feel my very best today. Also, I got the 'letter of doom'. This is the one we get each year from the school saying how they hoped we had a wonderful summer. This is followed by a schedule for preplanning that leaves very little time to actually get ready for the students. To top it all off, I also got an email from our new department chairman. I'll call him 'Bob'. I have never in my life seen anyone who is as big of a 'brownnoser' as good old Bob. His emails always raise my blood pressure 20 points because they are always full of how he is 'working in close cooperation' with our principal. I'm not jealous. It is just an exercise in frustration having to get past all of the politics and posturing. Most of the better teachers here get little recognition anyway, and people like Bob steal even that small amount away. He also has the charming trait of wanting to collate all of the science orders. That way he is sure to get everything he wants even if it means that our orders are cut. Bob is a rosacea trigger waiting to happen. I suppose I will just try my best to avoid him and teach.

Posted by Ken Albin at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2004

A Dry Day

The old skin is really dry this morning. When it gets this dry, the capillaries start appearing as pink streaks. After bathing I used extra moisturizer. From past experience I know that I will have to keep this up for a few days in order to heal the dryness and streaks. The rosacea is not bad, but it can really start up if I ignore the dryness. Meanwhile my hands look like someone 20 years older due to the dryness. My dryness and rosacea seem to go hand in hand. Somtimes growing old stinks.

Posted by Ken Albin at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

July 17, 2004

Cloudy

Rain isn't all that great when you live in Florida, but it does keep down the rosacea symptoms. We went to the library and then out to eat today. I had angel hair pasta and Karen had hummus. We both had root beer they make on the premises. So much for the low carb diet! It was delicious. There was some dryness and burning this morning when showering, but only a little pinkness after moisturizing. All in all, a pretty good day.
Hey, I never said we were party animals!

Posted by Ken Albin at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2004

Cause of Rosacea

I've read a lot of articles about the supposed cause of rosacea. The truth is that we don't know what causes it. There seems to be inflammation of the subcutaneous layer. Theories abound as to the cause of the inflammation. Mites, bacteria, fungi, and autoimmune dysfunctions have been studied without conclusive results. That's why I've taken the approach of treating the symptoms rather than attacking the cause. Rosacea is not a high priority disease because it is not life-threatening. What people don't realize is the damage this illness does to self esteem. It also can be chronically painful. Those with severe symptoms may have suicidal thoughts. Rosacea is thought of by many to be an inconsequential cosmetic problem, but this couldn't be further from the truth. It's really sad to read some of the posts on the Yahoo rosacea group. This is a life-altering problem.
I feel fortunate that I have my situation under control for now. Some people have it so much worse than me, it makes me appreciate the life I have.

Posted by Ken Albin at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2004

Support group

There is a really great support group for Rosacea. They are at Yahoo and the title of the email is rosacea-support@yahoogroups.com

You get about 30-50 emails per day in this group. The main guru there is Dr. Nase. He does research on rosacea and is one of the more knowledgeable people around on current developments. I highly recommend this group. You will get a good feel of the various problems and solutions that we face. If interested, check for the group at Yahoo and sign up for it.

Posted by Ken Albin at 08:24 AM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2004

Shaving

Shaving was a major problem. I tried a manual razor and sensitive skin creams but they burned my face. My old Braun razor was too rough on the skin. I finally found a balance by using a Remington shaver for sensitive skin. It's not the closest shaver I've ever used, but it rarely irritates. I've just finished shaving today with no problems.

My wife Karen took some time off from her job as the city chemist. We plan on taking a day trip to Silver Springs soon. Lots of sun and heat, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Posted by Ken Albin at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2004

Cycling

I've noticed that my face seems to go through cycles. I have a week or so where the skin is very sensitive to almost anything put on it. Then it starts drying out and becoming flaky. I can't just treat it the same way every day because of this. Right now it's in the sensitive stage, so the less I put on it the better. Maybe just a little moisturizer and short soaping/rinsing times. Later on when it starts into the dry stage I will gradually increase the moisturizer amount and may add a little aloe vera at night if it gets flaky. I've found that when I ignore these cycles my face will get more and more irritated and each stage will have worse symptoms. Boy, I miss the years where I didn't have to think about stuff like this.

Posted by Ken Albin at 07:07 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2004

Summer Days

Well, it's summertime here in Florida. 94 degrees today with lots of sun spells trouble.
A good sunscreen is on the agenda when I go out today. I miss not being able to put the top down on the Miata on days like this. It's a little like being a vampire the way I have to avoid getting too much sun or heat. I'm thankful that at least this is something I can control, even if it does cause a lot of inconvenience sometimes.

Posted by Ken Albin at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2004

My Daily Regimen

Here is my daily anti-Rosacea routine. I take a lukewarm shower with Dove soap and a mild shampoo. Since any shampoo burns my face I rinse it off as quick as possible. After drying, I use a little Eucerin cream on the face and a general alcohol-free moisturizer elsewhere. In the rare event of a sudden flushing emergency at school I keep a spray bottle of distilled water in the fridge to spritz on my face. If caught early, the water can lessen the redness. I also have discovered the joys of makeup for these emergencies. I keep a tube of green concealer stick at work. A few dabs of that blended in will cover a lot of the redness without giving a 'makeup look'.

I have been a vegetarian for a number of years, so I naturally eat a high protein, low fat diet. I try to keep the carbs down since it seems to exacerbate the problem for some.
Each day I take 2 grams of borage oil and a couple of aspirin as anti-inflammatories. I don't know if it really does much, but it doesn't hurt and the oil seems to help with the dryness. I also take a regular multivitamin, 1 gram of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, a B complex vitamin, selenium, and zinc. I do this more for general health benefits, though some people say it has helped with Rosacea. I also take my low doasage (0.1mg) of prescription Clonodine.

In the event of a crisis at home, I will alternate putting on aloe vera gel, chamomile extract made from boiling dried chamomile and straining/cooling the mixture, and moisturizer. I learned the hard way that cortisone type preparations are an absolute no-no. It will thin the skin and make the condition worse over time. These emergency treatments act to calm the skin and reduce inflammation.

That's the secret to my keeping this under control. It sounds worse than it is. I've gotten used to the routine now and do it as a normal part of the day. Oh yes, stress.
I try to relax and breathe deeply when stress pops up, as this is one of my main triggers. All of this keeps me looking pretty normal most of the time now. I probably notice any change in redness more than others do. When I went to the doctor this summer and told the nurse about the Rosacea as part of my medical history, she said that she would never have guessed I had that problem. I guess that means the treatments are working.

Posted by Ken Albin at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2004

Greetings - Part 2

I finally found a dermatologist who understood Rosacea. Unfortunately, the traditional treatments made the condition worse. After searching the web I came up with a combination of borage oil, mild soaps, aloe vera, and clonidine. This last drug is given to postmenopausal women for hot flashes, so I said what the heck. It's worth a try. This combination helped a lot to reduce the redness. Stress is another factor, but it's a little hard to avoid that when teaching. Until I go back to school in a month I will throw out some random thoughts about Rosacea. After school starts I plan on keeping a daily diary on my experiences with it. I fortunately do not have the type with pustules, so I can't say much about that. Most of my battle is in keeping the redness down and eliminating the flaking, burning, and itching. In a later post I will give my daily regimen for treating Rosacea. Keep in mind that what works for me may not work for you. I would advise staying away from doctors as much as possible except to get necessary prescriptions. They can do more harm than good with Rosacea.

Posted by Ken Albin at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)