I'm allergic to the sun, really and truly.
In addition to the usual seasonal allergies, some food allergies, and asthma, I have a condition called chronic urticaria. This means my body produces hives all the time, every single day, for which I take LOTS of antihistamines (yes, doctor prescribed) every single day.
The antihistamines do not, however, help my sun allergy. For years, fun in the sun meant hats, long sleeves, etc. or pay the price: intense itching, burning, welting. That really sucks (no vampire pun intended) because I also don't sweat much, so I very easily go from fine to heat exhaustion.
Then I learned that UVA rays (as opposed to UVB rays, the ones most people consider regarding sunscreen and skin cancer prevention) are the most common culprits in sun allergies. Suncreens containing titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are most effective at blocking UVA.
So now, before my daily, ninety minute power walk, I first lather up all exposed skin with this chalk-white stuff, giving me the complexion of a real vampire.
Then I drink a ton of water, stop back at the house halfway through the walk for more water (I don't carry water bottles; I carry hand weights), and finish the walk with more water.
In the winter, I build extra time into the walk to suit up in layers and take those layers off. In summer, I now need that extra time to wash off the white muck--and the bugs that fly into the stuff and die--before I'm head back upstairs to work.
It also means NOT throwing out all my old newspaper route T-shirts as I had planned, since I'm ruining my good tees with the sunscreen. However, I've had NO sun allergy symptoms since I started using the product and NO heat exhausion.
Do I look like a fool? Yes. Do I care? No.
Worth it.
In addition to the usual seasonal allergies, some food allergies, and asthma, I have a condition called chronic urticaria. This means my body produces hives all the time, every single day, for which I take LOTS of antihistamines (yes, doctor prescribed) every single day.
The antihistamines do not, however, help my sun allergy. For years, fun in the sun meant hats, long sleeves, etc. or pay the price: intense itching, burning, welting. That really sucks (no vampire pun intended) because I also don't sweat much, so I very easily go from fine to heat exhaustion.
Then I learned that UVA rays (as opposed to UVB rays, the ones most people consider regarding sunscreen and skin cancer prevention) are the most common culprits in sun allergies. Suncreens containing titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are most effective at blocking UVA.
So now, before my daily, ninety minute power walk, I first lather up all exposed skin with this chalk-white stuff, giving me the complexion of a real vampire.
Then I drink a ton of water, stop back at the house halfway through the walk for more water (I don't carry water bottles; I carry hand weights), and finish the walk with more water.
In the winter, I build extra time into the walk to suit up in layers and take those layers off. In summer, I now need that extra time to wash off the white muck--and the bugs that fly into the stuff and die--before I'm head back upstairs to work.
It also means NOT throwing out all my old newspaper route T-shirts as I had planned, since I'm ruining my good tees with the sunscreen. However, I've had NO sun allergy symptoms since I started using the product and NO heat exhausion.
Do I look like a fool? Yes. Do I care? No.
Worth it.
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