Brainstorming

So...Girl with Curl made a valid comment on my last post. She asked whether a second opinion might be warranted and I figured I'd combine this post with the brainstorming session I had with my parents last night.

I don't think a second opinion would change the outcome for me. I'll explain. This problem of getting staph infections in my fingers is kind of a compounding problem. I've been taking prednisone to supress my immune system to keep the eczema flairs down. With my immune system supressed, I can't fight off infections, therefore allowing the staph infection a head start and my body can't fight it off like a normal body could. Besides...the side effects of prednisone usage are horrible. Among the worst I experience is: hair loss by the handfuls (I've lost probably 1/3 my hair mass in the past 2 years of taking this stuff intermittently. My cousin, who was on this stuff at very high dosages and for an extended time period took approximately 5 years to recover her hair mass), insane insomnia, depression associated with said insomnia, intense increase in appetite (I'm already...oh...about 100 lbs overweight...I don't need any assistance in that arena) and big-time illness after I go off it...like go to the hospital illness. I've learned that my body kinda goes into an adrenal shutdown after taking the prednisone, so I now take big quantities of herbal supplements to keep my body from doing that, but it's only so effective. Other long-term side effects are bone density loss, increased hormonal imbalances, adrenal issues (already seen some of that), and more. It's not a pretty drug.

So my parents and I were brainstorming last night because my dad has finally seen how much I enjoy what I'm doing. He made a suggestion that I simply wear gloves whenever I am doing hair. I mentioned that I can't feel the hair like I need to and gloves tend to pull on the guests hair. My dad is nothing if not logical and sometimes, I want to strangle him for it. Last night, I could have kissed him (we're soooo not that kind of family). He made the valid point that surgeons do very intricate work with gloves on and manage to compensate with the feel. He simply suggested that I purchase some lightweight gloves and see if that would solve the problem. He agreed that I need to follow doctors orders and take a leave of absence for a bit to get the eczema under control and see when I go back if I can do everything with just gloves on. Hey, it's worth a try. Especially because I believe that part of my flare-ups are due to the sulfates and silicones in the products we use. If I provide a barrier, that might solve the problem.

In other news, tomorrow, I'm supposed to cut my brother-in-law's hair and my sister's hair. Guess we can give the glove-test a try with family members. My sister has a really hard head, so she can tell me if it's pulling on her hair more than usual and my brother-in-law's hair is short, so it'll help be know if I can have a good feel with gloves on. I guess we'll see.

At least I have some options, which is better than just feeling like I have to give up on my dreams.