I'm sure we can pay someone to fake it.

I'm kinda surprised no one's done it yet.

I'm kinda surprised no one's done it yet.

Oh, trust me. We have. We totally have. Miss Cleo was just a pretender to the throne of pretenders.

My friend M had me convinced that the residents of Kingston routinely shake chickens at the white folks to keep the bad ju-ju away.

Not that there aren't white Kingstonians...

Okay, I'm doing what you should never, EVER do:

Looking up scary life-threatening diseases on Google.

(Well, I'm having this whole allergic reaction to Zoloft going on, and one of the very rare but very severe potential allergic reactions is Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis [a less-severe form is called Stevens-Johnson Sydrome]. Basically, you get all rashy and blistery and your skin falls off. Often you die, perhaps unsurprisingly. I'm itchy all over and my skin feels hot and tight like a sunburn. There is no rash per se, though I am flushed. This has been going on since Saturday/Sunday. The last dose I took was Sunday night.

I don't normally freak myself out with internet diagnosing, but in reading how the clinical course progresses, a common symptom is a sore throat. [Often the early stages of the condition is mistaken for a respiratory infection.]

I've had a sore throat for 4-5 days. Granted, I get sore throats just from thinking about pollen. Still, I totally didn't expect to see "sore throat" as an early symptom in All-Your-Skin-Falls-Off-And-You-Die Disease.

I need some more benadryl.)

If my skin falls off, I'll try to live-blog it.

Not that there aren't white Kingstonians...

That's why she laughed at me so hard when my eyes got real big.

But then she gave me plantains and a Ting and I was ok again. And learned to call her out on her BS.

Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis [a less-severe form is called Stevens-Johnson Sydrome].

Hey that's side affect of Lamictal!!

On the up-side, Steph, if you survive that disease, when your skin grows back all new you look like you're 18 again.

Retin-A is the better choice for skin renewal, though.

I had an otherwise-symptomless itch for months after I started Zoloft, and had no idea it could have been the Zoloft that caused it. I also didn't know about the scary skin-falling-off disease. Needless to say, my skin is still on. If I had known that, I would have stopped taking the stuff in a hot minute, though.

Tep's post made me think of this quote:

"I passed a porno theater on the way here. It had seven X's. I was stunned. Two X's, whew hot, three x's, wow...seven x's....'Girls With No Skin' that's all I could imagine." - Tom Waits

On the up-side, Steph, if you survive that disease, when your skin grows back all new you look like you're 18 again.

I look pretty good for 39; I don't need to have my skin fall off and re-grow just to gain a few years!

I had an otherwise-symptomless itch for months after I started Zoloft, and had no idea it could have been the Zoloft that caused it. I also didn't know about the scary skin-falling-off disease. Needless to say, my skin is still on. If I had known that, I would have stopped taking the stuff in a hot minute, though.

I think a couple more days and some handfuls of benadryl and I'll be fine. I just got thrown by seeing the sore throat thing in there, because I totally didn't expect that.

Still, freaky.