Too Hot to Handle

last april, my friend beth and i went on a little hike. when we made it back down r mountain, i discovered that my arms were spotted with small red bumps. i shrugged it off, blaming it on dehydration. fast forward to the end of a zumba class. hives. hives everywhere: arms, stomach, legs.burning, itching swelling hives. every time i exercised i broke out in hives. talk about an incentive to not work out, as if i needed one.

the last straw was a couple weeks* ago. i went to what was possibly the worst zumba class of my life for only half an hour. on my way home i could feel my temperature rising. by the time i got home, my body was coverd in hives. my top lip was swollen to twice its normal size. really though, i looked like i got botox...and you know i don't need no botox! so i finally went to the health center and got it checked out.

although the doctor was surprised, he had a diagnosis: urticaria- a fancy word for hives. he also had a prescription. every night i had to take a little white pill, an antihistamine of sorts. the benefit? today, i went running. i put on my shoes and got on a treadmill. i only ran a mile, but it was the greatest mile i've ever run because at the end of it, there were no hives.

*note: i wrote this a couple days ago. by "a couple" i mean like a week.