One day I will look back on this and laugh.

[baratron]

I discovered last night that I really am allergic to latex in the most uncomfortable way imaginable.

After having the doom and gloom of discovering that both latex and polyurethane condoms made me itchy, and every other form of contraception is out for one reason or another, I found some condoms that are made of latex but are treated in a way to make them less likely to cause allergic reactions. We'd used them a few times and I didn't seem to have any problems with them.

But having done all this mad computer work to get my thesis done, I've been wearing Tubigrips on my wrists for a few days - they're an elasticated support bandage, and they contain latex. So i've been wearing latex against my skin for a week or so, and that must have overloaded my immune system or something. I tell you, no one needs to be lying snuggled up to their sweetie and have a violent red burning rash breaking out all over their nether regions. I leapt into a lukewarm bath with bicarbonate of soda (it took so long to run!) and sat there for 15 minutes, patted myself dry, slathered it with aloe gel and took an antihistamine. Got to sleep without too much trouble, but... argh.

Today I can at least walk, which saves me the embarrassment of ringing work and trying to explain why I can't go in, but I'm really not very comfortable. Grrr. Goddamnit.

Comments

[geminigirl]

Latex allergies are often exposure related...that's why I go to such great lengths to avoid things like Band Aids that may have latex in them, or rubber bands...the more you're exposed to it, the worse your allergy gets. Somwhere on the web there's a list of latex-free products, which includes medical supplies.

The best thing to do is to avoid it. Or use a barrier between your skin and latex containing products if you can't.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Oh, bloody hell. My lactose intolerance works like that as well. I can eat a small amount of cheese one day without too much trouble, but if I tried to eat the same amount the next day I'd be really ill. Ergh.

I have some other wrist braces now that contain neoprene, which is a synthetic rubber (I think). I'm hoping they'll be okay. There's no sign of any reaction around my wrists, but then there wasn't any from the Tubigrip either.

[lovingboth]

To be allergic to both is quite impressive. I can't remember what lube Durex put on Avantis, but it's different to what's on Femidoms - that's a mineral oil. Have you tried those?

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Impressive? More like annoying! Basically, I seem to be allergic to certain types of plastic in contact with my skin. For example, most sanitary towels have a plastic coating these days - I'm not sure what type of plastic it is but I doubt it's latex (as it doesn't need to be elastic), and they give me grief also. So I've had to buy paper-only and wash-your own eco pads.

The condom thing is distressing. Without going into huge amounts of detail, it's the only form of contraception that I can use, short of getting snipped, and I won't be able to persuade the NHS to snip me for a few years yet. And I wouldn't feel safe with only me or Richard snipped and no barrier, it'd have to be both of us - and if I can't use any kind of condom, it seriously limits what I can do with other men or at play parties, not that I really get invited to these things, but it's nice to have the option. It is, in short, completely shit. We'll have to try the horrendously ugly Femidom and hope the sight of it doesn't put us off, but I don't hold out too much hope for it being okay.

[lovingboth]

Take the inner ring out and use them as condoms is my tip.

Are 'natural' ie lamb gut condoms acceptable? They're OK for contraception, not for disease prevention.

[rowan-leigh.livejournal.com]

Ick. As far as i was aware, mineral oil and vaginas don't get on [apparently it can cause infections], so what the hell is it doing on a product designed explicitly for vaginal use?

[lovingboth]

Well, it's better than having a spermicide. You can also wipe most of it off before insertion.

I've used wiped ones in conjuction with latex - and mineral oils are normally a complete no-no with latex - without damaging the latex.

eep!

[wandra.livejournal.com]

Just eep!