Fat, Sick and Having Symptoms

While a young woman struggles to stick to juicing in order to change her health and the course of her life, she develops yet another ailment and discovers its possible underlying cause

One bright and sunny morning, I awoke feeling well rested. I felt like I slept through the entire night and I haven't felt that way in a while. As I began to move around and wake up, I noticed that my lips felt funny. Looking in the mirror, sure enough, I could see that they were swollen and that wasn't all. I also had slightly obstructed breathing. I knew something wasn't right but I had no clue what it could be. I didn't have time to worry and try to figure it out. Maybe it was the black seed oil that I had started taking with my NutriBlast. Or maybe it was the Flaxseed... I mean can someone be allergic to Flaxseed? Or, wait a minute, I had tried a new lip balm by Maybeline called Baby Lips. It had to be that lip balm. I was slathering it on all day yesterday and fell asleep with it on my lips last night. A little Benedryl should do the trick. Darn it, I don't have any. I will have to pick up some once I get to work. Hopefully, whatever is going on with me will fix itself. I continued to get ready for work and as I hoped, the swelling on my lips went down. Although my lips were still fat, they weren't the same as when I first woke up. But my coworkers still pointed out my strange new look and made several comments on the cause. The next day, my breathing resided and my lips went back to its normal size. The only thing I was left with was little tiny bumps around my lips that la crusty layer of chaff on the edges of my lips.

A couple of weeks later. These symptoms came back. This time, it started with a slightly itchy tingling feeling all around the edges of my lips and the next morning my lips were as big as my face and my breathing was labored. Now I'm nervous! What could this be! I threw away the lip balm and I haven't started using anything new and different. I have to go to the doctor and find out what in the world is wrong with me.

Perleche. That was my diagnosis. Perleche or its more scientific name Angular Cheilitis. Cheilitis is the swelling of the lips. Angular Cheilitis is when an opportunistic infection of fungi or bacteria in the mouth area with multiple local and systemic predisposing factors is the cause of the initial and chronic infection.
Are you kidding me. First I am diagnosed with PCOS which also has multiple symptoms and causes and now your telling me I have now developed yet another chronic ailment with multiple causes. Sigh.

I am trying to change my bad eating habits. I am trying to loose weight. I am trying to change my life . But obviously, I am not trying hard enough. Well anyway, let me see what some of these local and systemic factors are. I should of known this one: nutritional deficiencies, however I doubt if this is a factor that belongs to me because despite the occasional candy and ice cream sundae, I have been drinking my NutriBlast. I should be getting the recommended nutrients on a weekly basis. What else is there... excessive lip-licking. Not me. Drooling. Maybe me. While I sleep anyway. My pillow is proof of that. eeww. Immunosuppression. Hmmm, what is this. medicinenet.com defines it as: Suppression of the immune system and its ability to fight infection. Immunosuppression may result from certain diseases, such as AIDS or lymphoma, or from certain drugs, such as some of those used to treat cancer. Hmmm interesting. Ok, I need to rule out some of these underlying causes. I will start with an STD test.

Great news, I dont have the AIDS virus. Thank You Jesus! Whew! The hospital checked all of my vitals and drew blood for a Chem 7 test. Chem 7 or Chem 8 is a blood test that checks your level of: Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, CO2, Glucose, Creatinine and sometimes Calcium. All of my levels were within the range that they should be, to my surprise anyway. So I am still healthy. And after researching all of the symptoms of Lymphoma, I'm pretty sure that I don't have that either. Thank You God.

My doctor prescribed Clotrimazole which is a topical anti-fungal cream most commonly used for Jock Itch. Great, I have Jock Itch's cousin living on my face. The cream worked and the lesion was completely gone in 3 days. I'm cured! Not!

Two and a half months later, I fall asleep on my boyfriends chest. He wakes me up because I was drooling through his shirt. eeewww! When I sit up, I can feel the tingling feeling creeping around my mouth. Oh no , not again. This time, I grab some over the counter Lotrimon, go home and start my treatment. To my dismay, it doesn't work. The next morning my lips are swollen. By mid -day, the swelling has gone down but an aggressive rash has broken out all around my mouth. It looks like millions of tiny bumps with lesions in each corner of my mouth. It never itched this bad before!

Perleche can be classified as acute or chronic and refractory. What does all this mean?? It means I can have the infection one time or it can last for like... six months on or off. And it can begin to resist treatment.... This is where I am at now. While writing this chapter of my life, I have an aggressive fungal infection on my face for the third time,  that seems to be spreading and resisting the Clotrimazole. How did I get here. There is no specific explanation but this is what I think happened. Angular Cheilitis can be a manifestation of contact dermatitis. There are three types of contact dermatitis: irritant, allergic and photocontact. Irritant and allergic contact dermatitis can be caused by chemical irritants including cosmetics. When my symptoms first started, the one different thing that I used that day and a couple days prior was Maybeline's Baby Lips Lip Balm. In allergic contact dermatitis, the rash sometimes does not appear until 24"72 hours after exposure to the allergen. My symptoms were swelling, obstructed breathing, a rash and itchy, burning skin. Whereas rash and painful, itchy, burning skin are symptoms to both kinds of contact dermatitis. Why the Baby Lips as a culprit? According to COSDNA.com, Baby Lips has one "red" ingredient: Eugenol, which is used as a fragrance that has a level 4 out 5 safety hazard, enough to cause an allergic reaction in some consumers. According to sciencelab.com, Eugenol is toxic to lungs, the nervous system and mucous membranes. Wowzers! How does Maybeline get away with using this substance in their products? Money, Money, Money. Sciencelab.com recommended first aid measures for skin contact with Eugenol is wash with a disinfectant soap and cover the contaminated skin with an anti-bacterial cream. An anti-bacterial cream like Clotrimazole ???

So where does Eugenol come from?? The answer is clove. Clove is the dried flower bud of a tropical tree, used as a pungent aromatic spice. According to hironsdrug.com, Eugenol may modulate the immune system. Allergic reactions to clove and its component eugenol have been reported, including possible severe reactions (anaphylaxis). Signs of allergy may include rash, itching or shortness of breath. Eugenol or clove can cause allergic rashes when applied to skin or inside the mouth. Rash, Itching and Shortness of breath were my initial symptoms. So if I believe my perleche was a result of contact dermatitis with eugenol, what is the connection between the two? According to a article written by Dr. Kelly K. Park, Dr. Robert T. Brodell and Dr. Stephen E. Helms on skinandallergynews.com, Eugenol is a listed allergen of allergic contact dermatitis causing angular and generalized cheilitis. They go on to say: The fissured inflamed skin of Angular Cheilitis often harbors localized candida, staph infections and/or B-hemolytic strep overgrowth. Candida albicans infection, also known as monilial perleche, often presents itself as a long term bilateral process with periods of relapse and remission. This yeast organism can be cultured from 93% of active perleche lesions. So I believe that after I had my allergic reaction to Eugenol, my cracked lips was infected with candida and staph and has become a chronic and embarrassingly ugly ailment.

I am making an emergency appointment with my local urgent care office tomorrow because my infection have become resistant to the Clotrimazole and I want to make sure there isn't something else going on with my face. In the meantime, I see the importance of a healthy lifestyle. I have to continue to juice and I have to leave the junky, processed additive filled foods alone. No excuses. Juice, Juice, Juice.