Antihistamines or itching?
So last night I was playing ultimate down at Stewart park which is right next to Cayuga Lake, with the result that I got eaten alive by mosquitos. Seriously. My upper arms in particular appear to have each received on the order of five or ten bites and my legs have also been rather heavily hit. So when I got home and was going to bed, I took some Benadryl in order to deal with the itching so I wouldn’t go crazy. This morning I was left with a tough decision. Should I take some more, or should I just deal with feeling incredibly itchy all the time?
I decided to go with option number one but I’m presently regretting it, although that may in part be because I haven’t had any coffee yet. I’m feeling very sleepy and not very alert and really not raring to go. Maybe going with feeling itchy would have been better because that would have served to keep me awake during the boring meetings I should be going to all day. Oh the joy. As it is I can just go to the meetings and quietly doze off. Although it seems that you can only really do that if you’re a tenured faculty member.
Okay, so this is what I’ve learned about falling asleep in classes / meetings / etc. You have to put your hand on your forehead and lean on that hand, as if you are thinking really hard and looking at something on your desk in front of you. (It works better for a girl with long hair, but I think guys can pull it off.) Then if your eyes are closed most people don’t know. Then when you know you are going to really hit stage 1 sleep, you get up and go to the bathroom.
I really like Benadryl Cream (active ingredient:Diphenhydramine hydrocholoride.) You do have to reapply it every few hours, but it works much better than hydrocortizone cream, at least for me. And no drowsiness.