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Sticky stuff allergy!

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
in Health & Wellbeing
Background: I had my contraceptive implant out on Wednesday afternoon (huzzah) and bascally it was a bit traumatic and they cocked it up a bit and they made a hole in my arm. So I was steristripped up, had a pressure bandage put on and was told I could take it off today, but to leave the steri strips on for a week to 10 days.

So I told them I had problems with micropore tape and I had skin allergy to it and last time they used it it all blistered up and argh. So she said the steristrips are made of the same stuff but there was nothing she could do, and put them on anyway, and taped my arm up. Great. So today i take bandage off and have oh so familiar skin blistering and ouchiness where the tape was. I was supposed to put a plaster on it, and despite buying the ones that said "hypoallergenic" to be on the safe side I've put it on and I can feel my skin reacting to it.

So. Any suggestions on if theres anything I can use for the next week instead of plasters? Apparently "hypoallergenic" is a LIE, but I can't just not use anything. And I'm not even thinking about when I have to take the steristrips off.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    couldnt you just use one of them (weird sterile) pads under a bandage? i know its a bit inpractical, but you wouldnt use anything sticky.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well thats what I've had on since Wednesday afternoon, but because of where on my arm it is it won't stay there and slides down towards my elbow unless it's taped on unfortunately :(
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    im guessing you had tape around the bandage...

    um... i have no idea. if i can think of an alternative, then ill say...

    :chin:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks, ill pop down to the pharmacy and see what they have to offer in the morning :)

    I just felt grrr because the woman was all "you can't be allergic to micropore, its hpoallergenic" then strapped it on anyway. Why would I make that up?!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Acrobat wrote: »
    Thanks, ill pop down to the pharmacy and see what they have to offer in the morning :)

    I just felt grrr because the woman was all "you can't be allergic to micropore, its hpoallergenic" then strapped it on anyway. Why would I make that up?!

    I'm allergic to micropore! And people often say 'oh but you can be' until they see what happens when you put it on my skin and then they believe me.

    The first time I had a blood test was when I realised, I had the tape stuck on afterwards and it hurt so so much and I could hardly more my arm but I just thought that was what happens when they do blood tests, I was thinking like why would anybody volunteer to give blood if it hurts this much?! And then at the end of the day I realised it was an allergic reaction as when I took the tape off the pain subsided so quickly and I could see that it was.

    I'm also allergic to anything else sticky really - those heat pads you can stick to yourself gave me a really bad reaction, most plasters, dressings, even the glue on sanitary towels (and no I'm not that stupid, I do know you aren't actually meant to stick them on your body, but sometimes a little bit of the sticky part will come in contact with the tops of my legs and I'm allergic to that). Sticky stuff is all the same really, nasty evil stuff.

    It's a shame really as I self-harm quite a lot and often am bleeding quite badly. I tend to use those dressing pads that are not sticky and either they stick a bit if the blood starts to clot or I can put a big stretch bandage over it and they have some type of elasticy pin thing to keep them shut but obviously it really depends on the part of the body and it isn't always very practical.

    I don't know what to suggest for you but I wanted to share your pain of sticky stuff allergy!! Hope you are okay :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can you cut up a tubigrip to hold on a sterile pad? and then wrap that up with a big bandage! and then some clingfilm ... ok so I'm getting carried away here but would the tubigrip part work?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Knee High Stripy Socks wrote: »
    Can you cut up a tubigrip to hold on a sterile pad? and then wrap that up with a big bandage! and then some clingfilm ... ok so I'm getting carried away here but would the tubigrip part work?

    The implants go in the upper arm don't they? If that's right, and I might be wrong, that's actually one of the easiest places to bandage or use a tubigrip or whatever.

    Torso and breasts are a lot more tricky to deal with. And thighs are quite hard as they are thicker than arms.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep, upper arm of the one you don't write with.
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