Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Nazis

Whomever's idea it was to put vinegar on a sunburn needs to be investigated. I googled "home remedy sunburn" and the most commonly cited "home remedy" was to spray pure white vinegar on said burned area. Let me give you a little background.

Aside from having a sunburn, I'm pretty sure with my medical background and everything I've read that I have 2nd degree burns and/or sun poisoning on my chest. I made the brilliant decision this Sunday to "get a little sun" at the horse show I took some people from the barn to by wearing a cami instead of a t-shirt (big mistake). I got more than a little sun. In fact, I think I got THE SUN.

About the time I realized I was getting burned (oh, say around 10am), I quickly applied 50, yes, 50 spf sunscreen. I reapplied the sunscreen around 3. So theoretically, I shouldn't have gotten THIS BAD off! I haven't had a sunburn like this for I don't know how long. It's bad.

Anyway, I thought I'd try to relieve a little pain by spraying vinegar onto the burned skin. For all of you who think child birth is uncomfortable to downright painful - just wait till you spray vinegar on a 2nd degree burn. It pales in comparison. I'm not kidding. I'd rather birth both of my children (at their current sizes) than spray vinegar on the current state of my skin again. I did it once and it sucked. So I thought it was just because it was the first appliction. I took 4 advil and sprayed again about 45 minutes later. Still BAD BAD BAD.

Some of these people who say they got "instant relief" from the pain of their sunburn obviously didn't have this kind of sunburn. There was no instant relief about it. Believe me. Unless you consider instant to be about 4 minutes give or take of tooth grinding, fist clenching, nausea inducing pain.

I'd like to think I have a pretty high pain tolerance, especially considering what I recently went thorough with my back...

So, what's your best non-acetic acid, non-vinegar SEVERE sunburn remedy?

2 comments:

Amy said...

Solarcaine - with Aloe.

Like this:

http://www.drugstore.com/qxp13328_333181_sespider/solarcaine/aloe_extra_burn_relief_spray.htm

But they have it at Walgreen's. Good stuff.

We're fried today, too, but the kids LOVED the beach!!

Hang in there, and thanks for the tip about vinegar. I was going to try it!

Love,
Amy

Jen said...

Oh yeah. Pure aloe (the kind with no fragrance/colors/etc) burns like hell too. Maybe I'm just screwed.