It's always interesting, walking the line between honesty and taste.
I have an annoying problem. Involving part of my chest. It is very, very, itchy. I won't name the actual body part (that's my concession to "taste").
I found a cold compress to be helpful. I also tried some oral benadryl. I'm not very worried. I also washed everything that touches the area, with some "free" detergent - no dyes or perfumes. Ron was a little confused at Walmart when I told him I was looking for "Free detergent". Huh? Don't you have to pay? [grin]
One not-very-well talked about issue with antipsychotics are their effect on the breast. They can make breasts grow (mine sure did!). They can make breasts lactate (no comment). They can make the patient have wierd sensations in the breast, and occasional breast pain. I do.
It's not malignant - the antipsychotic affects the levels of a hormone known as prolactin. Prolactin works a lot on the breasts. Taking the antipsychotic can also increase my risk of several cancers (including breast, pancreas, and ovary) due to the prolactin.
It's still a lot better than running around paranoid, delusional, and hallucinating. I am well aware of my trade-offs. If Jesus doesn't rapture me shortly (my belief), I'm going to have a shorter life span due to my medications. I'm OK with that. I have to accept that - because I would have been dead back in 2006-2007 without it.
I've had at least 8 more years thanks to medication, but interestingly enough that's about the only "extreme measure" I'm willing to take. I don't want dialysis. I probably wouldn't take chemo; definitely wouldn't take radiation.
You see, when you look up "itchy bodypart" on Google, the first thing that comes up is a cancer. I don't have any of the other signs, so I'm not worried.
But it probably wouldn't hurt to look into getting a mammogram.
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