The phrase “I’m allergic to college” is a common one among many students who will say it at one point or another to express their dislike towards the immense amounts of homework, lack of sleep and busy schedules that come with pursuing a higher education.
But when I say “I’m allergic to college,” I mean it. Literally, I break out in hives and can’t stop itching for hours.
It all started in the beginning of October. I had just gotten back from visiting a friend at another school and went to take a shower, since driving six hours up I-95 had made me feel gross. About halfway through my hot, relaxing shower, my legs started to intensely itch. With each scratch the itching got worse, and I could no longer enjoy the trickling water warming my body as I sang my favorite song. I finished washing up quickly and went to dry off in hopes of relieving the discomfort as quickly as possible. Gathering my clothes was difficult, for the itching continued to worsen. It had spread to my feet and my heels were on fire. I grabbed my lotion and squirted it all over my lower body, making sure to fully rub it in for full moisture. A few seconds later, the itching had stopped and the redness began to disappear. I came to the conclusion that it had just been a fluke incident and went on with my day.
The next night during my shower I experienced the same symptoms, except this time the itching wouldn’t stop no matter what I did. My heels were far worse than my legs. Throughout the night, I woke up to the immense discomfort of my itchy feet. It didn’t matter how hard I scratched, the itching never fully went away. After several weeks of waking up in the middle of the night and having my days disrupted by the intense itch, it had gotten to the point where my only form of relief was to aggressively scrape my heels on the carpet in my room until they burned. Big, swollen, reddish colored bubbles had now appeared on my heels, and even if they weren’t itching, they were always visible.
Over the weeks I had tried to put all the pieces together in an attempt to form a conclusion as to what could be causing this intense itching. At first I thought they were spider bites, but they were in the exact same spot on each of my heels, and when the lumps continued to appear and itch after several days, I crossed that one off the list.
Next, I thought I was allergic to the Italian salad dressing in the Lawrence Dining Hall. I tried to keep track of all the foods I ate each day and I had noticed a pattern; on the days I ate the salad dressing, the itching was worse. I stayed away from the particular food, and for awhile I thought I had figured it out.
Though the lumps on my heels were still visible, during my time home on winter break I hadn’t experienced any itching or discomfort and I began to forget it had ever occurred. My first night back at West Chester, I got into the shower and began to wash my hair. Then it all started up again. My heels intensely began to itch. I was disappointed and angry, as I couldn’t put up with these annoying symptoms for another semester.
Desperate for some answers, I eagerly made an appointment at the student health center. The doctor came in and I showed her my feet and described what I had been dealing with. Unfortunately, she told me that because my symptoms were so unique and unlike anything she had ever seen, she couldn’t pinpoint the exact thing I was allergic to. She came to the conclusion that the lumps on my feet were chronic hives because they had not gone away in over six weeks. She seemed to think that the hot water could be a trigger since the hives would begin to itch during my hot showers. However, it was still up in the air because when I took hot showers at home, I didn’t experience any of the same symptoms I did when I took hot showers at WCU.
The next and final conclusion was that I was allergic to something here at West Chester, possibly the air filtration or running water systems. A mixture of the hot water and oxygen circulating in my room could be causing the intense itching and discomfort on my heels. She suggested I take Claritin daily and to follow up with a dermatologist if it continues to get worse.
Today, even after taking Claritin daily and rubbing Calamine lotion on my feet after showers, my symptoms still randomly appear. Some days I don’t itch, and some days I can’t stop itching. I cannot help but wonder if the air filtration and running water systems at WCU are really as clean as they claim to be. I really wish I had a clear diagnosis as to what was causing my reactions, but I guess for now all I can say is that I am, indeed, allergic to college.
Alyssa Palumbo is a first-year student majoring in marketing. She can be reached at AP870664@wcupa.edu.