10/08/19 – Tuesday – Cantharidin Poisoning – Part 1

Has anyone ever heard of Blister Beetles?

Until September, 2009 I had not.

In late August, 2009, Kelsey and I went for a walk and to get a newspaper for Pop on a Sunday morning.

Let me back up just a bit.

There is some background information that needs to be shared.

At this point in time, I was still causing myself to stress out way too much due to my own immaturity and childishness.

Being able to look backwards is quite insightful.

Prior to the walk that day, I had gone to see my doctor.

The reason I went to the doctor was because I was retaining more water and my energy level was really low.  I was having a really hard time day to day.

The doctor gave me a prescription to help with the water retention.

I started taking the prescription on Tuesday of that week.

By Friday of the same week I stopped taking the prescription because I was getting worse.

I would get up for the day.  Then a couple hours later, I would be ready to go back to sleep.

To add to the mix, I was, now, feeling physically weak.

Now Kelsey and I go for the walk on Sunday.

Along the way, we stopped so I could pull some cat tails for at the house.

That was a mistake!

I was still physically weak.

While trying to pull the cat tail, I slid into the long grasses surrounding them.

Proceeding thinking no damage done and nothing was wrong, Kelsey and I continued our walk, picked some sweet peas, got the newspaper and went back to the house.

By the time we got home, I was so tired.

I laid down, went to sleep and didn’t wake up until the next day.

The first thing I remember after waking up was seeing Pop looking really scared.  I had never seen Pop scared.

The next thing I noticed was that my left shin was covered with orange-yellow blistering.

I didn’t know what had happened.

I called the doctor’s office.

Pop drove Kelsey and me down to the doctor’s office.

I left the doctor’s office with a prescription for allergy relief medication and a doctor who was shocked when I let her know how my body reacted to the medication that was meant to relieve the water retention.

The allergy relief medication was of no assistance in relieving any of the symptoms I was now feeling.

After that I went back to the doctor to try and figure out what was going on and get some relief.

Two to three weeks later Mom returned to the house after work.

Mom had been talking to her co-workers about what was going on.

One of those co-workers suggested that what was going on could have been caused by blister beetles.