Worst Night in Taiwan

"我要睡覺-lo" is something my roommate always says before going to bed. It was around 2 in the morning when he said this to me, prompting me to prepare for bed myself. I brushed my teeth and went to bed. I'm not the type that lays in bed and knocks out right away, unless I was deprived of sleep, so instead I spent the next hour on my phone. Clash of Clans. Tower of Saviors. Final Fantasy. Yes, I've spent that hour in bed playing games on my phone, until I felt a bit sleepy; however, I noticed that I was feeling a bit itchy... all over. Earlier that night, I noticed a rash around my waistline that looked like bug bites, but chose to ignore it, thinking it was just a rash. Around 3:30 in the morning, I started scratching my entire body, beginning with my stomach, to my chest, shoulders, arms, and neck. This wasn't normal.

I decided to climb out of bed and go to the restroom to see what was going on. I removed my shirt and the red blotches on my skin were revealed. In my head, I began to panic. Bug bites? Rashes? Allergies? I wasn't sure what was going on, but I automatically assumed that this was due to allergies. I applied some medication and crawled back into bed hoping that this was temporary. And for precautionary measures, I changed my shirt, since all the rashes appeared on my torso, rather than my legs. It didn't take long to doze off into sleep. 5 in the morning. 

An hour later, I woke up scratching my ankle along with the tender region behind my knee. I immediately assumed that I'm getting bitten because I could clearly feel the lumps that appeared in both regions. I jumped out of bed, walked to the restroom and examined my body once again. Only this time, I realized that my rashes were getting worse. I began to consider the worst case scenarios: bed bugs or scabies. Right before I was about to do a little bit of online researching, Jeff messages me and offers me to crash at his place. Yes. No second thoughts. I instantly accept his offer and head to his place. Of course, if I did have bed bugs or scabies, I probably would've transferred it to him. Didn't know about that until after I arrived though. Haha!

I got to his place around 7 and began my research on these bites. An hour later, I realized that my symptoms don't quite match any of the criteria. My rashes didn't look anything like the bites in the picture and I definitely didn't find any bed bugs on my bed. I still had my doubts when I slept at Jeff's, but when I woke up around 11, those doubts have left. I was almost certain that my rashes were caused by some allergic reaction. It wasn't until later that day (after going to the doctors) that I found out I had 蕁麻疹 (nettle rash/urticaria). Also found out that my cough is mainly due to allergies (and partially due to a cold)! Can't lay in bed without coughing every 10 seconds. :(

My sad, sad immune system. My doctor says that I'm to lay off any seafood, nuts, chocolate, and fried foods for the next two weeks. Fried foods! Unbelievable, I can't eat fried foods for several weeks because of this. I was a bit shocked and depressed, I mean, two weeks in Taiwan without fried foods feels like an eternity. Luckily, I'm still able to drink coffee and tapioca milk tea, so I'm not missing out too much. Yay~

-Jeffjeff

&& Thanks Sam for keeping me company, while everyone was asleep.

&& Thanks Jeff for letting me crash at your place despite the possible risks of infection. Haha!

&& Not sure how much my audience will appreciate pictures for this post, so I'll pass on this one :) If you want to know more about it, you can always visit WebMD or Wiki or Google.