a character who thinks they have sun allergy

  When I was younger, most of the kids my age and I did not have access to electronic devices or any other fancy video games that could preoccupy our minds. I spent a lot of time outdoor engaging with other kids, may it be, chatting, playing hide and seek, and even eating with one another. 

  The Caribbeans are familiar with hot, stingy weather almost year-long. However, summer always brings its little touch and spice to the temperature that my skin couldn’t tolerate. During summer vacation, schools shut its door and I have enough time to enjoy the sun that I started to understand the allergic reaction that my skin shows when I am exposed for too long under the hot weather. 

      Unfortunately, my young mind couldn’t give up riding a bicycle and other physical activities that I enjoyed. Activities such as, playing hide and seek jumping ropes or other outdoor games that kids played.

   My mind did enjoy the beautiful bright sun, but my body did and still does the contrary. When I woke up, as soon as I took a shower and had breakfast, riding my bicycle was the next thing to do. It was the activity that was highlighted and written in bold in the schedule I had in my head. This is to say how much I enjoyed riding a bicycle. Summer vacation is the time I had to do just that for most of the day; it was like a full-time job with no pay except the reward of doing a physical activity that was beneficial to the heart but works at my skin’s disadvantage.

      During those times in summer vacation, I would also go to the marketplace with my mother. The marketplace is not a closed building with air conditioning; it was the place where all merchants sit outdoor with an umbrella over their heads to protect them from the sun. There was no place for customers to go under a shade or a place to take a rest in case some people were tired of standing. This was a serious workout that most customers did not take into account.

     After I would spend some time riding my bicycle in the neighboring area. When stop riding a bicycle for the day, my body would start to burn, itch and blister from all the hours I spent under the sun’s rays. My skin was burning so bad that it was driving me crazy, itching and small itchy bumps would surface as well. To help soothe my pain, my mother uses lotions such as Calamine to spread all over my body, or she would use treatment where she applied corn starch with drinking white alcohol over my skin. It did work.

   As I grew older, I did not practice riding a bicycle as much or exposed myself to other types of kids game such a playing hide and seek that would cause my body temperature to go up, However, I still felt my allergic reaction when I go shopping outdoor in the market place when I work out and start sweating my skin’s condition would resurface. I started to make some research to understand what was the name of such a condition and if there were any treatments. 

      I learned that it is called Urticaria or heat hives and that there wasn’t a definite treatment. The little blisters would appear in one area of the body, disappear, and then would reappear either the same day or another day in a different place on the skin. I Would also watch videos of other people explaining their discomfort from long exposure to the sun, and some of the therapy they followed was to exercise enough to sweat. Even though sweating itself would bring more itchiness to the skin but in the end, it will go away and help the skin.

I wanted to work out to stay healthy and lose some weight, but the challenge is the malaise that would come with such activity. Imagine the embarrassing it is if I am in a gym and that I start to work out and my skin starts to itch a couple of minutes after. I would start scratching my body every second in front of other people. This is not as a pleasant situation as one can imagine. I started to think what if I use a spray bottle so I could refresh my skin, I thought that I could put some pieces of ice and water in it and that if I decide to run outdoor, I would spray it over my skin and my skin would be refreshed as I the wind blows. I did try this method once but carrying a heavy bottle while running was a little annoying. 

   I couldn’t concentrate on running as I was carrying a bottle in my hand. I would also consider the idea of carrying the bottle to the gym and that I could spray myself as my body temperature go up. This plan was not a good one either, carrying a spray filled with small pieces of ice would cause water to drip outside the bottle on the floor, would dirty the floor, and causes the floor to be slippery for me or other people and the action of spraying also would cause drops of water to fall on the floor which is not good. I can imagine the staff of the gym rebuking me for dirtying the floor creating such hazards in the place.

   I was in Surinam a country with very hot weather. When my symptoms would surface, I would apply a medicated powder by Gold’s Bond. I would apply the powder to my hold body from head to toe resembling a ghost. After applying the powder it had a refreshing effect on my skin. It has mint in it as one of its ingredients that causes a refreshing feeling on my skin.

    I remember buying a car that had no Air conditioning when I was visiting my aunt in Florida. I was with my aunt in the car driving, and as I started to sweat and the blister would appear on my skin, I would show her so she could understand my allergic reaction to heat. She told me, when it itches, do not itch but just apply some Vaseline on your skin. And I have to say, I followed her advice and found a release with the itchy blisters after applying Vaseline. I started to carry Vaseline all the time every day and everywhere I go.

   When I try to see an allergist in French Guyana. She told me that it was a high level of histamine that could cause such discomfort. She would then prescribe me medications for the high level of histamines. There is still not a definite treatment or follow-up for people who are allergic to the sun like me. 

The only solution is to avoid sweating, which is difficult if one wants to work out to stay healthy or if the job that a person finds is working such as building constructions and working in kitchens. Taking multiple showers throughout the day can also help to depend on how high the temperature is.