I'm 27 and work at a well-known italian restaurant. For a little under a year now,
almost every time I have a busy shift and sweat on my forehead, I get these symptoms within 1 1/2 to 2 hours of being there, in this order:
Note: Some of these symptoms may not be significant at all, but I'm going to be excruciatingly detailed anyway.
1) A mild, patchy numbness + prickling sensation on my forehead.
2) A rapidly spreading rash that starts right at the hairline (doesn't go beyond the hair - I've looked), and goes down towards my eyebrows. It's much more intense on the top part, and gets "spottier" as it continues down.
--If I wash my forehead and apply any kind of pressure with my hands in the process, the spots go away for a brief period - like 30 seconds - and then come right back. Washing really doesn't seem to do anything immediate, but I do "feel" a little better when I do it. I use cold, cold water for this as it feels much more soothing than hot.
--At this point, even where there are not actual red spots, there tend to be very light (almost imperceptible) patches of red that trace my eyebrows. My eyebrows can also tend to itch a bit.
3) After the rash has gone into full swing, I usually notice the numbness, tingling itchiness, and even some nausea.
4) Perhaps the most important part - it all goes away, completely, within 30 minutes of leaving the restaurant. But it just gets worse and worse while I am there.
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All that being said, here are things I have considered.
A) This could be an allergy to something airborne at the restaurant, which seems to be triggered by heat and/or sweat. It could be some kind of allergy to soaps...with that in mind I have switched to all organic, no SLES, no SLS, no PARABEN products. Obviously it hasn't worked. Hell, it could even be the physiological changes that come with being "stressed," which leads me to B...
B) This could be a physical symptom of anxiety. Although I'm not an "anxious" person. I walk around laughing, joking, etc. I've worked in restaurants, as a server/bartender for over a decade and have never, ever, had anything like this happen, so that doesn't seem to make sense.
C) Coffee. Yes, no joke, I think coffee might be the enemy here. Check this out...as a test (I've done many to pin this damned thing down), I stopped drinking coffee for five days. In addition to feeling less hot while working, which I can only guess is due to the metabolic boost from caffeine and the side effect of it shrinking cappilaries, which in turn boosts blood pressure, which equates to greater friction in the body, and friction = heat.......you still with me? Anyway, I felt better, and the effects were _not_ as pronounced. However, one of my only sources of refined sugar comes from the creamer or sugar I put into my coffee. So, maybe that has something to do with it. Or the combination of the two. I really don't know.
One thing to note, which I think may have some kind of significance here, is that I also seem to have Fordyce spots. They are "harmless little spots" on the lips, or so I have read. However I think there may be some kind of relationship between them and the forehead. I can delve into that more later.
It all boils down to this: This condition is particularly debilitating to a restaurant worker, who has to deal with the public. No one wants the Toxic Avenger serving their food and drinks. So, I need a fix. Like NOW!
Edited by dudarino, 09 January 2010 - 12:22 AM.
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