Thursday, April 17, 2008

The sun loves me

Accutane makes your skin acutely sensitive to the sun. (Pun intended. I know it was horrible – laugh anyway.) I’ve learned this, over the course of the last couple of months, as my shoulders have been inflicted with tiny sun rashes. It’s too bad – I adore sunbathing, and San Diego is currently providing bountiful amounts of sunshine. I suppose this just goes to prove, however, that sun rays really are hard on the skin – and that I’ll still tan even while wearing SPF 70 sunblock.

Anyway – the point of this ramble is that I’ve developed a lovely little splotch right over my sternum, positioned just below the hollow of my throat. I’ve been getting “Is that a gigantic hickey on her chest?” looks all day long. >_< Trust me – if I were getting hickeys on my chest, I’d a) be wearing turtlenecks and b) shout from the mountaintops that I had someone giving me hickeys on my chest, not making up excuses about why I have hickeys on my chest. Alas, the only action I’ve been getting is sun rash. So sexy.

The medication also rates your cholesterol and fat levels alarmingly high; when I went in for blood tests prior to starting Accutane, my cholesterol and fat were perfectly normal; now, they're abnormal and high, respectively. In response, I've gone paranoid and started myself on an extremely low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, which consists mainly of: vegetables; whole grains; Special K cereal; egg whites, since they're basically limitless; fruits; rice crackers; sorbet, since I need my sweets; lots of water; nonfat dairy products (or as low-fat as possible); and so forth. You get the picture. I've removed the staples that factored so largely in my ordinary diet - meat, cheese, fat.

I might lower my cholesterol - but I may also die. I've also prescribed myself exercise, to work on the fat - but again, this may kill me.

Wish me luck.

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