Prizewinning lawsuit

Voov isn't that keen on walking yet. She can manage about two or three steps before swaying wildly and pitching forward or back. When in motion she resembles a drunken sailor. Naturally we want to see as much of this as possible. Bath time, and she's standing there buck naked as I coax her to walk to the tub. But she just stands there scratching at her side. I realize I'm doing the same thing--not the naked part, the scratching. We're quite the mirror image.

(Author takes break to give left elbow a good scratch.)

I was thinking about Perry Gottesfeld, the guy who sued the tar shampoo makers back in 2000 or so. He seems to have acted in good, if possibly misguided crusading faith in concern about public health--and his suit was apparently absorbed into one brought by the State of California. The result, of course, is that you can't buy tar shampoo in CA any more, and certain shampoo manufacturers have changed the active ingredient in their products. This despite the fact that the FDA has determined that the concentrations in shampoos pose no cancer risk.

For me, tar shampoo is the only option. The alternative is nonstop crusty itchiness. Can anyone else who uses tar shampoo imagine using a regular shampoo? Since I now have to plan my shampoo purchases online months in advance, and pay a delivery fee, I would like to present Perry Gottesfeld with a Mark Twain Steel Trap Award, on behalf of all those in California who suffer from eczema and psoriasis.

(Perry, this one's for you.)

Anyway, the point of this blog is that even tar shampoo is only a holding measure. We shouldn't be satisfied with the half-assed chronic eczema management that the medical establishment is dictating for us. Moisturize, use soap sparingly, use steroids to control flares (note: I'd been using steroids for a decade before anyone told me either about side effects or how to apply them properly), avoid triggers. Etc. And, for no good reason, you'll still wake up some morning having scratched the hell out of your hands or the inside of your elbows or whatever. There are better therapies out there to be discovered.

Next post I am going to announce another prizewinner. Stay tuned.

Root canals and wankers

This will be a short post, since I'm feeling the effects of having a root canal today. Nothing like a root canal to remind you of the difference between acute and chronic conditions. The anticipation is worse than what actually happens. OMG what's that drill attachment? That high-pitched whine! The weird smell! I'm sure he hasn't used enough anaesthetic! ...And then comes the bill, and three hours of a face that feels rubbery and inflated on one side.

Speaking of bills, I'm not sure eczema is an expensive condition to have, if you've got a choice. As an adult, I buy a couple tubes of steroids every few months, plus a regular supply of moisturizers and my favorite tar shampoo. There are more pricey afflictions out there. The real cost is in quality of life and self-esteem.

Tar shampoos-- I intend to spend a few posts on that topic. I live in California and someone here, a few years ago, sued companies that make tar shampoo because they didn't have a warning label on the bottles saying there was a remote chance you'd get skin cancer. (Skin cancer from weird organic chemicals is no fallacy-- chimney sweeps were prone to scrotal cancer caused by phenolic compounds in soot.) But in medicine the proof is in the dosage and the statistics and I believe in the hundred or so years that tar shampoos have been used, no studies have shown any correlation between usage and cancer of any sort.

Anyway this guy sued the company and won (not sure about the monetary settlement) and as a result no makers of tar shampoos will sell their products in California now. I remember buying tar shampoo in Santa Barbara in 1999 and now you can't find it anywhere-- I get it online.

The gentleman concerned-- as Mark Twain said,

"if I had his nuts in a steel trap, I would shut out all human succor and watch that trap until he died."