Trying to make sense of nonsense

That's what I'm trying to do alright.

On the first day of the year -- five days ago -- I developed what I thought was an allergic reaction to a Christmas present.  My little chickadee had given me a beautiful sweater (one that I had specifically requested) and I wore it to go out with John for New Year's Eve dinner.

I had the sweater on my body for about three hours, tops (it's a lovely turtle neck).

The next day, the front of my neck felt weird all day long. By that evening, when I was getting ready for bed, I examined my neck and noticed that there was almost a ring of what looked like very dry skin.  And it looked suspiciously like a response to the tightness of the turtle neck sweater I had worn the evening before.

I figured I must have reacted to something in the fabric and I just had to wash it before wearing it again.(There is nothing about the sweater that should have caused a problem for me.)  So, I washed the sweater and put it away to wait for my neck to sufficiently recover before testing it again.

Here we are three days later, I haven't had that sweater on again and my neck just keeps getting worse.

I was wakened during the night with a terrific burning sensation around the area. And now, what was a snake-skin-like band has become an angry rash.

Obviously, I'm reacting to something other than that sweater and the fact that I had worn the sweater was coincidental to the reaction developing.

So now, I'm left wondering what the heck is causing this?

The "rash" covers a much wider area than the "dry skin" portion of the phenomenon.

But it isn't itchy.

Not in the least.

It's just burning.

I feel like my neck is on fire.

One has to assume that perhaps one of the supplements I was put on back in mid-December could be the culprit (iron, Vitamin B-12, and folic acid).

My cursory research on the internet indicates that either B-12 or folic acid could in fact be the cause.

Now, I don't know why I was able to tolerate them for two weeks before deciding to react, other than the fact that I am a delayed responder.

I've put in a call to the Blood Services nurse who prescribed the regimen for me to discuss this with her.  We'll see what she has to offer.

Perhaps she'll be able to make sense of this nonsense.

In any event, Happy New Year to me!