After our day at the beach, Lucas brought home a not-so-fun souvenir: major sunburn on his shoulders and back. Eeek! As soon as he got home from work, we went into "relief" mode. He says it felt like someone was stabbing him with pins and needles over and over and over....the worst sunburn he's ever had! (note to mom--he has learned his lesson. there will be no more excursions in the sun without sunscreen everywhere!). First we tried a benzocaine spray. Immeadiately following application, Lucas doubled over in pain and began pacing around the house mumbling incoherently about the pain, the pain. It was awful to watch. Apparently, the spray had the opposite affect--it irritated the skin instead of soothing it. We turned to the internet for help. First up--vinegar. This made Lucas smell like salad dressing, but did not help the burning. He then jumped into a cold bath. Relief came briefly, but wore off after a few minutes. Next: yogurt mixed with lavender essential oil. While this was going on, he said it felt much better. As soon as I finished, the pain returned. Then, in my attempt to remove the oil, I wiped a washcloth across his back resulting in excruciating pain from the friction of the cloth across the burn. Yikes. At this point, Lucas was on the floor with his head in his hands, rocking back and forth. We decided to try ice. Immediate relief was found by holding ice directly on the skin (presumably, because we were numbing it). However, as soon as the skin warmed back up, the pins and needles returned. So, we rigged up the ice get-up below. Every few minutes, I rubbed another ice cube directly on the skin. He kept asking for this for so long that I thought I was going to give him frostbite on top of the burn. That would be fun, huh? Eventually, the pain subsided enough that he could get up and move around. He had quite a time getting to sleep, though. We are hopeful that yesterday was the worst of the pain. It was not fun, and I encourage everyone of you to wear your sunscreen this summer! We were only out there 2 hours...can't imagine if it had been all day....yuck.
Now for the fun part---aren't these 2 quite a pair?
Lucas, attempting to turn the page of the magazine with his teeth....
Lincoln, attempting to eat the stacking ring with his gums....Too funny!
We feel really bad but that was REALLY FUNNY. Asprin is said to stop the burn so you should take it as soon as you realize that you have gotten burned. Not that you need this advice as I doubt either of you will get a sunburn ever again:)
ReplyDeleteFather and Son look alikes!
ReplyDeleteI would assume that anyone his age would know to take along the sunscreen. You might have him try taking benadryl. You use to be able to buy a spray at the drugstore or Walmart but I don't know if you can still buy it or not.
I recommend Noxezema for sunburn. Works really good.
ReplyDeleteThanks all, for the advice for remedies! Sam, I am sure if this happens again, Lucas would not only take the aspirin, he would also rub the tablets onto the burn if he thought that would help.
ReplyDeleteCommenter #2--we tried the spray, but it made the pain much much worse, for some reason. Also, I should have pointed out that he was wearing sunscreen everywhere else, which is how he only managed to get burned on his back and shoulders. He wasn't planning to take his shirt off, so didn't put sunscreen where the shirt was. Oops!
I just think your pictures are hilarious. How is the burn today?
ReplyDeleteMy husband gets burnt incredibly easily, too, so i'm going to remember these remedies the next time it happens to him!
Ouch!
ReplyDeleteNext time try pure aloe gel straight from thre fridge.
I'm super pale and burn any time I'm stupid enough to play in the sun.
By the way, it wasn't just a sunburn. I've had those before and they didn't hurt like this. The pain wasn't a burning pain, but it felt like 50 people had needles are were jabbing them into my flesh all around my back and shoulders. Like Kelly said, the spray made it 10 times worse. Course rags made it 100 times worse. Ice was the only thing that seemed to help at all. And I took 6 ibuprofen tablets. I was about to take some vicodin or oxycontin from my knee surgery, but I had to wait until the 1200 mg of advil wore off. By then, the ice had helped enough.
ReplyDeleteNow, it's back to a normal sunburn that's sensitive with a little burning feeling. Don't know what was going on Tuesday night, but that was like the Devil's Sunburn.
LUCAS WARD!!!!! This is your mother-in-law who had part of her nose removed and a skin graph attached because of skin cancer/sun damamge...and who has had plastic surgery to realine her lips because of surgery to remove cancer/sun damaged skin above her lips...and who sees a dermatologist every 6 months to be checked for skin cancer.....don't make me come down there!!! I wear sunscreens with spf of 45- 70 and I expect nothing less from those I love.
ReplyDeleteNow on a softer note, the aloe works very good and rubbing a used tea bag over the area can also relieve the discomfort. It is also possible that you were having an allergy attack. People can react in many ways to sun burn. Wear your sunblock...it would really make this old lady happy :]