The wonders of herbal remedies!

     Today I experimented with a little bit of "herbal self medicating" :). My dilemma started the day before yesterday... When I woke up with a small rash on my left arm. At first I thought maybe I brushed up against something and it was slight irritation. But it started to get itchy, and well... I've always been one to scratch an itch. It wasn't a bit... There were no puncture wounds... No visible scrapes or scratches (Yet). I ignored it thinking that maybe it would go away on it's own.
     I woke yesterday morning with an even larger irritation area, hard to the touch... And on one end of the irritation there was a faint little scratch! All at once It came to me what the irritation was... And why it got so much larger so quickly (not that scratching helped :/). My kitten must have accidentally swiped me with one of his claws as he was jumping off of me. The scratch was so faint! I mean it didn't show up till more then 24 hours after it was made!
     And just to catch you up really quick... I have a moderate allergy to felines. I have my kitten, Brownie, but I keep him brushed to reduce shedding, and I wipe him down with "hypoallergenic, shed control" cat wipes at least twice a week to reduce and pretty much eliminate sneezing. If he licks me... I get an itch... irritation comes from a scratch ... It's never gotten this big though...
     First thing I did upon getting up and discovering my tomato red arm, was take a couple benadryl, and apply on an antihistamine spray for what appears to be a rash forming! Antihistamines...ATTACK!!!
     I waited all day... But the allergy seemed to be crawling towards broader seas, if you know what I mean. Then I remembered that chamomile had antihistamine properties. But since I don't have access to a plant to make a truly natural herbal tincture, my second choice was to depend on good old processed tea bags. Luckily, I had a stash of chamomile tea bags that actually had just chamomile in it! For some reason some companies claim that the tea is just of one herb... But if you look at the ingredients you find five other herbs listed too...

      The first thing I did was simply drink a cup of tea... Made it strong... Soaked two bags in one cup for ten minutes and drank it. And when I took out the bags and expunged the excess water, I ran the tea bags over the irritated area of my arm and left the area wet for a few minutes before drying it off. I was surprised at how quickly the itching went away... But the rash remained throughout day two...
     So now we are down to today! Day three with a deadly rash on my arm... The itching managed to stay away until I woke up today! But I figured I didn't give the chamomile enough time to soak. Into the skin to actually do anything other then get rid of the itch of the rash... Maybe I need to let it soak longer... Or better yet... Maybe I need to have the chamomile directly on the skin. I did two applications, one in the morning, and one in the evening. So this was my process:
(Please note that to some with sensitive skin, this might actually irritate the skin further, so if skin becomes more irritated after applying, do not continue this remedy.)

   1. soak 2 tea bags of chamomile in one cup of hot water for ten minutes, then take out tea bags and expunge excess water.
   2. Rip open tea bags and apply chamomile directly onto the entire affected area.

   3. Soak a towel or even a paper towel, in the chamomile tea water and place over the area with chamomile yo keep it moist with the tea water.

   4. leave the application on for 15 minutes, occasionally re soaking towel with tea water to keep moist. It is normal to feel a cool tingling sensation, that means it's doing it's job.
   5. Take off application, but don't rinse it off. Simply dry it off.

Before application:

After first application:

After second application:
 

The wonders of herbal remedies! I suffered with this massive allergic reaction for 2 whole days before today! And after two fifteen minute applications, about 7 hours apart, I am getting results that not even oral medication and an antihistamine spray could fix! All I need is one more application before bedtime today, and this monstrosity will be gone by tomorrow. :)