Three weeks into a brutal deadline stretch at work and the patches on the back of my hands are worse than they’ve been all year. I switched to a fragrance-free body wash six weeks ago and for the first couple weeks it actually seemed to help! Less redness, less of that tight feeling after showers. Then this crunch hit and we also switched laundry detergent around the same time (old one was on backorder), so now I honestly can’t tell what’s causing it.
I’ve also noticed my hands get worse specifically on days I’m typing for hours straight, cracked knuckles by the end of the day in a way weekend chores don’t cause. Three weeks of notebook entries, meals, sleep, when it flares, and I still can’t pick out a clear pattern, though I’m not totally sure I’m even tracking the right things.
Has anyone actually been able to tell a stress flare apart from a product reaction, or is that just not possible without eliminating one thing at a time?