So yesterday was the day that I officially gave up on my wedding ring.
To make a long story short, I'm kind of a gimp with respect to metals. Back when I was a teen I started reacting to things. Eyeglasses that wore down to the metal caused a reaction. Rings and cheap jewelery started making my skin peel and blister. To be honest it wasn't a big deal because I don't usually wear ornamentation beyond my silver cross.
2-3 years back I started developing an awful blister across my chest between my belly button and my waist line. As stupid as it seems in retrospect I had it in the back of my head that it could be some kind of contagious STD. The doctor just about literally laughed me out of the office as he pointed out that it was the exact shape as my belt buckle.
I was able to buy another year on wearing belts by painting my belt buckles with clear nail polish but eventually that stops working. My sensitivity gets worse and worse as the years go on. I sincerely expect that I am eventually going to have to give up zippers and button flies unless they are made from surgical steel or silver.
Anyways, my wedding ring was a tungsten carbide ring. When I first started reacting to it a week or so in I figured it was probably a coating on the ring - gave it a scrub and switched fingers and it was OK. I made it another 3-4 weeks before I really started reacting to it. I tried at end of last week to switch fingers to see how quickly I react - within 24 hours I literally have a 5-7 mm hole through my flesh. I tried to hang it around my neck with my silver cross as a last ditch effort to see if I could buy myself time until the wedding but overnight my upper chest turned bright red and peeling in a semicircle defined by the locus point of the ring. Keep in mind that tungsten carbide is extremely hypoallergenic. Most of the jewelery stores in town are gobsmacked that I can react to it at all - it's unheard of.
Anyways, so the ring sits at home unattended and I suppose after the wedding I'll have to figure out a replacement. Stupid metal sensitive body :p
2 comments:
I porpose one of two possibilities:
1. You've been ripped off. Is your ring truly 100% tungsten carbide?
2. It's a sign.
I guess you'll have to get yourself a silver ring. Don't fret, though. It'll have the added benefit of keeping vampires at bay.
Per above I wear a silver cross which I think covers me off on the vampire end of things ;)
We can discuss with Dave at the wedding (Dave is a jeweler by trade) but I'm pretty sure it's straight up tungsten carbide. There's not much you can mix it with as I understand the manufacturing process.
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