Sunburn Remedies: Day 1

Today, I went on a trip to the beach. It was great, except for a pesky sunburn on my stomach. I'll spare the photographic evidence and the story of my pink stomach, but just image sitting through a concert with a searing pain in your abdomen. I can't go back in time and re apply on my midriff, but I 'm sharing my diary of this week's sunburn remedies.

DAY 1: FEELING THE (SUN)BURN 
About four hours after the beach, the pain set in. What I first attributed to an irritation too-tight pants was eventually revealed to be sunburn.

ANGEL enjoying an alt. dimension where he can't 
be burned by the sun. Image from Mythcreants blog. 

PAIN LEVEL: (1-5 Scale)
This is a 5-alarm issue.
When the pain from a sunburn is so bad and you have to change your clothes, it's as severe as it can get. I even had to cushion my the lap part of my seat belt for the drive home.

Remedy 1: Drinking Water

-Sunburn usually makes me overly warm and sweaty (thanks to inflammation). I took a fresh bottle of ice cold H20 to help replenish foods in my body during the concert. This definitely prevented me from further hydration, so I consider it a win. 

Remedy 2: Loose Fitting Clothing

Once I ruled out stomach pain, I decided I had to get my stomach free of any restrictive fabric. This meant buying an oversized concert t-shirt so my pants could be open across my stomach. This helped a lot!

Remedy 3: Aloe

I grabbed some chilled aloe out of my fridge at home and slathered it on my stomach for an instant cooling sensation. The relief is temporary, but always appreciated. 

Remedy 4: Advil

Since sunburn is an inflammatory body response, I took an anti-inflammatory before bed. I think this helped take a little of the heat off my sensitive stomach because I fell asleep (on my back) almost instantly.

Remedy 5: Modify My Seat Belt
This pain is so intense, I had to use my shoulder strap for my seat belt and wrap it around my lap to keep the belt off of my stomach!