I learned last week that I am allergic to tea tree oil. It has been a painful lesson.

It started with a case of athlete's foot. I treated it, early on, with the usual poisonous spray, which gives me a metallic taste in my mouth when I spray it on my feet. That, for me, makes the poison of suspect health value. So, resorting to the hippy methods, I turned to tea tree oil, which is a natural antifungal agent. The Athlete's foot seemed to get worse. More tea tree oil, slathered on the feet after washing with tea tree soap. Itching intensifies. Small blisters appear. More tea tree oil.

After another day, the symptoms start to look more like poison ivy than athlete's foot. A google image search quickly confirms a diagnosis of allergic contact dermatitis. More googling implicates the tea tree oil. My injuries are entirely self inflicted. I considered taking photographs and posting them on Flickr. But it is disgusting ad extremis (kindly pardon the pun).

So now I pad about on a cushion of blisters oosing honey colored pus, rendering the three-day week-end most unsuitable for hiking. On the upside, there are no signs of athlete's foot.