Autumn gold - and my problem!

Actually, I'm more of a sterling silver person than glowing gold.

And now, with my hair turning silvery grey as it grows out - or in - I know 

I'll probably be enjoying my silver earrings more than my gold!

 Both my wedding and diamond bands are gold and of course worn

 daily. . . . . . . and rarely removed.  Recently I started having a problem

 with these gold rings. A rash and tiny blisters appeared on that finger, 

itchy enough to drive me crazy!  I had a very difficult time removing my rings

 as my finger was swollen, plus my knuckle seemed larger. 

I thought perhaps I wasn't drying under my rings properly, or all that hand

 sanitizer we use now was causing an allergy. On hot days my rings felt too

 tight and I realized a trip to my jeweler was necessary.  

So, we decided to try sizing up both rings, a whole size for the wide band,

 half size for the diamond, which would enable me to dry under them properly

and remove them more easily.

No rings for a week. . . . . .a 'lost' feeling, so I wore my mother's wedding band, 

which fits me perfectly, on the couple of occasions I left the house!

My rings~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~My mother's ring

So, I've had my bright, shiny, cleaned and better fitting rings back for

 two weeks, carefully drying under them, even removing them sometimes.

During the night Friday intense itching of my ring finger woke me from a

 deep sleep and, by morning, the blisters were back with a vengeance!

A steroid ointment has almost cleared the rash again but on reading more

about 'jewelry allergies' I see that perhaps I'm allergic to nickel or another

alloy often added to gold, plus if the jeweler bonded the rings back together

 with gold solder whilst sizing, that could be the culprit now.

I'll be back at the jeweler's shop some time this week. There are coatings 

which can be applied but wear off in a few months and need to be repeated.

It's really a shock that after all these years I have an allergy - 

however I do recall my mother had jewelry allergies too!

Have you ever had a problem such as this?

Any tips would help - buying new rings, probably in platinum, is not a

 happy thought!