extremely annoying skin itch

Section_31

Section_31

Well-known member
So, ive got this wierd thing going on...

My whole life, ive had this. Basically, whenever i get out of a shower or bath, my skin will feel like its crawling, and itch like crazy for a good half an hour. It doesnt matter if the water temperature is hot, or cold, or if its soft or hard water. Whether its in a lake, or swimming pool. Ive gone to doctors, alergists, epidermists, ect. Nobody can find any cause or allergin. The only thing ive found that drums it down enough for me to be able to sit still is taking 1 or 2 benadryl, but that makes me high as a kite as well as REALLY sleepy. Not a long term option.

My dad said he had the same problem his whole life, and it stopped for him when he got a *gulp* vasectomy.....yea im not quite ready to go that route just yet.

But it sure is an annoying problem. Because of it i havnt set foot in a pool or lake in the summertime in at least 7+ yrs now.

Ive also tried different soaps, bathing products, it just doesnt seem to matter. Also, while its happening, i dont have any hives or anything going on, no marks of any kind, so if it IS an allergic reaction to somthing its extremely physically muted, just itchy!!!

Anyone else ever experience this?
 
Phoenixx

Phoenixx

Well-known member
That's really interesting. I was going to say that maybe it was just the minerals in the water you were reacting to, but I see that it doesn't make a difference where you came in contact with water. Is there a huge difference though after swimming in a pool than taking a shower? Like, do you experience more itching with one, but not the other?

I did some googling and found this Aquagenic pruritus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I'm not completely sure about this though, I think it's kind of rare. But perhaps you can bring it up with your doctor, or another dermatologist or something?

I apologize if I'm not of any help. Never really heard of this before.
 
Apersonalan

Apersonalan

Well-known member
It's likely to be a lack of Vitamin D if you don't get out much your skin can also feel the affects of not getting any ray light.
 
Section_31

Section_31

Well-known member
Phoenixx said:
That's really interesting. I was going to say that maybe it was just the minerals in the water you were reacting to, but I see that it doesn't make a difference where you came in contact with water. Is there a huge difference though after swimming in a pool than taking a shower? Like, do you experience more itching with one, but not the other?

I did some googling and found this Aquagenic pruritus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. I'm not completely sure about this though, I think it's kind of rare. But perhaps you can bring it up with your doctor, or another dermatologist or something?

I apologize if I'm not of any help. Never really heard of this before.
Click to expand...

Hey Pheonixx!!!,

that is EXACTLY me down to the letter, and i mean EXACTLY. Everything described there is exactly what happens to me.

Im printing that off and taking it to my doctor on monday. Im hoping this will help somehow!!!!!

Thanks hugely!
 
Section_31

Section_31

Well-known member
Patrick Hetic said:
It's likely to be a lack of Vitamin D if you don't get out much your skin can also feel the affects of not getting any ray light.
Click to expand...

Hey Patrick,

Ironically, i got tested for a vitamin D deficiency, and i actually am the opposite. I scored aroudn 250, where an average person with vitamin D in proper levels is aroudn 80. It was quite a suprise.
 
Phoenixx

Phoenixx

Well-known member
The Lone Gunman said:
Hey Pheonixx!!!,

that is EXACTLY me down to the letter, and i mean EXACTLY. Everything described there is exactly what happens to me.

Im printing that off and taking it to my doctor on monday. Im hoping this will help somehow!!!!!

Thanks hugely!
Click to expand...
^ Oh wow. Glad I could help! Hope you find some sort of treatment soon. :)
 
madmike

madmike

Well-known member
Hey Lone Gunman, I have the exact same problem and it's so odd that I found this thread just now, as today the problem's been particularly bad and I've been getting really depressed about it. I just spent the last half hour or so googling for solutions, with no luck as always, and eventually resorted myself to reading some SPW. It's nice to know there are some other people suffering from this (not in a horrible way of course).

Anyway, I've had it for about two/three years now, on and off. My dad also has it, but in his case it's much worse than for me (he's had a vasectomy as well actually). Its not just showering with hot water that sets it off for him, it's also the minimal physical effort (he had to swap his car for an automatic because he couldn't handle changing the gears as it would set off this horrible itching, which could be potentially deadly on the road). We've both managed to find ways to control the symptoms to some extent, but not to make them go away completely.

Now I'm not sure you have the exact same problem as me, although it does sound a lot like it, but essentially I think the problem is down to something in the pores getting clogged up due to a lack of sweating. Because as soon as I start to sweat, either from taking a hot shower or from exercising, it sets of the itch. But if i carry on exercising to the point getting a good sweat out it eventually goes away.

So basically, to relieve the symptom I've started jogging every morning, and whenever I do I will NEVER get the itch. My dad can't jog because of leg problems, so he swims from time to time and then takes a Sauna afterwards which he claimed to work wonders initially.

But the problem for me right now is that I don't always find the motivation to run every morning, and when I don't the itch comes back (worse than ever). It used that I only got it from time to time, but now if I'm not consistent with the exercise it's almost instant. And I believe in some ways it's gotten worse for my dad as well.

My dad's been to the GP about it, but because they couldn't determine what it was they actually blamed it on depression- and prescribed him anti-depressants. I really don't know how they made that link! Hopefully you'll have more luck with them!

Oh, and finally, I'm not sure where you live, but my itching only ever comes on in England- I spent about a year living in Morocco and not once did I get it, the problem was completely fixed (despite only exercising maybe twice a week, if that). I've read people posting on other websites that it may be down to a lack of humidity or something.

I thought this conditions most accurately described what I had 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthyosis_vulgaris'. I read the link for Aquagenic pruritus, but for me personally it's not restricted to showering only.

If you have any ways of dealing with the symptoms of the itching i would love to hear about it!
 
madmike

madmike

Well-known member
OK, so reading you initial post through a second time made me think it might not be the same thing after all :/

But it's still possible that it's related. Either way I hope you find some solutions, sorry for my enthusiasm with the previous post I guess I was just excited at the prospect of someone else being in the same boat!
 
Nanita

Nanita

Well-known member
Hey
I don´t have this problem, but I used to have itchy and dry skin once in a while.
I have studied ayurveda (traditional indian medicine) and I strongly recommend trying:

Olive oil or Jojoba oil on the whole body. I use regular olive oil everyday as moisturizer, it is great. As a face moisturizer I use jojoba oil.
I don´t feel like oil makes the skin too greasy - it feels just perfect.

Don´t use soap or shower gel containing soap, as soap dries out the skin. In stead, use soap free wash gel or soapfree soapbar, for instance from the brands Avéne or SebaMed.

As a soothing and softening wrap/treatment, put fluid honey on body and face, leave for 5-10 minutes and rinse off in the shower. I do this twice a week.
Honey is antibacterial and softening.
Even more soothing and cooling; add yogurt to the honey treatment.

Good luck
 
Last edited:
kilojoule

kilojoule

1
madmike said:
OK, so reading you initial post through a second time made me think it might not be the same thing after all :/

But it's still possible that it's related. Either way I hope you find some solutions, sorry for my enthusiasm with the previous post I guess I was just excited at the prospect of someone else being in the same boat!
Click to expand...

If you're not particularily bothered with the source of itch but you just want to kill it there are a couple thing s you can do.
You're in the uk right so you can get zirtec over the counter one a day, they're non drowsy. For really bad days take a piriton but try not to too often as u can get immune to them and need more and more and they are drowsy.
Secondly. Get rid of all your shower gels and just use silcocks base,its available from any chemist and it's really cheap. Once your itch is controlled you can use a bar of simple soap. Dont go back to shower gels.

Otherwise you need to get a gp referral to a dermatologist. If there's any hives or rashes get it checked out.
 
Section_31

Section_31

Well-known member
Jewel said:
If you're not particularily bothered with the source of itch but you just want to kill it there are a couple thing s you can do.
You're in the uk right so you can get zirtec over the counter one a day, they're non drowsy. For really bad days take a piriton but try not to too often as u can get immune to them and need more and more and they are drowsy.
Secondly. Get rid of all your shower gels and just use silcocks base,its available from any chemist and it's really cheap. Once your itch is controlled you can use a bar of simple soap. Dont go back to shower gels.

Otherwise you need to get a gp referral to a dermatologist. If there's any hives or rashes get it checked out.
Click to expand...

Nope, not in the UK, in canada :).

I have an appt on monday with my doctor regarding this. we'll see how it goes.
 
kilojoule

kilojoule

1
Haha no I meant that for mad mike i sent you an email separately re what you said in your original post :) glad u hav an apt lined up
 
madmike

madmike

Well-known member
Thanks Jewel, I've not heard of zirtec before but I'll look into it. I'm not really into pharmaceuticals and always try to find other solutions first, but when I wrote that post the itching was so agonizing, it's nice to know that there's something out there in case it gets that bad again. I've read about the soap thing as well and have stopped using solid soaps, and only use liquid soap where totally necessary haha. I assume you had an itch too then, did you ever find the source to this problem/did it go away?
 
kilojoule

kilojoule

1
madmike said:
Thanks Jewel, I've not heard of zirtec before but I'll look into it. I'm not really into pharmaceuticals and always try to find other solutions first, but when I wrote that post the itching was so agonizing, it's nice to know that there's something out there in case it gets that bad again. I've read about the soap thing as well and have stopped using solid soaps, and only use liquid soap where totally necessary haha. I assume you had an itch too then, did you ever find the source to this problem/did it go away?
Click to expand...

Oh the zirtec is great one of these new modern antihistamines- non drowsy does cost a bit more though :eek:.... a lot more but its worth it. I generally dont use soaps at all these days or shower gels. The 'simple' bars are soap alternatives, you can get them in tesco theyre widely available and theres no price difference highly recommend them (I now tell everyone to swap over and all my friends agree they just dont dry out your skin like soaps and shower gels-simple should pay me a salary) . That itch can drive you mad!!! I know all about it. There are lots of different reasons for it. Moisture does seem to be a big factor. Between the simple soap and the silcocks base the itch could become a thing of the past.


For me it turned out to be a skin condition due to immune disorder but thats unusual. Plus there were other more worrying symptoms.when my condition is controlled, my skin is fine but when my system flairs I want to rip my skin off. The itch itself is harmless but
annoying as hell. It can go away but the stuff above certainly helped me with it. Especially in the beginning, just using the silcocks base as a soap in the shower really helped! :)
 
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