Fucking perimenopause ITCHING

[DungareesTrombonesDinos]

Is anyone else itchy since being in perimenopause. Oh my god it is driving me round the bend I am itchy all over. I regularly get hives, my neck in particular always feels itchy and my scalp. I itched my leg so much last night I drew blood.

Will anything help? Antihistamines? Any world class creams I could try (obviously none fragrances as Im now coming out in hives with perfume grrrrrrrrr)

My ears. My ears are itchy all the time. It drives me crazy.

Yes, mainly on my arms and legs. It was awful. Only HRT stopped it.

I get an itchy back. Antihistamines is definitely worth a try.

Do you have any loss of appetite, enlarged lymph nodes, night sweats, slightly raised temperature? I had terrible itching that lasted about 6 months which I put down to peri. A year later I found out it was actually lymphoma, it was stage 4 by the time it was diagnosed (and that only happened because I went to the GP with a small lump, which was actually the tumour breaking through my sternum). I'm sure this isn't what's going on with you, but I always recount this when someone mentions itching just because you never know, and I do wish I'd been diagnosed earlier.

if you have no other symptoms and it really is peri, I'm sure others will be along with some suggestions. I tried an E45 anti itch cream, lots of moisturiser, very bland body washes with no sulphates in and keeping cool, only wearing natural fabrics, cutting out fabric conditioner. None of which worked for me, because as I now know the itchiness was lymphoma rather than peri.

My tummy and back at the moment. It’s driving me mad

Yes - itching driving me mad here too. I've switched to Aveeno products incl body moisturiser and that helps to a certain extent. Antihistamines didn't do anything for me. I'ts worse over the winter as your skin tends to be drier anyway.

On my arms, legs and back, HRT hasn’t had an impact. Really annoying at night.

Just out of interest where are one’s lymph nodes and would any markers for lymphoma show up on a full blood count?

My fucking ears. So so itchy

Is that what it is???! I’ve changed shampoo, washing powder, deodorant and still itching.

The ear itching is the worst! HRT has only slightly helped.

Anti histamines. Don't need fancy branded ones either. Generic loratadine and cetirizine are cheap and cheerful and work fine.

Also check your skin and slap on as much moisturizer as you can where you can reach.

Inside my ears and on my scalp. Antihistamines and HRT not budging it.

Armpits, it is awful. I still have a cycle and the itching happens in the second half.

Mine was all ‘down below’ luckily I’m 10 years past it now

Fexofenadine helped me a bit. Luckily my GP put it on a prescription for me as it's quite expensive otherwise. (Scotland here)

I have itchy arms and legs and back sometimes. I’ve learned that it comes on when I’m either really tired or cold. As soon as I start feeling itchy I sit down on my heating pad (if I’m at home). Once I’ve warmed up and rested about 5-10 minutes the crazy itching usually goes away. Also, I’ve switched from body lotion to baby oil. It feels “warmer” on my skin.

you'd probably notice lymph nodes in your neck or armpits but there are lots of others. In my case the problem was deep in my chest and I never had enlarged lymph nodes, or any symptoms other than the itching. Apparently that can be quite common and people often have lymphoma for a while before diagnosis.

When I went to the GP for the small lump on my chest he ordered a full blood count and pretty much everything was out of range - lymphoma is a blood cancer so it can throw a lot of things out of whack. But again, not always, and someone with lymphoma could have a pretty normal set of blood tests.

So many of the symptoms overlap with peri I find it hard to give advice: I was about to type if anyone has itching paired with fatigue, night sweats, feeling hot, generally feeling 'ill' it's worth checking with a GP. But honestly, that could be everyone!

I do think there is so much publicity about peri it's easy to put every symptom down to it though which can be dangerous - like I said, in my case I just thought 'oh, I'm sure it's just peri, all my friends have it' when on reflection I was only 42, my friends were older, and I really should have gone to the GP much earlier

I'm worried I'm going to send everyone on this thread off to the GP in a panic, so I'd better say I'm sure in all your cases you do in fact have peri itching and not cancer!

If anyone is genuinely worried here's a link with more info: https://lymphoma-action.org.uk/information-and-support/lymphoma-symptoms

Itchy ears here too. Fortunately I'm now at the tail end of peri (at 56), so the symptom is now only occasional (but more so at night for some reason). My legs and arms also used to itch, but that's all stopped now, hooray.

Oh my god, I have this! I hadnt realised it was a thing until the other day when I googled it. My hair is now curly too. And the random night sweats. Im over it and Im only 42.

I find using a hairbrush with soft bristles good to relieve without injury

I itch as soon as I get into bed.. even in a hotel. Bizarre.

Check your vit d levels

Vit d deficiency impacts immune reaction and causes increase in allergies and itching

One reason it might be worse in winter, not just because skin drier

And if you're deficient, you need more than the usual recommended daily dose, you need a loading dose to get your levels back up - under guidance of a gp, so book a blood test

God yes, the itching inside the ears, the scalp, a random patch on my back. I don't want to think about how long I spend every day applying creams and gels to deal with the effects of the fucking menopause.

Itchy mouth for me — drives me insane.