Insanely itchy legs when skin is wet… Help.

[Bucksfar86]

Sorry if this is in the wrong thread…

Since having my first daughter in 2020, whenever I have a bath or shower, swim, apply creams, sweat.. basically anything that means my legs are in contact with anything wet they become instantly insanely itchy and it can last for over an hour at times.

I was able to keep it at bay with anti itch creams and just manage the last 4 years …
It stopped during my pregnancy last year however once my baby came in January it’s came back with a vengence!
Now, nothing helps atall, I’ve tried cooler temperature water, topical anti itching creams, applying moisturiser when my skin is still wet, anti histamines, sensitive shower gels.. EVERYTHING.

it starts as a tingling sensation then turns into itching and then becomes quite a painful itch with a sort of burning sensation.
Once my skin is dry again the itching can continue for a good hour!

Saw a DR recently who seemed shocked that the itching stopped during pregnancy as apparently itching can worsen during that time, he ordered blood test to rule out problems with my liver or kidneys, but they’ve all came back as normal?!

I just don’t know what to do, I need to wash but don’t want too because of the aftermath, I’m over weight after having my baby and struggling to lose weight as when I sweat it happens and I’m just at my whits end, it seems to be taking over my life.
I have to dedicate nearly two hours at a time just to wash - which isn’t easy with a 4YO and 4 month old.

It’s usually only my legs but past few weeks the tops of my arms have been beginning to start itching a lot too!

Has anyone else got any experience with this?

Following for any suggestions as my husband has this, mostly just his legs and ankles but his scalp does the same thing after bathing - I’m sorry you’re suffering with it too it looks so painful and frustrating, it wakes him up most nights.

Anyone?? 😔

I don’t have exactly that, but I get similar when I’m walking sometimes - especially when it’s windy. I also had the blood tests and nothing major wrong, and was told it was “on of those things”!

For me, it seems to be where there is a difference in temperature between my skin surface and immediately under my skin (so skin cooled by the wind, under the skin warmed because of increased blood flow from exercise).

I deal with it by having working out which trousers help to manage the temperature and stop the wind - in winter I’ll wear fleece lined leggings.

Have you tried thinking about temperature differences - for example warming the cream in your hands before putting it on, rinsing under cooler water after a shower, etc?

It could be excess histamine. My daughter gets this with Mast cell activation syndrome. Look at www.mastcellaction.org

She has very high doses of antihistamines, a low histamine diet and other mast cell stabilisers...but she has lots of symptoms, the itching is one. You have to have symptoms in different body systems for it to be MCAS ..eg gut and skin.

Excess histamine can definitely cause itching. There's an interesting theory of called the bucket theory where you can only tolerate a certain amount of histamine before getting symptoms. We produce histamine as well as being exposed to it in various places like food and environment.

Water is a known MCAS trigger...it triggers my sons symptoms every time...rain, sweat, showers etc

as a child I used to get this when swimming. I can remember sitting on the side of the pool crying and scratching my legs until they bled. As an adult I discovered I had a gluten sensitivity and cut out gluten, but if I eat gluten now, I get really itchy legs particularly in the shower.

My son has aqua urticaria, he itches like hell after water contact, hives appear all over. This started at age 11 and he still has it at nearly 40.
He could honestly say as a teenager that he was allergic to water!

This is really interesting!
something I’ll definitely have a look into.
Thankyou!

This is exactly what I end up doing most days, just constantly itching and crying because it’s so intense!
Will look at adjusting my diet to removing gluten and see if that works.
out of interest how did you know it was gluten? Did you do any allergy tests?

I have tried different temperatures of water whilst washing and it doesn’t seem to make any difference.
Just fed up of blood tests coming back normal and being fobbed off as one of those things.
it seems to silly when you say it out loud. As it’s just itchy skin, but in reality it’s taking over my life.

@Bucksfar86i started getting bad eczema in my early 20s, having never had it before. I excluded things like soaps and make up products and it made no difference so I thought it could be dietary. Excluded gluten and eczema cleared up. In hindsight I’d also had symptoms like lots of mouth ulcers, itching, bloating which all come back if I eat gluten now. Didn’t have any tests as I would’ve needed to start eating gluten again for a celiac test and allergy testing is a bit hit or miss, it might not be an allergy but it definitely disagrees with me. I feel so much better without eating it

Also following.

I have a similar issue but not sure what the trigger is, maybe heat/sweat. It started years ago and when I went to the doctors she said it was stress related and told me to go on some wellbeing apps and that was it. I kept suffering with night itches (which pretty much affect everywhere apart from my feet, elbows and hands) until a friend mentioned that she had forgot to take an allergy tablet one day and her face was all blotchy. My face does get blotchy when I am stressed, but the itching is just at night. When she said this I thought I would try taking allergy tablets, and that's what I have been doing for years. If i miss a tablet the itch comes back.

This past week whilst its been hot, I have had incredibly itchy legs during the day as well as night, they have got so bad that I have ended up scratching them and drawing blood. I have taken two allergy tablets during the day and applied E45 itch relief cream and its not helped. I also put a cold pack on the parts that were itching that did help but only whilst the packs where in place, once I took them off they were itchy again.

I use cruelty free eco products so everything I use is really mild.

I've got an appointment with a nurse tomorrow morning so fingers crossed I can get a blood test/allergy test or something!

Do you live in a hard or soft water area?

After reading a few of these comments I personally have put it down to potentially a gluten intolerance or aquagenic pruritus as i have other symptoms that fall under them both. I have a GP appointment again on Thursday as all my bloods came back ‘normal’ so hoping for some answers.
But after posting this thread I am now armed with a bit more information and ideas to out to the GP, which has been very helpful!
At the moment nothing over the counter is working like yourself , so hopefully they can give me some antihistamines or creams that are stronger. Good luck for tomorrow!

@MooseBeTimeForSnowSoft water apparently, however it’s not just the water that is making me itch :/
It’s Definitley when I get the worst itching but it seems to happen whenever my skin is wet like sweat; damp washing, if I’ve sprayed something and it happens to land on my clothing and seaps through to and touches my skin.. literally anything liquids unfortunately.

I feel for you. I had something similar and it’s brutal. I’d had itching after showers but after my first baby it went into overdrive. In my case I’d developed an allergy to detergents, both some ingredients in shampoos but also to washing detergents etc. especially coconut derivatives. I use Dermol 500 as a soap substitute and I switched to Persil non-bio washing liquid, used a lot less than before, and added a quick rinse wash with white vinegar to remove the detergent afterwards from clothes towels and bedding. I swapped to using simple shampoo as both shampoo and body wash or pure olive oil soap and take short showers rather than long baths. Sensitive skin breaks down if it gets too wet and it allows irritants in. It was a long period of trial and error to find out what was going on. There’s so many ingredients in everything now. However, following all this I don’t itch anymore and it’s amazing.

I get this. No one ever understands. My legs and ankles particularly itch and it's horrific.

It really is and it sounds so silly when I say it out loud but it’s taking over my life.
I absolutley dread getting washed and have a horrible anxiety over it all the time.
The last two weeks it’s spread to my upper arms and shoulders, I’m at my Whitt's end!

My son has this aquagenic urticaria. His appeared at puberty. He's 24 now.

Well I have learnt something new there- I didn’t know food contained histamine!
thank you.

I’ve tried changing so many things and nothing seems to make any difference.
It started after my first baby, but was manageable, completely stopped during my second pregnancy (I practically lived in the bath with horrendous Pelvic girdle pain) but since my baby was born in January it’s came back with a vengeance and just can’t seem to get any control over it.

As a long term skin sufferer can I suggest when something itches replace the itch with pain. It really does help you not to scratch to damage. Just slap the fucker. It takes away the itch.

This is obviously just an idea until you find something that works that sorts the issue.

I reached a similar point with changing things constantly but I twigged it had to be something that was in everything I was using. The sls in shampoos etc was irritating my skin and the coco-betaine I was allergic to was doing all the damage and causing the itching. I’m now SLS free as much as possible but also have to avoid natural alternatives as they’re coconut based. I had a complete stop to give my skin a break as much as possible. I bathed in bath salts or bleach baths (following eczema protocols). My hair was a wreck too while I figured out what I could use. On the lay dart side, using the minimum amount of non bio and not using fabric conditioners really helped. The clothes don’t smell as nice as they used to but my skin is saves. I really hope you find your answer. I’ve got a fair few health issues but that constant agonising itching was one of the worst things I’ve been through.

Same here, hands, upper arms, fingers and even the palms, so very weird. I’ve tried antihistamine cream, E45 anti itch cream so far, nothing’s worked 🙄

Gosh OP that sounds really miserable 😖

I have lifelong eczema and know how itching can be absolute torture.

Aquagenic pruritus sounds possible, but what do you do about it?!

A game changer for my very dry atopic skin was using Aveeno body wash and creams. They've improved things a lot for me by preserving/improving the skin barrier. I can literally feel the difference when I shower. I only mention this in case doing something similar for your skin might be useful to try, along with other approaches.

Good luck getting a diagnosis and finding something that works.

I get this if I shave my legs in the shower. That also was affected by pregnancy hormones (but can’t remember which way round). I definitely think it’s mast cell related. A friend also had this just from showering etc. try a mast cell stabiliser like quercetin and see if that helps. Also I presume you’ve tried different antihistamines? Avoid cetirizine as I had withdrawal itching with that one. It’s a common side effect.