To ask if anyone has advice about an itchy head/neck (with pic)

[LadyLaSnack]

Any advice hugely appreciated. This itch is driving me absolutely wild.

I've had a very itchy head and neck, covered with little hard bumps since just before Christmas (7 months). I was in the process of being referred to dermatology before the pandemic meant that my appointment was cancelled.

Symptoms:

Incessant itch on head and neck + sometimes outsides of ears (nowhere else)
Hard sore/itchy bumps under skin
Bad all the time, but gets even worse at night (usually when I wake up very hot and scratchy - maybe very slight temporary improvement after morning shower)
No dandruff or flakes or grease (condition of hair is fine)
No hairloss so far (though all this scratching can't be good)

Things I have tried which haven't worked:

Being checked for nits:
GP has checked, husband has checked + it's been 6 months and have seen no trace of nits on myself/bedding/kids etc.

Antihistamines (Fexofenadine Hydrochloride):
I take one daily in the morning prescribed by GP for this problem.
These help a bit, but the itch never goes away, and comes back with a vengeance overnight (maybe when drug leaves my system or maybe when I get hot when I'm asleep)

Not washing hair with shampoo (just water):
Managed a week of this, but the itch was no better (might even have felt worse due to the greasy hair factor)

Apple cider vinegar:
Have tried both rinsing with this, and leaving it in. After the initial sting, my head wasn't itchy whist the vinegar was in my hair!! Relief!! But as soon as I rinsed it out the itch returned - tried a few days of this.

Other products I have tried which don't help (each tried for a minimum of a few days in a row):

T-Gel Shampoo
Alphosyl Shampoo
Pine Tar Shampoo
Dermol-500 (ecsema cream which can be used as shampoo)
Aveeno Shampoo
Johnsons Baby Shampoo
Little Goat Shampoo bar (with Neem)
Poo-Free Shampoo (with Tea-tree, apple cider vinegar + aloe)
Moo-Go Shampoo

I'm not generally a person who suffers from allergies except with insect bites I often get a reaction (huge half-orange sized bumps with mosquitoes).

In case it's relevant - the itching started during a particularly stressful time at work (but not sure it's related to this).

Has anyone had anything like this who can offer any advice. I'm losing the ability to be upbeat about it and although it's not terribly painful, just the incessant itch + scratching + worry about hairloss is becoming completely miserable, plus I think all my colleagues now think I have nits as I'm scratching my way through long daily zoom meetings.

Pic of my neck here - my the bumps on my scalp feel the same as the ones on my neck.

Thanks for reading.

Scratch scratch

I second trying an anti fungal on it. Canestan- for outside skin not internal use- liberally rubbed into the scalp and neck at night. Put a clean cotton towel over your pillow case to protect it. Wash it off with SLS free shampoo in the morning. Dry you hair with a hair dryer straight after washing as fungus likes the damp. If it’s anything fungal doing that for a week or two solidly should improve it. If it doesn’t then you can at least rule out fungal causes.

You haven’t mentioned hair dye and I can’t tell if you dye your hair from the picture. Could that be a potential allergen?

Hair dye?

How familiar are you with nits, OP? I might be way off base but I’ve had this set of symptoms down to the lumps on neck (and behind ears, for me) and it turned out to be nits, one of our first run-ins and before I knew that “check” meant do a thorough nit-comb through. Checking by eye really isn’t enough as they are tricksy blighters!

I spent months trying different shampoos and through process of elimination worked out that I'm allergic to cocamidopropyl betaine, which is in almost all shampoos, including aveeno, baby shampoos etc
It caused the same reaction as when I've had headlice, and has caused me no end of problems as I'm a teacher so I kept thinking I had them!
E45 shampoo is one of the very few shampoos that doesn't contain it. Could be worth a try.

Possible food allergy? Perhaps keep a food diary.

Also is there any possibility that dermatology appointments are being done by video call?

Head Massager

This has been helpful. Buildup can be really itchy.

Hiya everyone. And thanks so much for your replies, and for taking the time to do that.

I have tried the food diary - there was no pattern, but then I didn't try anything big like cutting out sugar. Maybe that's the next step.

I don't think it's nits or anything fungal - with nits, aside from being checked a few time, I can't imagine that no one else in the household would have caught anything. I've got two small children and I just can't see that no-one else would have caught anything if I was infested (plus no signs of anything anywhere even with all that scratching). I have tried fungal creams on my neck, and the leave-in apple cider vinegar treatment in my hair for a couple of hours over a few days (which is meant to kill anything bacterial or fungal) without improvement.

I do think that an itch scratch cycle isn't helping, but it's also not the cause. I can feel like I'm on fire without having scratched for hours, and there are physical sore/itchy hard bumps which feel like they must have a root cause.

I tried changing my pillow last night away from memory foam, and actually my neck is much better this morning, whilst my scalp is much the same. I wonder if around Christmas I suddenly became allergic to two completely separate things, and they've been offsetting each other and invalidating all investigations so far.

I might start trying some of the various shampoos etc again now without the memory foam in the equation. I wasn't clear when I said I'd tried the shampoos for a few days. I've been using coal-tar since Xmas without much improvement to the angry reaction, so I've also had numerous trials of the other types of products in the list, but I stopped and went back to coal tar if the reaction seemed to get worse. I don't think I can really base anything on that info now though, if a memory foam allergy was in the equation without me knowing. So maybe I should start again.

I also tried taking the antihistamine at night last night. I should really have only changed one thing at once, but I'd already decided to do that yesterday morning as the previous night had been so bad, and the suggestion of memory foam allergy struck a chord so I couldn't bear to sleep on it again. Something about the combo of these two changes meant I didn't wake up scratching, and my neck is much better today.

And thanks for the info re. hard water. I had considered investing in a softening shower head, but things are tight at the moment, and though I would happily find a way to squeeze one in to the budget if it was likely to work, it's great to know that this is unlikely to be the problem due to the type of water here.

So, all in all, definitely feeling a bit more positive this morning with some new things to try (was feeling at a bit of a dead end yesterday). Thank you all hugely for your time and help.

OP you would be surprised at how many skin issues are actually fungal, I have pityriasis rosea at the moment, it looks like quiteblike chicken pox, but is a fungal condition. Using dermovate is helping. Obviously it's your decission what to to, but I would try an antifungal at least on some of them, and see if itvdoes anything. It can't hurt. Also try to avoid a bit stuff that upsets the liver, cjocolate, eggs etc. The liver can make skin conditions worse. Hope you sort it soon, heat and skin condition combo sucks.

One of my DC had a neck rash like yours. We had repeatedly checked for nits by looking through their hair.
It was weeks before I used a nit comb to comb through their hair and discovered nits were indeed the problem. Up till then, I was convinced I had checked there were none.

I suddenly got eczema in my 30s when my auntie died (my mum did too, but worse!). I only got it on my arms at first. Then it spread to my neck. Not all over my scalp though. When it gets bad I use the steroid cream, but only when it's bad. That seems to clear it up for a bit. Can imagine it's awful for you! Hope you get to the bottom of it.

I ger itchy little bumps on my neck in the summer, I think it's prickly heat.

I found a tip online to wash it with a bar of Dettol soap, and that does help.

@CheshireCats yes exactly this - I inspected all our heads pretty well and didn’t spot a thing!

Hi OP I had something similar and it turned out to be a reaction to dairy. I've had to cut out milk and cheese but I am ok with proper butter. Try cutting out dairy and you will know after a few days whether that is the culprit

I would try a steroid cream, you can buy 1% hydrocortisone over the counter. It will help with the itch and inflammation. Use it for 2 weeks and hopefully you should see an improvement.

I had same about ten years ago. Took 6months of pain itching and frustration. Lumps on my neck. I even have a degree in parasitology so bloody know more about nits than most- everyone checked my hair Found nothing.

Turned out it bloody was nits. They must have been ninja nits because we could never bloody find them but a locum doc on my third trip to docs thought she found egg cases. Nit treatment and within a week all better and healed and found one dead nit on my pillow. Was the weirdest thing. As you haven’t tried nit treatment seriously I would give that a whirl as it can’t hurt!

This may be way off the mark but a couple of years ago I had a really sore throat and my glands swelled up .
A week or so later I developed a rash all over my body including scalp and ears. It was everywhere and looked awful. Another customer recoiling from me when I reached out to a shelf in Sainsburys sent me to the doctor.
She was really interested in the rash, and googled it then checked a book and informed me it was Guttate Psoriasis and she had never seen a 'live' case before.
I had never had Psoriasis or Eczema before this but it apparently can be triggered by a viral infection of the throat.
It was itchy, sore sometimes and very irritating in and around my ears. I tried numerous creams, lotions, shampoos and soaps but nothing cleared it up. The doctor said they could try light treatment but there was a long waiting list.
I was pretty desperate so I went to a sunbed salon to try it. I used the 'shower' type for 5 mins once a week for a month and it cleared up completely.
It does come back if I am stressed or under the weather but I just do the sunbed thing again and it clears up pretty quickly.
I am aware of the risks with sunbeds but over the the three years I have used it four or five times and I consider it a reasonable risk for the relief it brings.

What dosage fexnofenadine? If less than 180 ask for it to be increased.
Is your neck any better if your hair is up off your neck?
Have you tried washing in tea tree oil putting drops into a water jug?