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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

......Help......Itching......

44 replies

Somethingshort · 04/09/2020 15:24

I've never had anything like this before and I confess that during lockdown I not only changed my washing powder to these delightful-easy-to-use and heavily scented pods/washing conditioners/beads.....anything I could lay my hands on that made the washing smell "nice".I was having a lovely time. Why on earth after 65 years and several children later did I suddenly think that the air up here (1,200 feet above sea level) wasn't beautiful enough to dry my clothes. I think I went overboard and got addicted to these scented wash powders.
Then.....the itching started.........just a bit. The groin first. I must have sat and had such a satisfying scratch for a good ten minutes. It felt like a satisfying orgasm when I had finished. Phew. Then the next night......and the next......and now THREE MONTHS down the line I have finally decided - after several visits to the pharmacist to go to the doctors. He said I ought to. I feel worn out with it. I've been on Eurax cream. Eumovate cream....and the antihistamine pills (which knock me for six at night so I only take them before bed), salt baths and everything from duvet covers/towels/clothes is being washed in Persil non bio or Ecover and soda washing crystals.....yet still I am itching. I wrote to the Doctor with pictures......and was really expecting a miracle.....or even the Doctor to phone me back with a diagnosis. Nope.....the receptionist rang and said to come and collect your prescription. Well.........I am still non the wiser. Still scratching and wondered if anyone else could recommend ANYTHING to stop this itching.
I did find something out yesterday which I didn't know. When you scratch an itch, you release histamine. This makes you itch even more. So that little bit of information may have made such a difference in the beginning......

OP posts:
Emmelina · 08/09/2020 08:57

I have a number of food allergies and sensitivities, if I eat the wrong thing I break out in hives which is a ridiculously itchy and lumpy rash. If you’ve tightened up your washing issues now, could it be something else? It may be worth keeping a food diary. Perhaps something that has been a favourite for many years has had a recipe tweak and now contains something your body doesn’t like.

MrsMoastyToasty · 08/09/2020 09:02

Could it be a fungal infection?

During this year's hit summer I got a fungal infection in my armpits. Got some cream from the GP and it was gone within a week.

SerenDippitty · 08/09/2020 09:27

Could it simply be dryness? A simple emollient cream like Oilatum might help - they do bath/shower oils too. I was going to say that the menopause can make you very itchy - it’s called formication - but see you are 65 so unlikely to be that.

k1233 · 08/09/2020 10:14

Sounds like you've changed your powder back which is great.

Did you buy any new clothes around the time the itching started? I went to the doctor with a similar complaint to you, turned out I was allergic to my new COTTON pyjamas! Of course I can't accept the fact and still own them. Every time I put them on I itch. Depending on where it's sourced apparently cotton can be treated with different chemicals, some of which I was obviously allergic to.

So my thoughts are it might be new clothing related if you bought something new like pjs, or something from the powder is still in your clothes. If it's lingering from the powder, try buying something new / using things that weren't exposed to the powder and see if you still itch.

In the meantime, with skin allergies I find fexofenadine really helpful. I'm allergic to anything that bites (huge multiheaded blisters) and fexo does quite a good job - I try not to use the steroids I have a prescription for unless absolutely necessary. In Australia, you can get fexo over the counter at the chemist.

Somethingshort · 11/09/2020 05:45

Hi LadyCardoman, My itching comes in batches. At the moment it's around my waist and going up the sides of my back towards my shoulders and backs of my arms. My bottom/legs are covered in spots (resembles semolina!) where I was scratching last week. There's no knowing where it is going next, but it's almost like by scratching I am pushing it forward to the next place. I suppose that's possible?

OP posts:
Bwlch · 11/09/2020 06:03

Do you take vitamin D pills?

Somethingshort · 11/09/2020 06:06

Hello Everyone.....I'm beginning to wonder if it is caused by washing powder.....thinking of all the things it could possibly be. Something...something must be causing this. I don't suffer with nerves - I'm always upbeat and positive in life. Then something interesting happened yesterday. I phoned the Doctor's surgery and said the creams they had given me didn't really seem to be working.......merely soothing and I was covered in spots everywhere.......and I was at a point of feeling tired, stressed by all of this (which was probably making it worse) and they have asked me in for a blood test. Then I went to see a friend........
she uses essential oils and she mixed me a cream.....aqueous with Roman Chamomile/lavender......I put it on immediately. Hmm. Was it my imagination.....I went home and had the usual salt bath at around 9.....decided not to have an anti histamine that night (oh dear....was this the right thing to do? thinking I would be up in the night scratching before long) but rubbed in this cream all over. It was incredibly soothing as well as warming. I felt quite relaxed when I got into bed. It's now 5.33a.m. and I have slept the WHOLE night. No itching, no scratching, just tickles or a sensation. I have just put more of this cream on. Dare I cross my fingers and say something works at long last. I ran my fingers over the backs of my legs. Oh come on....did I really think that a miracle would have made all my spots disappear. I still have spots but maybe, hopefully this is the way to go. Cross fingers.

OP posts:
Somethingshort · 11/09/2020 06:12

Bwlch.....no, I don't take any pills generally, although I did briefly start on a zinc pill (for hair nails skin) at the beginning of this, but after about three?four weeks I gave up. I wonder....could it have started from that?

OP posts:
Coldhandscoldheart · 11/09/2020 06:14

I had a bout of itch post pregnancy, I could feel it travelling I think it was down towards my feet, not up from them. Was demented. Went to 24hour tesco at midnight, scratching & bought everything I could find that might help. One of the things I got was I think called lanacaine cream. It’s got a bit of local anaesthetic in I think. I wouldn’t want to use it a lot, but it did help.

PlateTectonics · 11/09/2020 06:26

Place marking - some good ideas on this thread.

longwayoff · 11/09/2020 06:31

All my sympathy, horrible. Don't use anything scented, no soap, no deodorants, etc. Use the oat water. Take antihistamines and anti inflammatories. Use cornflour as talc and clean your teeth with bicarbonate of soda. Non bio washing powder only no conditioner but double rinse. Use Aveeno oat cream if you need to. Good luck.

tenredthings · 11/09/2020 06:37

Have you considered if you have caught scabies ? Intolerable itching, more so at night. Telltale faint red lines of itch especially on hands and knuckles, though I caught it and didn't have these signs just hideous itching.

Bwlch · 11/09/2020 06:41

I did briefly start on a zinc pill

My husband started taking high dose vitamin D supplements because he had read that it helped SAD. All it did was make him itch. It started on his shins and then spread. He didn't make the association at first but it turns out that itching is a side effect. He stopped the pills and the itching stopped too.

confusedandeatingcheese · 11/09/2020 06:46

Mites? Scabies? Psoriasis? How is your MH?

BalloonSlayer · 11/09/2020 06:49

I had terrible itching when I was badly anaemic but there was no rash at all.
Guess blood test will check that one out for you.

Bluesheep8 · 11/09/2020 07:03

Hi op, I itch a lot - it's one of the sensory symptoms I have due to MS. Not for one millisecond suggesting yours is due to the same, but e45 itch relief cream really helps me. What you say about the histamine release from scratching causing more itching is absolutely true - it's called the itch/scratch cycle. Hope you feel better

Dilbertian · 11/09/2020 08:12

After my skin allergies were identified (by proper patch-testing, not anything woo) it took a few months to wash all the residues out of clothing, bedding, towels, my entire domestic environment. And to change every product I used. I didn't see any results in this time. I was on a fairly strong treatment regimen for the active rashes (2% hydrocortisone ointment, pimecrolimus ointment, and a 3rd ointment that I don't remember) which eased them.

Once my environment was clear of my allergens my skin began to heal. It took about a year to fully heal, with occasional breakouts which I treated with the ointments.

Fragrances are among my allergens. It doesn't matter whether or not they are listed as ' natural'. Even a natural fragrance can be so concentrated that it acts as an irritant. So everything I use is strictly fragrance-free.

I'm also allergic to propolis, so I have to avoid beeswax products touching my skin. I'm OK with candles, though too much airborne fragrance can make me itch.

Fabric conditioner is a real bugger for fragrance, and the residues can be very difficult to wash out. If you can bear not to use any fabric conditioner for several washes per item, the residue will wash out faster and then you can go back to conditioning with one that is tolerable to you.

Products that work for me:

None of the OTC creams. I find greasy ointments far more soothing than anything with an aqueous base.

Cold pressed virgin coconut oil. It is the absolute best moisturiser for me when my skin is at all irritated. The tiniest scraping or dab covers my entire face without making it shiny. Another dab for neck and decolletage. If there's any shine then I've used too much and I rub it off with my forearms.

If I have a flare-up, then I go straight for 1% hydrocortisone ointment. I don't tell the pharmacist if it's for my face.

Waitrose is my friend. They usually stock Surcare laundry products and washing up liquid, and occasionally Fairy and own-brand fragrance-free household products. I'm about to try Ecover's fragrance-free fabric conditioner, too.

Waitrose also stock lots of fragrance-free body and hair stuff. I prefer their own-brand range, Pure, to Simple and Sanex. They have loads of f-f block soaps, too.

I look at blogs and old-fashioned household economy books to find cleaning strategies that do not require heavily fragranced branded products - those products often carry warnings that some of their nastier ingredients can trigger allergic reactions.

Hope some of this is useful to you. IME it can take months for my skin to recover from exposure to an allergen, even after I've got rid of the allergen. But the healthier my skin is, the faster it recovers. Moisturising, internally and externally, with the right moisturiser, is very important.

dontdisturbmenow · 11/09/2020 08:54

OP, you do need to see your go since it's been going on for some time. Don't want to alarm you but a number of conditions show up as extreme itchiness. I think a number of conditions related to the liver.

If you tried different cream and nothing else and now you don't think it is the washing powder, you should request a blood test.

IndiaMay · 11/09/2020 10:47

Hi OP, I dont mean to scare or put ideas into your head but one of the lesser know signs of hodgkin's lymphoma is itchy skin. Keep an eye on whether there are any other unusual changes in your body. I know someone who had itchy skin for 2 years and was eventually diagnosed with lymphoma

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