This page is all about itchy skin conditions. Doctors will call these problems by different names: Eczema, Psoriasis, other specific names, and the more general term 'Dermatitis'. There are different names because chronically itchy skin comes in different varieties. Sometimes it's hard to match a name to the symptoms so a doctor might say "you have some kind of dermatitis". For our purposes I'm going to say that it doesn't matter what the technical name is, because we're looking at the general issue of chronically itchy skin. ('Chronic' means you have it over a long perod of time, as opposed to 'acute', meaning you've just got it in the short term). Or you could say that since this is a personal view, I'm only qualified to talk about my own problems...and this is where I heard the doctors say "you have some kind of dermatitis"!
I have NO medical qualifications of any kind. So I am not qualified to give you advice. If you have a health problem you should always consult someone who is qualified to help you. There are people who are qualified, and they can spot things that could be important. Your life is the only one you have, so please look after it by getting good advice! However, I am qualified to talk about chronic itching because I have had it for nearly thirty years. So I can tell you how I coped with it and what I feel I have learned in that time, and not worry that I am giving you faulty medical advice. I will stick to the things I can talk about with confidence. I hope I can be of some support or maybe even some help - but remember that each person is different so what applies to me might not apply to you - get advice from a qualified health professional!
This is not a detailed guide to symptoms. But, in general, here is the way I see it. The main thing is of course itching. An itch is a tantalising feeling that varies from something like a light tickling to the most incredible, frustrating, agonising feeling that comsumes your whole being. An itch is a command to scratch. Most 'normal' itches (like when I scratched my head just then - unless it's fleas) you will scratch and feel better and it's gone. But in a chronic or extreme case like we're talking about here, scratching is the other half of the itching problem. The itching doesn't stop when you scratch it. And there is a lot of itching and a lot of scratching. There is a sort of relief while you are scratching. It can feel so good! But then the skin gets broken. A light scratch gets rid of whatever it is (flea or temporary irritation) but heavy scratching - which is not getting rid of the problem by the way - is doing damage now. So it feels good but it's a mixed feeling because you know how it might feel afterwards.
When the skin breaks, you can have bleeding. (If you have this I hope you don't get a lot). In my case if anything came out of my skin after scratching I got seeping rather than much bleeding. Some kind of liquid would seep out, sometimes clear, sometimes like a sort of amber fluid. Then this could dry on the surface, maybe causing some painful cracks later as I moved the affected part. It certainly varied for me, so I'm sure there are many different manifestations of this. Of course, a deep scratch will cause pain (talk to an angry cat to find out about that) so there is that to reckon with too. Basically, I found that while the scratching might feel like a bit of a solution in that there is some temporary relief while you are doing it, the problems it caused where as bad as the itching itself. I wanted the itching to stop - and I wanted to stop scratching too. So I will talk about this later.
As well as all this, there is also general 'dry skin' which if it is very dry can be very painful when you try to move the affected part because it doesn't have any flexibility.
The best possible thing would be to CURE the condition and all its symptoms! But this is a chronic condition, so you've probably had it for some time, and it may not be possible to stop it in five minutes, as we might like to. If it took a long time to get into your present state of health, then it will probably take a long time to get out of it.
There are two categories of "coping": (i) lotions, salves and ointments, and (ii) other techniques. First of all you might want to find some kind of skin cream that will help you in some way. This is mainly to combat the dryness. Now, I don't think there is anything you can put on your skin that will completely stop it from being dry, if it is dry in the context of a chronic itching condition. The best you can do is to seal in the moisture you have, using a greasy-type ointment. This is quite good for me because it also takes care of very rough skin (as much as is possible, anyway) since you're adding a smooth layer on the top. It doesn't just sit there on your skin; some will go in and some will evaporate into the air, so you'll need to put more on later if you want. Speaking for myself, I found that emollients etc containing lanolin (a grease from wool-bearing animals) didn't feel quite right, there was something a bit too penetrating about them. The best thing for me is pure petroleum jelly (if you want to try it, check the ingredients on boxes and tubs or get the one called "Vaseline" if they have it in your country [NOTE: while this is true, I have since found out that vaseline, being petroleum-based, suppresses the symptoms, i.e. does not help you get better in the long term. It is better to find a non-suppressing cream such as Stellaria (based on chickweed). I have not had this so I can't describe it for you - but it was recommended by my homoeopath]). Another good one for making skin softer was plain "Aqueous Cream" which I had prescribed for me (there is no active ingredient, it's not a medicine, I think the doctor was just trying to save me money, so perhaps you can get this without prescription if you want to try it). This was OK. On the whole, you're sort of hoping all the time that you'll find something that will make a BIG difference. But I'm afraid there is no product like that (I will mention prescription substances later - this section is just about coping with your symptoms). The creams or ointments I have mentioned helped me. Not an enormous amount, but it was something. The less severe your symptoms, the more they will help, and of course the less you will need them - so that's something to look forward to at least. The main thing for me was that my skin was less dry and so it was less painful because of that as well as a bit less itchy.
Right, here's "other techniques". You can read around the internet what other people suggest, but, after about two or three years of trying to cope with fairly extreme itching, here is one thing I came up with. Now, when it comes to itchy hands, gloves are quite good. These are light cotton gloves, such as are used for polishing glassware. As long as they didn't make my hands too warm (and so make them itchier), they were quite helpful. But, as you will find out if you don't already know, no matter how useful something is, people have an amazing capacity to rip things off themselves while they're asleep! So you might wake up with no gloves in sight and - oh, look, you've scratched yourself to pieces again (another thing that happens in sleep, and why we need to look at this special "other technique"). So, you would like to find something you can't destroy like that?
Well, you could have your hands set in concrete, but it would make shaking hands difficult and you would probably knock yourself unconscious too often for such a thing to be really practical. This is my own solution: it is a little bit like gloves, and you will need some paper towels or tissues (something like that) as well as some microporous tape. Microporous or micropore tape is the (usually white) tape used to hold bandages in place. It is adhesive but they have to make it so not too many people have an allergic reaction and hopefully will be OK for you (if you want to try this, that is). What I do is this. Cut out some of the paper towel in a shape that matches, and will cover, one of your itchy areas. Then, basically, you stick it on. In the case of a finger (I'm wearing one of these right now) I cut out a length of tape that will fit around my finger a couple of times, lay it down and stick the bit of paper towel right at the end. Then I put the paper part on to the sore/damaged/oozing (etc etc) place, and wrap the tape round the finger. As you wind it round, the tape will cover up the paper part again and then hold itself together. Don't make it too tight! If it feels wrong, unwind it, and wrap it round again looser.
The benefits of this technique are: the paper part absorbs any leakage from your wounds (like a gauze pad in a more serious bandage - or you could even try that); it also stops the adhesive tape irritating your scratchy place; it is taped so it is hard(er) to rip off; the slight tension seems to help with any cracks or painful places; it stops the area drying out; you can't get to the skin so you can't scratch it; no scratching means it can have a chance to heal. In my view, these are all good! Now, I don't know where your itches are, but if you want to try this, please don't tape up parts of your body that need to be free. I only have a limited imagination for these things, so I can't guess what crazy possibilities people could come up with - and I know people have done things stupider than anyone could make up - so please have some sense! I can't say more than that. If it causes you discomfort (somehow) it is probably wrong. But on normal body parts, this technique was fine for me. You can get through a lot of tape, but, well, that's the way it goes.
So you've had some ideas about coping with your symptoms. I hope they were of some help. Gosh, I felt so itchy in all sorts of places while I was writing this! I will check for fleas, but I think it will ease off when I've finished typing this. So what next? Well, the next thing you need to do is click here to go to the next page!
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