ITCHING. I'm going INSANE!!!

[Denisemomof4]

What in the WORLD could cause my hands and feet to itch so much I feel like I could cut them off for relief? It's mainly at night, and it is SO horrible that a few nights ago I scratched the heck out of them with a comb with sharp, hard teeth. As much as it should have hurt, it just made me want to dig deeper!

 

It's not dry skin, because I put lotion on my hands daily. Besides, the dry skin usually isn't on your palms and bottom of your feet, which I have, but they just itch all over. Fingers, toes, in between them all, top, bottom, you name it.

 

I know I should probably call the dr. but she already doesn't know what to do with my unexplained chills that are off and on now, pains that come and go in the stomach, etc. I passed kidney stones recently, had a kidney infection/uti, etc. siiiiiiiiiiiigh.

 

I dread bed time toinght, because the last few nights I almost went downstairs to get a butter knife to dig at my skin!

 

:eek::eek::eek::banghead::banghead::cursing:

[Nan in Mass]

I took the antibiotic cypro (sp?) and it did that to me. The only thing that helped was keeping my hands and feet very cold. I was running around in a teeshirt, barefoot when it was way too cold, but it helped. It was particularly bad when I went to bed because then my hands and feet were covered up and heated up. Even if it isn't an allergic reaction to medication, I would suspect heat and try ice or very cold water to help.

HTH

-Nan

[Denisemomof4]

I took the antibiotic cypro (sp?) and it did that to me. The only thing that helped was keeping my hands and feet very cold. I was running around in a teeshirt, barefoot when it was way too cold, but it helped. It was particularly bad when I went to bed because then my hands and feet were covered up and heated up. Even if it isn't an allergic reaction to medication, I would suspect heat and try ice or very cold water to help.

HTH

-Nan

 

I was on Cipro for a week and when my symptoms didn't go away they put me on another antibiotic for another week. It took a LONG time for my symptoms to get better with Cipro, and after 2 days on the other med. it worked great. I was cultured and both meds should have worked. I've been off both for 3 weeks now but can't remember when this all started. Could it be that?

 

I CAN say that the last three nights have been MISERABLE. I can't wait to go to sleep just so I don't feel it! Thankfully it's not keeping me awake.

[mrs.m]

What do they look like (your hands and feet)? I can get excema on the palms of my hands. I get redish/pinkish bumps under my skin. My dr. gave me a cream that helps with the itching. I must no longer use whatever was causing it because I haven't had a problem in a very long time!

Edited January 29, 2010 by jannylynn

[Sara in AZ]

This sounds EXACTLY how I feel at the end of my pregnancies when I develop cholestasis of pregnancy, which is basically a liver problem where the bile gets into the bloodstream and builds up in the feet and hands. The itching is unbearable and just as you have described, mostly on the palms and soles of the feet. I don't think you necessarily have to be pregnant to get it, either. I just googled and it says that abdominal pain is also a symptom. You mentioned that you'd had some stomach pain. Here's some info...

 

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cholestasis

 

Believe me, I feel you're pain. No one who hasn't experienced itching like that can understand what a big deal itching can be. I hope you figure it out soon!

[Perry]

That's a common sign of liver and gallbladder problems. I'd call your doctor.

[Denisemomof4]

What do they look like (your hands and feet)? I can get excema on the palms of my hands. I get redish/pinkish bumps under my skin. My dr. gave me a cream that helps with the itching. I must no longer use whatever was causing it because I haven't had a problem in a very long time!

 

they look completely normal. NO difference in appearance at all.

[TheTwinsMom1]

Yeah, what do your hands and feet look like. You could also have athletes foot. I have had that before and it makes inbetween your toes and feet itch like crazy and then itching it can transfer it to your hands.

 

Also hard water can make your skin itchy. It could still be dry skin, even if you use lotion every day. I am itching like crazy cause the air in the house is so dry coupled with having hard water makes for some really itchy skin.

[Nan in Mass]

For me, the itching went away pretty quickly after I stopped taking the cipro. The liver/gall problems sound worrisome, so perhaps you should check that out.

[Denisemomof4]

This sounds EXACTLY how I feel at the end of my pregnancies when I develop cholestasis of pregnancy, which is basically a liver problem where the bile gets into the bloodstream and builds up in the feet and hands. The itching is unbearable and just as you have described, mostly on the palms and soles of the feet. I don't think you necessarily have to be pregnant to get it, either. I just googled and it says that abdominal pain is also a symptom. You mentioned that you'd had some stomach pain. Here's some info...

 

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cholestasis

 

Believe me, I feel you're pain. No one who hasn't experienced itching like that can understand what a big deal itching can be. I hope you figure it out soon!

 

oh good grief! I do have some, not all symptoms.....

[Denisemomof4]

That's a common sign of liver and gallbladder problems. I'd call your doctor.

 

oh good grief. She will probably not be happy that I cancelled my CAT scan. I WAS feeling better but now.......

 

She was questioning gallbladder and more kidney stones.

 

Again..... :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

 

I still don't understand why the itching is only at night. I just called the dr. and they're closed already. I'll have to wait until Monday. I've had to get to the dr. three of the past four Fridays, and twice was told I would have landed in the hospital had I not gone in. I should have written you all earlier but I've been trying to stay out of here during the day to do my school work. I must have wrongly assumed that school was my priority and NOT WTM. :tongue_smilie:

[Sara in AZ]

I'm sorry you have to deal with this over the weekend before you can get to a doctor. I always found the itching to be the worst at night, possibly because the body is kind of digesting everything you ate during the day and that bile is flowing all around. Or maybe because you're trying to sleep and you're not distracted by anything else. If you think it really might be a liver thing, try cutting out all the fat you can out of your diet for the next few days. That will give the liver and galbladder a break and could ease the itching somewhat. I also used a medicated lotion called Sarna, which I think was available at Wallgreen's last I checked. It helped a little.

[Perry]

I still don't understand why the itching is only at night.

 

Don't know why, but intense itching of hands and feet, worse at night, is a classic sign of cholestasis. From American Family Physician

 

Along with uremia, cholestasis is responsible for some of the most intense itching. Cholestasis-related pruritus is most severe at night, with a predilection for the hands and feet.

 

Go get that CT!:grouphug:

[catalinakel]

ugh....I have had this sort of itching on occasion. Often for me it is hormonal, and not on hands or feet, but all over. Rubbing the itchy skin with ice can help; using an anti-itch cream may also...Sarna is one brand. Ask the pharmacist. I feel for ya. I have often scratched so hard that I leave marks.....

[Aggie]

Believe me, I feel you're pain. No one who hasn't experienced itching like that can understand what a big deal itching can be.

:iagree:

 

I had the itching at the end of one of my pregnancies, like a pp stated...the liver issue.

 

Then I had the itching again after finishing a round of a sulpha medication for a UTI. Before the dr realized it was the sulpha, he checked my gallbladder.

 

IIRC, the sulpha, if you're allergic to it, settles in the liver and can't be flushed out. (That's my non-medical take on it)

 

For the sulpha issue, the dr prescribed something for it that was supposed to clear it up in a matter of days. For some reason, it took 3 weeks, but at least it worked a little bit. I can't remember what the drug was, but I think it may have been a cholesterol medication?

 

Hope you get some relief soon.:grouphug:

[Perry]

 

For the sulpha issue, the dr prescribed something for it that was supposed to clear it up in a matter of days. For some reason, it took 3 weeks, but at least it worked a little bit. I can't remember what the drug was, but I think it may have been a cholesterol medication?

 

Cholestyramine, probably.

[Pink Fairy]

It won't fix the underlying cause, but I know there is a medication that you can take to help with the itching. My dad has terrible problems with itching, and takes a medication that allows him to sleep. I don't know if it's just a powerful sleep aid, but the main side effect is that it knocks him out (great), but he's usually drowsy the next day (not great). He only takes it when he's desperate because of the next day drowsiness, but you could ask your doctor for some relief from the symptoms while they look for the cause.

[Marsha]

I also get Cholestasis at the end of my pregnancies. That's the first thing I thought of too. It is excruciating. I have 7 children and have had Cholestasis with 5 of them.

The only way to get relief is to have the baby, so I'm not sure how you would treat that, unless you did a Liver Cleanse.

[Caribbean Queen]

My father has ichy feet because he has problems with his liver.

[muffinmom]

This sounds EXACTLY how I feel at the end of my pregnancies when I develop cholestasis of pregnancy, which is basically a liver problem where the bile gets into the bloodstream and builds up in the feet and hands. The itching is unbearable and just as you have described, mostly on the palms and soles of the feet. I don't think you necessarily have to be pregnant to get it, either. I just googled and it says that abdominal pain is also a symptom. You mentioned that you'd had some stomach pain. Here's some info...

 

https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cholestasis

 

Believe me, I feel you're pain. No one who hasn't experienced itching like that can understand what a big deal itching can be. I hope you figure it out soon!

 

I was going to say this...my friend went through this last year.

[CalicoKat]

bed bugs?

[Pink Fairy]

Is anyone else feeling itchy just reading this this thread, lol? Reminds me of how I yawn whenever I see someone else yawn.

[Perry]

Is anyone else feeling itchy just reading this this thread, lol? Reminds me of how I yawn whenever I see someone else yawn.

Your mirror neurons are working.

 

Contagiousness

 

The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this may cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn.[7][20] Observing another person's yawning face (especially his/her eyes), even reading, or thinking about yawning, can cause a person to yawn. [21][22][23] The proximate cause for contagious yawning may lie with mirror neurons, i.e., neurons in the frontal cortex of certain vertebrates, which upon being exposed to a stimulus from conspecific (same species) and occasionally interspecific organisms, activates the same regions in the brain.[24] Mirror neurons have been proposed as a driving force for imitation which lies at the root of much human learning, e.g., language acquisition. Yawning may be an offshoot of the same imitative impulse. A 2007 study found that young children with autism spectrum disorder do not increase their yawning frequency after seeing videos of other people yawning, in contrast to typically developing children. This supports the claim that contagious yawning is based on the capacity for empathy.[25]

Contagious itch

 

Events of "contagious itch" are very common occurrences. Even a discussion on the topic of itch can give one the desire to scratch. Itch is likely to be more than a localized phenomenon in the place we scratch. Results from a recent study showed that itching and scratching were induced purely by visual stimuli in a public lecture on itching. There is currently little detailed data on central activation for contagious itching but it is hypothesized that a human mirror neuron system exists in which we imitate certain motor actions when we view others performing the same action. A similar phenomenon in which mirror neurons are used to explain the cause is contagious yawning.[1]

[Denisemomof4]

bed bugs?

 

this made me :smilielol5: but, no, it couldn't be that because:

 

- we're clean, have clean sheets, our bed is newer

 

- dh doesn't have this problem

 

- it's mainly my feet and hands, and when I say they bother me at night, it's actually BEFORE I go to bed. I'm having issues now. Bed bugs would make me itch all over, and I also think they cause a rash.

[Pink Fairy]

A little off topic, but having bed bugs is actually not a sign of being dirty. It's kind of like lice. They are opportunistic little suckers, and may catch a ride home with you from a hotel--even a high end hotel. I understand that they are extremely hard to get rid of as well. Just a little PSA. :001_smile:

[Denisemomof4]

A little off topic, but having bed bugs is actually not a sign of being dirty. It's kind of like lice. They are opportunistic little suckers, and may catch a ride home with you from a hotel--even a high end hotel. I understand that they are extremely hard to get rid of as well. Just a little PSA. :001_smile:

 

that FREAKS me out, but honestly....... dh would have to have them too, then, wouldn't he?

 

I filled out a symptom checker questionnaire at mayoclinic.com and one thing that freaked me out is that it said it could be parasites. When I was in China, I felt something bite my leg and it hurt so bad it felt like a razor slashed me! I looked down and saw NOTHING, no mark, no bug, NOTHING. That night I was awakened out of a deep sleep and felt something moving around in my leg. The pain was INTENSE!!! I squeezed it as hard as I could just to help ease the pain. I awoke feeling fine in the morning and never felt it again. But after watching several episodes of Monsters Inside Me I think of this often, and wonder if any of my symptoms are somehow related to this. And if I told this to my doctor she'd look at me like this :001_huh::confused1: just as the other doctors have, and nothing will ever come of it.

 

:banghead:

[Pink Fairy]

Denise, I don't think YOU have bed bugs, I just wanted to put that out there in case someone does (they are more common than you think), and might be embarrassed. Sorry for the confusion! :grouphug:

[mrs.m]

You would have red marks on your sheets if you have bedbugs and you would have a rash that looks like blisters.

 

They freak me out. DH travels. I would die if he brought one back home with him. :(

 

Are you sure the pain in your leg wasn't a Charlie Horse? Sometimes I KNOW when I'm going to have one at night because I'll feel the muscle starting to knot up in the day. It's a creepy feeling! (Trying to make you feel better! :grouphug:)

[CalicoKat]

You would have red marks on your sheets if you have bedbugs and you would have a rash that looks like blisters.

 

They freak me out. DH travels. I would die if he brought one back home with him. :(

 

Are you sure the pain in your leg wasn't a Charlie Horse? Sometimes I KNOW when I'm going to have one at night because I'll feel the muscle starting to knot up in the day. It's a creepy feeling! (Trying to make you feel better! :grouphug:)

 

Nothing like rolling over at night and triggering a charlie horse......ouch! I can feel when they're like to happen too by the way the muscle starts to tighten up. They make me cry.

[CalicoKat]

this made me :smilielol5: but, no, it couldn't be that because:

 

- we're clean, have clean sheets, our bed is newer

 

- dh doesn't have this problem

 

- it's mainly my feet and hands, and when I say they bother me at night, it's actually BEFORE I go to bed. I'm having issues now. Bed bugs would make me itch all over, and I also think they cause a rash.

I wasn't implying that you weren't clean folks, sorry. I just know they're likely to hitch a ride and start to breed in your home for a couple weeks before you actually start to have problems physically.

 

I saw a show on it recently and it freaked me out since dh travels.