Uncontollable Itching- Thyroid? Histamines? Share your story.

[Unregistered-Travis]

I have read several older threads here about itching but I wanted to start a new one to see if anyone has similar conditions to what I have and to see if we can uncover a common denominator. My doctor has labeled my itching condition as having too much histamine in my body but, to me, that sounds like a cop-out. I’ve noticed many people on the threads here that have similar conditions to what I have and most say their doctor can’t find anything to contribute the blame towards. Most threads I’ve read end without people expressing anything beyond their current itching symptoms. I’m certainly no doctor but I am very analytical and try diagnose things myself. Upon reading other threads here about itching, I have seen where people express similar complaints with lots of commonality traits (hypothyroidism, etc) but the common traits were never linked together in their discussion. If anyone out there is tired of the itching and tired of waiting for their doctor to discover a cause for it, read my story and share yours to see if we can find a common denominator(s).

For about the past 4 years I have had an uncontrollable itching that I could never link to a specific cause. There are never signs of a rash or irritation, just a very intense itching that most all the time begins in my feet and travels upward into my legs, waist, chest, arms, in a short period of time (<1 hour), most often during the evening/night hours. I have tried all types of medicated creams, lotions, soaps, etc but nothing in that line ever helped. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism about 5 years ago and took synthroid for it. For the past two years however my thyroid level has been in the normal range without medication but the itching has not stopped. About the same time the low thyroid was diagnosed, my testosterone level was extremely low. I no longer take synthroid but I do continue to take a testosterone replacement medication, Testim. I have tried to link the itching to a medication or other allergy (food, etc.) but I have never been able to find anything. I don’t think the cause is Testim because I had the itching long before starting Testim. I took testosterone shots before beginning Testim and I have stopped using Testim for several months since just to troubleshoot the cause. About 15 years ago I began taking allergy shots which lasted for about 5 years. I sometimes wonder what adverse affect that might have had on my body in how it fights histamines, if any. The only thing that I found to relieve the itching is taking an antihistamine drug, like Benadryl or Zyrtec. My doctor ran some tests and finally gave the condition a name but I don’t remember what he called it. Basically he said my body has too much histamine in it that causes the itching and there is no cure other than controlling it with antihistamines. Personally I feel like there is some other underlying cause for the itching and that my doctor is just labeling it because he doesn’t actually know what the actual cause is. I'm not a doctor so I don’t know for sure, but it seems that way to me. However, it does make sense in the fact that I take a antihistamine and the itching stops. If I miss just one day, I am miserable. Has anyone out there ever experienced the itching that I described and if so, what have you done to manage the itch? If you don’t mind sharing, tell me your past health issues as related to thyroid, allergy shots, synthroid usage, antihistamine meds, testosterone (if you’re a male), etc? Anything and everything may be useful here. Thanks and I hope each of you have a blessed and stress-free day.

[Bruce Houghton]

I have pretty much the same condition. I'm 67 years old and this thing started about 8 years ago.
I'm still very active physically(Hockey in the winter, and golf(walk) in the summer).
I take an antihistamine every 1 or 2 days depending on whether I forget.
Another symptom is Dermatographism. This is a form of chronic urticaria caused by stroking the skin with pressure. The term "dermatographism" literally means the ability to write on the skin. My wife can write her name on my back with the finger. The name will become readable within 2 minutes, and be completely gone after 10 minutes.

I take no medication, and never have, nor do I have any medical history, of any kind!! My blood sugar levels are fine, my colestoral may be a little high as is my triglycerides.
One thing however, I do drink allot of beer especially after hockey. Wines, I will have the odd glass, but not very often. Hard liquor, very very seldom. At my age I can't handle hard liquor anymore.

Like you, I've been scoring the internet trying to figure this out. My thoughts at this moment are, - it's the histamines in beer, which I believe are abundant, red wine being the worst. Heaven forbid if I have to stop drinking beer...

[axelrose]

I have read several older threads here about itching but I wanted to start a new one to see if anyone has similar conditions to what I have and to see if we can uncover a common denominator. My doctor has labeled my itching condition as having too much histamine in my body but, to me, that sounds like a cop-out.

I have TONS of excessive entire-body itching all over my body from taking MS CONTIN and PERCOCET about 6 times daily, and have done this medicine for about 2 years so far. What helps me is some plain old generic OTC BENNEDRYL tablets. Take at least 100mg but not more than 200mg of it the moment you start to excessively start itchingi like crazy.

If you notice it helping then bump the dose 25mg's at a time until it reaches a point where it is releaving the itching. Trust me, if it works for me it will work for anyone. My drugs, PERCOCET & MS CONTIN, are well known for excessive entire-body itching as a side effect.


LET US ALL KNOW HOW IT GOES FOR YOU. I do care.

[Unregistered - Angie]

I am a 37 year old female. I work third shift and went to work Sunday night two weeks ago. I slept that day in my bed and went to work Monday night. By the time that I got home Tuesday morning, I itched so bad that I couldn't stand it.

I called my doctor and got an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. He prescribed a couple of antihistamines and a steroid. He also told me to take Benadryl. He told me that if it didn't get better by the following Monday to give him a call.

Guess what?! I was worse by Monday. Tuesday I was back in his office and the nurse gave me a Prednisone shot. It took about six hours to kick in but once it did, I felt great. I worked that night without itching. The doctor gave me a prescription for Prednisone and instructed me to take this along with the other medications he prescribed the week before.

He also ordered blood work and a chest x-ray Friday. The results are not in as of yet.

I have tried everything from baking soda, cornstarch, cortizone cream, rubbing alcohol, oatmeal baths (which help until the water gets cold). You name it I've tried it (on top of the meds).

I have no bug bites or a rash. My complexion is clear. This is worse than chinese water torture. The only part of my body that does not itch is my scalp, ears and bikini area.

Any idea or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Itching In Ohio

[axelrose]

I am a 37 year old female. I work third shift and went to work Sunday night two weeks ago. I slept that day in my bed and went to work Monday night. By the time that I got home Tuesday morning, I itched so bad that I couldn't stand it.

I called my doctor and got an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. He prescribed a couple of antihistamines and a steroid. He also told me to take Benadryl. He told me that if it didn't get better by the following Monday to give him a call.

Guess what?! I was worse by Monday. Tuesday I was back in his office and the nurse gave me a Prednisone shot. It took about six hours to kick in but once it did, I felt great. I worked that night without itching. The doctor gave me a prescription for Prednisone and instructed me to take this along with the other medications he prescribed the week before.

He also ordered blood work and a chest x-ray Friday. The results are not in as of yet.

I have tried everything from baking soda, cornstarch, cortizone cream, rubbing alcohol, oatmeal baths (which help until the water gets cold). You name it I've tried it (on top of the meds).

I have no bug bites or a rash. My complexion is clear. This is worse than chinese water torture. The only part of my body that does not itch is my scalp, ears and bikini area.

Any idea or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Itching In Ohio

One time I had a rash in a couple of places and went to the doc. He told me, no joking here, to use a hair dryer and get those areas super-duper dry and of course gave me some steroids with antihistamine as you have received. Using the hair dryer to my amazement was very effective and I saw the rashes go away in about 3 days which would have been sooner than those meds had to kick in. The doc's main thing was that in our busy world we take shower, eat a meal, pick up the kids, all in 5 minutes and we neglect ourselves. His thing was most people think they're dried up with a bath towel but just enough moistore was on the body to be a breading ground for bacteria that would normally not bother you.

Hope your meds work well.

[d.sauce]

I have pretty much the same condition. I'm 67 years old and this thing started about 8 years ago.
I'm still very active physically(Hockey in the winter, and golf(walk) in the summer).
I take an antihistamine every 1 or 2 days depending on whether I forget.
Another symptom is Dermatographism. This is a form of chronic urticaria caused by stroking the skin with pressure. The term "dermatographism" literally means the ability to write on the skin. My wife can write her name on my back with the finger. The name will become readable within 2 minutes, and be completely gone after 10 minutes.

I take no medication, and never have, nor do I have any medical history, of any kind!! My blood sugar levels are fine, my colestoral may be a little high as is my triglycerides.
One thing however, I do drink allot of beer especially after hockey. Wines, I will have the odd glass, but not very often. Hard liquor, very very seldom. At my age I can't handle hard liquor anymore.

Like you, I've been scoring the internet trying to figure this out. My thoughts at this moment are, - it's the histamines in beer, which I believe are abundant, red wine being the worst. Heaven forbid if I have to stop drinking beer...

im sorry i have to say this.
guten.
allergy or sensitivity

[Scarlet]

I have a very similar condition. I have searched the internet through and through and have found many other people with this same condition. One common denominator is that we are all tired, frustrated, and annoyed--and not satisfied with the lame diagnoses our doctors give. To me, it seems to ridiculous to have this many people with the same symptoms and yet we can't find out what exactly it is. There has to be SOMETHING, right?
I'm 24 years old, a female, and it started for me almost four years ago (four years in February). My legs would become so itchy that I would scratch till I bled (still do, sometimes). My Mom and I thought it was maybe my birth control. Then we thought maybe the Effexor. My doctor at the time (got sick of her BS and left her) told me first, it was because of my shaving. She said my skin was irritated and I should get laser removal. Well, excuse me, rich woman, I'm a college kid and simply cannot afford to get my legs laser hair removal. Besides, that would be a topical thing, and I knew that this was internal. No lotions, creams, soaps, or soaks ever helped--only OTC Benedryl. So I knew it was internal. The second time I saw her she said it was hormonal. That, because I was "not getting any younger," my hormones caused this. WHAT?! At the time, I was 23 years old. I even said, "are you serious? I'm only 23." I understand, hormones change, but to make it sound like it was because I was aging? That is stupid. That was the last straw, so I changed doctors.

The second doctor I went to, I went in and showed my legs and explained the problem. He BARELY looked at me and diagnosed it as eczema. WHAT? I had no signs or symptoms of that at all, except for itch. No white patches, no red marks, no hives, no scales, no nothing. But he wouldn't hear of it either. I gave a chance and tried the hydrocortisone cream. It obviously did nothing.

I finally decided to go to my dermatologist who at least acted sympathetic and heartfelt. He nodded at my symptoms and scratched my legs and and arms and they welted up right away. He diagnosed it as dermatographism. He said it was when my body produces to many histamines. It could be linked to my Effexor, or it could be genetic. I am currently not taking Effexor (I've taken too many anti-depressants for too long. I'm going to try to go natural.)

So right now, I'm taking Citirizine every night and if I have a break-out, I take Benedryl also. Cold packs help, but I have to pretty much numb my skin. That can hurt sometimes but more often, I'm just too tired to put up with that. Or, now that it's winter, the last thing I want to do is put ice on my body at bedtime.

I have noticed that heat makes it worse. So even in winter, at bedtime, I have to wear shorts. I noticed if my skin gets hot, 9 chances out of 10, I will break out. Just in the past few weeks, I have noticed a spot on my upper arm that is getting itchy and everything. I hope it's just a coincidence though. For now, my itch has only been on my legs.
It is my sincere wish that the government would try to gather these cases and hire a medical examination board to see what this is all about. It seems too weird that there are this many people with miscellaneous and vague diagnoses to not have some underlying cause. For as much suffering as this causes--and if you have this, you know it should be called suffering--something needs to be done. It is un acceptable.
---Scarlet

[axelrose]

I am currently not taking Effexor (I've taken too many anti-depressants for too long. I'm going to try to go natural.)

Many dead people's families regret a loved ones decision to stop taking a psychiatric medication or two.

Why not try a non-SSRI AD like Tofranil? A Tricyclic Antidepressant, there are dozens to choose from and the side effects are mainly dry mouth, not the serious side effects you seem to be getting from the SSRI.

Just a suggestion.

[Scarlet]

Hi axelrose (nice name ,

Thank you for your concern! I never meant for it to sound like I decided on my own to just quit taking anti-depressants one day. I consulted with my doctor and I came down very, very, painfully, slowly. I have been doing talk therapy for years and am working with my psychologist on this as well as with my general practitioner. Over all, it was a decision by all of us to at least try it for now. See what happens.

But seriously, thank you for your concern!

Scarlet

[axelrose]

Hi axelrose (nice name ,

Thank you for your concern! I never meant for it to sound like I decided on my own to just quit taking anti-depressants one day. I consulted with my doctor and I came down very, very, painfully, slowly. I have been doing talk therapy for years and am working with my psychologist on this as well as with my general practitioner. Over all, it was a decision by all of us to at least try it for now. See what happens.

But seriously, thank you for your concern!

Scarlet

You're very welcome. I have Bipolar disorder and have at time stopped taking my meds because I figured since I felt so great I must not need them anymore. Those were and continue to be bad bad decisions on my part. Plus I've known schizophrenics that stopped or reduced their meds also and they either were hospitalized, became homeless or died from either exposure or suicide. So that's why I get all excited and preachy telling people about psychiatric medications. I'm glad to see you worked with your doctor to do what you did, it seems to be working well for you and I am glad for that.

Be well and I hope that skin issue gets solved soon and in a proper pain and grief free manner. I could write a book on my negative experiences with doctors but it would be many paragraphs and likely bore you and others to death.