Does anyone else suffer from really itchy feet and legs. I am being driven to frustration at the moment and so much worse at night. I am scratching till I bruise (mind you that doesn't take much) and have tried all sorts to stop it.
Does anyone else get this and what do you use to stop the itch?
I would grateful for your suggestions
Hugs
Angela
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Written by
bailey23
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I seem to be much better if I bathe last thing before bed and apply a good moisturiser on the unbroken skin and steroid cream on the broken skin. Love Jill
Me three! I think keeping the body and skin cool is the best advice-- at least I find that helps tremendously. I find that if I start getting overheated and my skin gets too warm, it'll trigger an attack to the skin where it swells, gets very red and hot, and will get extremely itchy and burning with pain. The skin can get so itchy that I start scratching it so hard, but at the same time, this causes burning pain. Then in the end, I'm a big mess with swollen, red, cracked open skin that's bleeding and bruised. I have tried a number of creams and gels, including steroid with cooling menthol and soothing aloe-- I find these just irritate it worse, eve the steroid cream (during the attack), so I put ice packs on the affected area. Once the attack has settled, then I can put aloe and steroid cream on it to soothe the cracks. The worst thing too about scratching your skin when you have Behcet's, is the fact that the minor trauma to the skin causes a bigger reaction which can lead to ulcer outbreaks.
I use aloe gel from Holland and Barrett if is really bad. It hasn't yet caused any reaction, but a gel a friend bought me a gel from Avon (supposed to cool legs and feet) which made my skin come up in blisters, so I was obviously allergic to one or more of the ingredients.
Okay ...... so this is a weird suggestion but one I have used in the past when my lower legs drove me mad. It is based on the same principle of putting slices of cucumber on your eyes to stop them itching and take down the inflammation (as frequently seen on adverts and TV programmes for some reason.) A friend of mine was given the tip many years ago (70'S ??) but not sure why and she recommended it to me.
Take one or two cucumbers and slice them as thinly as you can manage. I have used those peelers that have been out a few years now that gives you ribbons of thin vegetables which is perfect. Place the ribbons of cucumber in the fridge until they are very cold. Have your ribbons of cucumber next to you. Cleanse the legs by washing and with a cotton flannel soak it in very hot water and ring it out so that the flannel is as hot as you can get it (without burning the skin of course) place this on one leg. After a couple of minutes ( which allows the pores to open on the skin ) take off the flannel and apply the thin ribbons of the cucumber all across the area to be treated and leave on for several minutes or until the cucumber is warm and has done it's job.
Repeat with the other leg.
You will find that not only do you have beautiful skin on your legs, but the itching has in fact stopped ! I find it gets rid of the itching for at least one night and often longer.
I know it is a bit of a scenario to go through but when you are itching so badly you will try anything to stop it and get some relief and I have the basics ready in my fridge for when it happens to me which seems to come in batches and then go off for some periods of time before raising it's ugly head again.
Considering all the potions and creams we put on our skin, it is a natural and refreshingly fairly cheap method of dealing with the problem and one that I have used for many years.
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