Itchy skin.

[dozzer15]

Just wondering if anyone else suffers from itchy skin. It's driving me mad mostly at night, it sometimes feels like something is crawling on me and sometimes like a pin sticking in me and makes me jump. I don't know whether to mention it to the doctor or not x

[Hidden]

Yes I do, but I also have psoriatic arthritis. I actually have very little psoriasis, but wondered if it was this.

Is your skin very dry? I took an antihistamine and smothered my self in the cream doc gave me (reminiscent of lard!). Seemed to work.

[dozzer15]

No new medication. I did think about trying an anti histamine but keep putting it off. Then I think I'll mention it to the doctor but the trouble is we only get 10 mins and we can only go with one complaint at a time so it gets out off cos I usually have something more important to go with. I think I will try an anti histamine x

[iongrill in reply to dozzer15]

Try Anti-Histamine, if it works, try a Low Lectin, Low, Histamine diet. There is an app called Selectivor that is very good for advising what you can and can't eat on various diets. without calorie restriction, if these are going to work, you should see a reduction in itchiness, fatigue if you have it, and a drop of several kg in weight (water loss, not fat, due to reduced inflammation). If you see no benefit in a week or two, STOP. This is quite a restrictive diet and if it is not of benefit then following it could be described as an eating disorder imo.

Many symptoms of RA / PSA like painful joints are slow to respond to changes in medication / diet, itchiness responds much more quickly, within a day often, so if you track it and keep a food diary it could be used to help improve diet and perhaps your arthritis

[Pea3]

Hi, yes I have been driven mad with itchy skin lately & my skin came up in red lumps with it, strangely only in the evenings. Eventually I saw my gp & she told me to get some antihistamines, after literally one tablet it seems to have subsided, so I would definitely try to see if that helps.

[Padram]

Hi, don't know what meds you take. But make sure that your liver profile is normal. Because if bilirubin is more, it could cause itching. Especially at night. Some meds for RA can have side effects on the liver.

[Jules13]

Yes yes yes. I wake up with scratch marks on my legs because I’m doing it in my sleep.

But also know, itchy skin is so common in winter months. The central heating dries out your skin and you itch. So try putting on moisturiser after every bath and shower. Put it on damp skin and let it soak in.

Use something like baby lotion. It’s cheap and unperfumed. Or e45. X

[dozzer15 in reply to Jules13]

I use Aqueous cream all the time it's very cheap and you can get it in enormous tubs x

[Tillie20]

Hi yes I am really itchy I am seeing the co sultan to. 31st and will ask them my medication was increased for 6 weeks but did not feel too good on increase so this week I went back to taking lower dose X

[TPaine]

Yes itching is an issue with benepali for me, not sure if methotrexate adds to it or not

I use antihistamine loratadine just on injection day, take an hour before so it can kick in and worked well. Tried not using the antihistamine Friday as itching had really settled and I am now itching again, not as bad yet but yes feels like my scalp is alive with creatures which it isn't! I do also agree moisturiser and hypoallergenic shampoos etc are helpful. Also echo the liver enzymes as a possible culprit, but when that was my cause I also had horrible nausea. Definitely chat to GP etc. If you want to try antihistamine yourself, I would check with your pharmacist to ensure your other meds are ok with this.

Good luck

Tracy

[heyitsmee]

Yes I'm itchy and on a little mission at the moment to find out why! Only noticed I had prickly itchy skin (no rash) once I began dosing down on steroids. So considering with GP now whether it may be a drug allergy (I'm taking a lltnof meds and hydroxy stands out as a p9ss culprit. I am on fexofenadine antihistamine 3x a day which seems to help. Just want to find what is causing this but am I a flare so more pressing matters to be discussing with the GP! Itshard. Hope you figure it out x

[Hidden]

I get itchy skin in patches, usually on my back between my shoulder blades where I can’t reach! It itches so much it hurts. Drives me mad. I find Savelon cream helps. I wonder if it is a side effect of having Sorghens disease with R A

[Pulfs]

My skin itches Dr prescribed Dermol cream with you can use to wash with also I take antihistamine tabs, x

[Chester02]

Yes I suffer from itchy skin and skin lesions for over 20 yrs! No diagnosis as Doctoand Consultants at a loss to know what it is. Yes worse at night! It’s horrible!

[Hidden]

I would mention it to your consultant, not your GP. After treatment for cancer, I suffered withawful itching. Eventually I showed my ras/lesions. She immediately looked at ,my blood test results and said "youv'e changed from seronegative to seropositive. That's Rheumatoid Vasculitis".

[beeckey]

I also suffer from itchy skin and it feels like being jabbed with pins never had a answer for the cause but it is awful. I find that it moves around my body as i scratch it moves on to another place. I can get up at night rubbing my back on the side of the door trying to ease the itch given cream but did not help.Hope you find the answer.

[dozzer15 in reply to beeckey]

I have a back scratcher beside the bed but I have been known to jump out of bed and whip the covers off when I feel like something is biting me. I don't know if I'm just being paranoid x

[Jesnaskah in reply to dozzer15]

Not paranoid!

Hey there! A lot of responses here.

I wanted to ask you if your face or scalp ever itches as well?

Just throwing out ideas here but there's a slight chance it may be mites. Horrible, I know!

I was dealing with itchy skin all over odd breakouts on my face this summer and although it resembled acne it sure didn't respond to acne "treatments." Mind you, I'm someone who has never suffered from acne, just the occasional pimple on my forehead or chin. But this got really, really bad, my entire cheeks were covered, didn't even feel like skin anymore.

One of my dermatologists felt it looked like rosacea so she prescribed me an antibiotic cream. After doing research myself, I learned that ppl had more success with an ivermetin cream. After further digging, I came across something called demodex mites. They are 2 types of mites that live in our facial skin and facial hair (lashes n brows). When our immune systems are low, or we are super stressed, they multiply and that's what causes the breakouts. It's totally normal to have them and they serve a good purpose but if there are too many, problems arise. They are most active at night, since that's when they come out of the skin burrow to mate! And when they die off, they release a bacteria that makes your skin worse.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this info in case you are also experiencing facial/scalp itchiness. I used to literally feel the crawling once the lights went out at night, it would drive me nuts. My husband thought I was crazy until I showed him forums of other ppls saying the exact same thing.

I may be totally off here but just wanted to share in case this info is helpful. Feel free to ask me questions about it. I have successfully treated it and happy to say I have my skin back and a lot of my body stopped itching too.

[dozzer15]

Thank you everyone I feel better knowing I'm not the only one. Not that if wish it on anyone else x

[VeronicaF]

I hope it gets better real soon

[dozzer15 in reply to VeronicaF]

Thank you x

[masonman]

Hi Dozzer, I get Aproderm on prescription and use it most days in the shower.

Regards

[dozzer15 in reply to masonman]

I think I will ask my doctor for some, thank you x

[masonman in reply to dozzer15]

You are welcome, hope it works for you.

Regards

[Tabitha73]

Definately worth mentioning it to your Dr. Piriton liquid works for me for itching...I have had allergic reactions to the RA meds and itching until I want to claw my skin off.

[VeronicaF in reply to Tabitha73]

was that on the H drug Tabitha73?

[Tabitha73 in reply to VeronicaF]

Benepali is the cause, the specialist took me off Benepali, had been fine for 18months, and was eventually put onto Orencia (abatacept) but after 3 injections the itching came back with a vengenance.

Specialist is currently looking into if Benepali recently changed any of the way the product is made as no reaction for so long and if there are any similar processes in the way Benepali is made and Orencia as it may be I am allergic to a compound they use to make rather than the whole drug ITMS.

[Maxadolf]

Interestingly, I did suffer from acute itching around the calf of my legs to the point of causing bleeding through over-zealous scratching! I had only to touch my lower legs or have clothing contacting them and the itching would start. And then I began to suspect that the condition (which was being treated with cream and a steroid) might be due to a medication. I stopped taking Simvastatin, in part, because the latest medical metastudies stood the alleged benefits of statins on their head.

I had been taking the statin for 13 years under the advice of my GP who, along with other GPs in the UK, were financially incentivised to prescribe the statins for patients reaching 65, even without them having excessively high cholesterol levels! The effect of no longer taking the statin was not immediate, but 2 months later I suddenly became aware that I no longer suffered from the itching.

My GP was quite happy prescribing topical applications indefinitely, instead of questioning a causal link with my regular medications!!!

If you’re on medications then, if you are able to, one at a time stop taking a particular medication, but bear in mind that any improvement effect will not be immediate. With discontinuation of the statin the disappearance of the itching took between 1 and 2 months. Please let me know if discontinuation of a particular medication works for you.

[dozzer15]

Hi, I take Methotrexate, folic acid, Retuximab infusions, Omeprazole and Gaviscon none of which I can stop but I've been on them for years and this problem has only started recently. Labels on clothes have always bothered me so I have to cut them off but this is a different kind of an itch x

[Winkles]

Yes, itchy arms and shoulders especially when getting warm. No obvious answer but taking an antihistamine helps and dipribase cream from the doctors makes a difference. Not sure if it's the drugs although experts say it's not...

[Seenie]

Definitely ask the consultant. My itching drove me squirrelly and it turned out to be psoriasis. That in turn got me a Psoriatic Arthritis diagnosis.

[HevJ]

Hi

As well as RA I have an autoimmune skin condition. The RA meds don’t irritate it. However years ago I had the same feelings you are describing. I wanted just to peel my skin off! I mentioned it to my GP who sent me for a blood test. He said that itch / pin prick feeling is often something underlying. For me I was severely anaemic and lacking in another vitamin. Within a few months fine. It then happened a few years later when pregnant- it got worse with my second pregnancy. Nothing related to my skin condition.

Definitely worth a trip to the GP.