Itching

[Anneeileen1]

Hi everyone I've only recently been diagnosed with PBC but seem to have most symptoms so don't know how long I've had it .do you think what you eat can make itching worse I'm trying to change everything to low fat but sometimes stray especially when tired .

[Hidden]

Hello Anneeileen1.

I was diagnosed with itching back in Dec 2010 when I was 46. I started itching early on in 2010, reason I went to see a GP. At the time I had fatigue that I never thought about. Started taking urso Dec 2010 and some point during 2011 fatigue vanished but still itch. That has improved and usually it is night time.

I think from personal experience the itch isn't something that can go away regarding waht we eat. Some will diagree. I have tried things myself over the last 4+yrs now and I have to say I've found no difference. My bloods have dropped with time but they are still abnormal but not abnormally so.

Given bile is needed to act like a detergent on fats and fat is needed for those fat soluble vitamins we can have problems asorbing in PBC I simply cut a little bit more fat out of what I considered to be a healthy diet pre-itching 2010.

I have tried gluten-free for a few months due to my son having what was a temporary bowel problem and he was advised to cut out wheat gluten in particular temporarily. Can't say for me it made any difference and my bloods I doubt it altered them anymore than they would otherwise.

The one thing I did find could stop me itching temporarily is something that we can not live with doing. I had some bad days following diagnosis, the itch was not so good and I did feel pretty run down for awhile. I did have an odd day over the first 2yrs after diagnosis where I had a bad night's sleep due to itching and being a Sunday when it was a leisure day I often stayed in bed until early afternoon thus not eating anything. I didn't take the urso on these odd days too as to me if you don't eat you don't need the urso. (I have to stress that in that time I only did have 4 days spaced out in months that I did this.) I did find miraculously that the itch vanished for a few days following. I think maybe due to the bloodstream not having to carry what it normally would when we eat and drink normally.

I have stuck to a healthy diet and did ask if there was anyting I had to avoid when diagnosed. I was informed just to keep eating how I was doing. I do think that having a diet that is lower in fat - I don't eat fried foods, take-aways and the like, to be truthful never really have - it can help as to my way of thinking we would require less bile and itching is supposed to be thought to come from used bile following digestion. I think due to it being in the bloodstream that is why we can itch anywhere on the body.

You've only been recently diagnosed and I have been there with this itch and it seems we can be different after starting urso. For some it improves as it has done in my case. I do get odd nights when it gets a bit much but for me I find it has vanished from around 5-6 a.m. I do know in my case it has taken some time and I find it tolerable now unlike back in 2010 when it was 24/7.

I bathe every morning in a warm water bath (alternate between just water one day, another with something added) and I tend to find I have felt better during the day. Maybe because the skin pores have been opened in the water as it is reckoned used bile salts eek their way out through the skin pores. I think this process though supposed to be a protection for us, the salts react with the tiny nerve endings and that is why we itch.

[Anneeileen1 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you very much for your reply .its such a strange illness and I seem to get symptoms that last a couple days and then go replaced by something else .trying to find out all I can thanks

[cazz22 in reply to Anneeileen1]

Yes I def agree that the diet can cause problems.try eating a lot of vegetables for a couple of days(I'm not a vegetarian by the way)and drink lots of water it seems to help.every so often I crave chocolate and a bit won't do but I pay for it with upset tum and the odd prickle(I don't suffer from itching yet)after reading how some people suffer it quickly gets me on the straight and narrow

[Anneeileen1]

Thanks cazz22 .i love chocolate too but have tried not eat any .found some low fat mousses in m and s but they were chocolate but thought they would be o.k. Wrong !!!

[Hidden in reply to Anneeileen1]

Out of interest Anneeileen1.

Seems that it is said that in PBC some of us can find that we don't feel quite right following eating certain foods.

I have to say that I use cocoa in instant porridge for breakfast several times a week and I hve no problems. I'm not a bit chocolate eater myself but do like the odd bit now and then. I am preferential to white chocolate.

I know there is iron in dark chocolate and cocoa and to me I'd ratherhave a varied diet with the odd treat. I know by using cocoa in cereal it is probably better than buying the instant chocolate version as I don't add sugar to my breakfast cereals, never have since I left home at 18.

I know where desserts go I would choose a fruit over a chocolate usually.