Post Punk Kitchen Forum

HELP! My arms and legs and belly are unbelievably itchy and irritated, and they have been for the last couple of weeks. Nothing seems to help. I am apparently scratching in my sleep because I will wake up with red welts on my arms. I wish I could shed my skin like a snake. That would feel so good right now.

Any advice?

Is it itchy because its dry? Try drizzling a little baby oil or sesame oil in a hot tub before bed ... works for me!

1. oatmeal bath (2 cups oatmeal in luke warm tub)
2. avc wash (apple cider vinegar mixed with water 1:1, rub on affected skin, rinse)
3. coconut oil/lime mositurizer

Maybe it is dry skin, erinwyso, but not like any I've had before. It burns. It feels a little bit like sunburn as it is tender to the touch. I'll try the baby oil bath, though.

Momo, I am out of apple cider vinegar, but I'll have to get some ASAP.

Do you have brand-new sheets on your bed? New sheets always make me itch.

That's how my skin is in dead of winter. Especially my thighs. I scratch and claw so hard that for the past month my thighs have been covered with bruises. It's crazyyy. I need to get baby oil. I use a lottttt of sensitive skin/unscented moisturizer mixed with vaseline.

Winter skin makes me itch all over. I put on lotion as soon as I get out of the shower at night and again when I get dressed in the morning. I also have to have my husband slather my back in lotion which makes me squeal because it's cold stuff! But it makes me itch less.

I get itchy when I'm really excited. I don't do anything about it because itchy dancing is fun!

Good Lard that's hot.

New laundry soap? I get itchy like that if there's a scent to my laundry detergent.

The only reason I've got so itchy is dry skin. I second getting some thick lotion (oils haven't worked for me in the past, apart from when I put them in the bath) or vaseline type stuff and slather yourself up.

My recipe for no winter itch (seriously, this is the only combo that has ever worked for me):
- Scrubby exfoliating soap OR Philosophy body wash followed by Lush's buffy bar (it's an exfoliator and moisturizer in one that you use in the shower)
- Get out and slather myself in Philosophy Amazing Grace moisturizer and Lush's Ultrabalm on any really dry bits

Works like a charm.

I slather myself in an ungodly amount of cocoa butter as soon as I get out the shower. I also make sure I exfoliate with some good body scrub when I'm in the shower. If you're using a lotion already, you might want to make sure it doesn't have alcohol in it. That will dry out your skin like crazy. Also, I second the oil and/or oatmeal bath options.

Is that...is that sarcasm I detect??

No way! That quote could be straight from one of those new vampire romance novels. Just not in the context of itching, though.

Vampire romance novels. Huh.

If it's not just dry skin, I'd think about whether you have switched to any new products (laundry detergent, lotion, soap) lately.

A few years ago, my legs itched so badly that I couldn't sleep at night and would scratch them till they hurt or bled for months. And I slathered them in lotion and hydrocortizone cream and took an oatmeal bath and NOTHING worked. Then my dad was like, "Have you changed laundry detergents?"

I realized I had and the only difference was that the new detergent had chamomile in it. I stopped using it, and the itch stopped. Except when I shaved sometimes. Then I discovered my shaving lotion had chamomile! Switched, and no more itch! So apparently, I'm allergic to chamomile when used as a botanical in cleansing products.

I've done it before too, I got up to go pee in the morning and I was looking at my bare thighs and they had like, black and blue bruises all over them. I could NOT for the life of me figure out what happened, until I realized later that day that I was violently scratching that area. It was really crazy.

I've never been bruised by it but I've woken up with my legs torn up and bloody. I figured it was the angry bear who lives in my closet. When I put on lotion, the smell repels him. When I forget, he comes out and scratches.

Do you have really hot showers? I used to get super itchy all the time, and it was because I had scalding hot showers and it dried my skin out like crazy. The shower at my new house doesn't get that hot, and I haven't been itchy since I moved here.

I get super dry itchy winter skin, and the only thing that fixes it is dry body brushing, then a shower, then coconut oil. (this fixed my keratosis pilaris too)

Also, once my whole body broke out in hives, huge red whelts and I couldnt stop itching, it drove me to tears on more than one occasion, I tried changing everything, laundry detergent, products I was using etc to figure out what it was. Turns out I was pregnant. Just sayin...

ETA I also recently bought a humidifier for my bedroom, and nary an itch in sight since I've been using it.

I would definitely check to see if you have any new products in your life or medicine. The same thing happened to me when my parents switched detergent, but it turned out I was allergic to an antibiotic I had been given for an ear infection. Being that itchy is totally miserable, so definitely rule out everything you can.