# Help me diagnose my weird itching... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 27, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538 "2013-01-27T17:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/21 "2013-01-28T17:34:04Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > And I can’t really go around holding my boob all day! 😃 Here, let me… ah, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/22 "2013-01-28T17:47:10Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Bleh. Yeah…you just identified why I don’t want to go to a dermatologist, even if I could afford one. I already fight weight gain, and I’m not willing to play with immune suppressing drugs for anything this minor. I’m the sole breadwinner and I work as a nurse; I get sick with so much as a sniffle and I can’t go to work and expose my patients. I don’t work, we don’t have any income. it could be something at the hospital. When I was an NA, I got rashes from the stupid hand sanitizer we had to use every 30 seconds. I’d rather just wash my hands constantly than use the hand sanitizing foam. Plus I eventually I found out I am allergic to Icy Hot, so no more muscle creams for me. Also, I get weird spontaneous rashes as well, and I just chalk it up to hormones. I have PCOS and now I am pregnant, so weird unexplainable rashes come with the territory. I take benadryl to sleep and maybe put benadryl cream or cortisone on during the day. I have had a reoccurring rash under my right arm, in the arm pit area for almost 15 years now. I went to the dermatologist once, they tried to diagnose it as a yeast infection, even tough I kept explaining to them cortisone is the only thing that gets rid of it, and I was given a anti-yeast cream, which of course just made it worse because I wasn’t using the cortisone, so I totally support your decision to not waste time at a doctors. You know what relives it and it is likely not an indication of anything serious, just a sensitive immune response. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/23 "2013-01-28T18:03:22Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Here, let me… ah, never mind. You’re too kind. 😃 > [@April\_R](#): > > it could be something at the hospital. I do home nursing. I suppose it could be something in someone’s home, although I don’t spend a lot of time with my boob hanging out. (Not that kind of nursing! Har har.) But maybe something gets under my nails and then I touch me… Well, if that’s it, there’s really no identifying it, so I’ll just deal. And wash my hands more. > [@](#): > > I have PCOS and now I am pregnant, so weird unexplainable rashes come with the territory. YAY! And may you never experience PUPPP. I did. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/24 "2013-01-28T19:18:25Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > YAY! And may you never experience PUPPP. I did. Ugh. Oh, I do have that a little bit, on my arms and legs as of right now, but I am starting to get it on my belly. I just live off of benadryl so I can sleep some nights, ☹ ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/25 "2013-01-29T02:35:23Z")
Some liver problems can cause itching. I seriously doubt that’s what it is in your case, but thereya go. Maybe a vitamin deficiency? IANAD. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/26 "2013-01-29T03:13:29Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Some liver problems can cause itching. I seriously doubt that’s what it is in your case, but thereya go. > > Maybe a vitamin deficiency? > > IANAD. Yeah, I’d heard the term “cholestasis of pregnancy” from the various pregnancy books. I didn’t recall the details, but recalled that itching was one of the major symptoms and sometimes it required delivering the baby early. And I remember thinking with contempt “deliver the baby early? just for itching???”. If there’s a God, s/he’s got a really nasty sense of humor. I developed what I presume to be cholestasis, because of my gallbladder issues (I imagine a gallstone was basically causing a blockage)… and oh. my. gawd the ITCHING. To this day, when someone tells me their gallbladder attacks were worse than childbirth, I say “meh, sure the pain sucked, but the itching was far, far worse”. From [here](http://www.medicinenet.com/primary_biliary_cirrhosis/page8.htm#pbcitch): > [@medicinenet](#): > > Characteristically, the itching in PBC begins in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. Later, it may affect the entire body. The intensity fluctuates in a circadian rhythm, meaning that the itching can worsen at night and improve during the day. Nocturnal itching can disrupt sleep and lead to sleep deprivation, fatigue, and depression. Rarely, the itching is so severe and unresponsive to therapy that the person may become suicidal. This pattern doesn’t sound like WhyNot’s symptoms but it certainly couldn’t hurt to discuss it the next time she’s at the doc. Maybe get a standing scrip for some bloodwork to be done the next time you have a bad flareup? ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/27 "2013-01-29T06:48:45Z")
I tend to use zinc and castor oil cream on my various unknown source itchiness - works for me but ymmv ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538/28 "2013-01-29T18:41:32Z")
If it starts with annoying itching when you take your bra off at night, what happens when you go a whole day without wearing one? Or, have you tried leaving it on overnight? Anyway, I’m of the opinion that testing an elimination diet would not hurt. I know several older women who, while not full-blown celiacs, felt better in a variety of ways after cutting wheat from their diets. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-diagnose-my-weird-itching/648538.md?page=1)