# Itch

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 5, 2017, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752 "2017-11-05T05:06:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Williams40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bb73d2/32.png) [@Williams40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Williams40)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752/1 "2017-11-05T05:06:24Z")

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Male age 76 on doxycycline antibiotics for sepsis in friction. I have a severe itch all over my back area

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**Author:** ![Williams40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bb73d2/32.png) [@Williams40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Williams40)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752/2 "2017-11-05T05:11:06Z")

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Male age 76 on doxycycline for sepsis infection I have a severe itch all over my back area.what is causing this.i had diyalisis as my kidneys failed .home now but have this itch.tryed using creams but nothing works

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752/3 "2017-11-05T05:18:06Z")

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Medical advice is best suited to IMHO.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator

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**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752/4 "2017-11-05T09:32:06Z")

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Itching can be a problematic symptom of kidney disease. The buildup of waste products in the body causes the itch.

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**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752/5 "2017-11-05T11:08:22Z")

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As a person who is allergic to a shit-ton of antibiotics, I’d say, call the doctor. Most of them give me an _intense_ itch that starts everywhere I have visible hair (crotch, pits, scalp, especially right around the edge of my scalp), and then moves down my neck and up my back from my crotch to cover my back and butt-- albeit, it only got that bad once. Now, I know if I have just a little itch to get off a medication STAT, and take some Benadryl.

My doctor says each exposure could make the allergy worse, and I could need an epi-pen some day. I’m 50, and that has not happened, and my first itch attack was when I was 20, although I may have had milder ones that I confused with chigger bites, or something, before that.

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**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2017, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/itch/800752/6 "2017-11-05T11:13:58Z")

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Try an oatmeal bath, they are really wonderful and always bring relief.  
Good Luck!