It's not lice or bedbugs what the HECK is it?

I itch. Constantly. Along my hairline, jawline, neck and down between my breasts. What is causing this?! I have driven the school nurse insane and she has finally refused to check me again for imaginary lice. I have changed sheets, bleached mattress covers and vacuumed the bed. My husband has assured me that it’s not any kind of pest or communicable infestation, otherwise he would have it by now, too! It’s been a month and a half and still…itchy, with little bumps! I have no scaly skin, no white flaking, no lesions or raised patches. It’s not on my hands, arms, feet, or nether regions. I haven’t changed shampoos, laundry detergents or soap. It’s driving me up the wall!

My mom says stress will cause it, but it’s not like a fine rash of hives. It’s tiny bumps on my scalp and neck and breasts…
So what the heck is it? How can I stop it? Is it really stress? If so, then I’m screwed because I’ve been totally stressed just trying to figure out what the hell it is!

FaerieBeth

sorry, no solution here…i hope someone out there can help you…SOON!

It could be lots of things from an allergic reaction of some kind to a chronic skin condition etc… Have you been to see an actual dermatologist?

http://quickcare.org/skin/rashes.html
this site may be helpful to you…
Considering the locations it could also be a possible reaction to sunlight. Particular medicines can make one very photo-sensitive especially some anti-biotics and skin creams.
You might try some high value sun block, use a moisturizing one for best results.

Do you have pets? It’s possible that it could be fleas. They are notoriously difficult to get rid of. A few years ago my husband and I had a problem with them on one of our couches. He never noticed a thing, but I would always get bit. Some people are more sensitive to bites and reactions, I suppose.

While you may get rid of any pests with a one-shot cleaning or treatment, the eggs will stay and can hatch at any point up to six months from when they’ve been laid, so it’s an ongoing process to get rid of them. The bite marks are very small raised bumps, and you tend to itch all over. I noticed that most of the bites would be around my hairline, the back of my neck and shoulders. It sounds very similar to what you’re experiencing.

We don’t have any indoor pets, and I’m not on any antibiotics or medications. A dermatologist is my next order of business, too. Benedryl does seem to help it if I take the proper dosage without forgetting to keep it up.

It’s just so weird. Thanks for the help so far.

FB

I get this too, but I haven’t quite worked out what it is yet. Considering it’s location, it may possibly be a reaction to your shampoo. You may have not changed brands, but the manufacturer may have changed the formula ( I got a reaction from opening a new box of Surf washing powder, even though I’d been using it for years).

I found mine calmed down at lot after using Fenjal shower oil, it only contains about 4 ingredients.

I started a similar thread a while back. A Doper recommended drinking more water. Drinking more water can’t hurt.

Teh only thing I can think of that no one else has mentioned is KP, and the only reason I think of it is that my daughter has it right now. I’ll probably get this name wrong, but I think it’s keratosis pyloris? Daughter’s started with itchy bumps too, but she was scratching at it and it got infected, and started oozing. If you’re going to the dermatologist anyway, you may want to mention KP and see if that rings any bells for them.

\My only advice is don’t use the Bendryl cream AND oral Benadryl together - one or the other, because apparently you can OD on Benadryl.

It sounds like it may be a milder case of atopic eczema. It can be caused by lots of environmental agents. This site covers most things including weather influences.

Does that mean you have pets, just not ones that come indoors? If they live outside 24/7, they have fleas. If you ever touch them, the fleas might get on you. You don’t even have to touch them - just go into their little house or area or whatever.

I doubt you have what I had, but I’ll tell you about it anyway because it’s interestingly bizarre.

One night I started itching. Fiendishly itching, all over, everywhere. Really obscure places like the backs of my thighs and tummy, but every other square inch itched too. I stood it for as long as I could then scratched like crazy, and finally went to sleep.

The next morning I looked at myself in the mirror and found that I had this coloration all over me. It was dark purple and looked like a tattoo. Truly bizarre, and to quote Dave Barry I am not making this up. The coloration covered my entire body, including part of my face. It only itched a little by this time.

It took a while to fade away, too. I got tired of feeling like the Elephant Man everywhere I went by noon of the first day and visited the doctor. He was amazed, I think. He searched me all over for little bumps and found one, which I think was there already. He said it was definitely a rash of some sort.

I guess rashes are sometimes strange unexplained phenomena?

I had the rash, or whatever it was, for about a week. It faded a little each day. It was really crazy. I spent the entire week wondering what I had done to deserve it.

Finally I changed my diet a little. I had been drinking a lot more orange juice, so I stopped that. I changed my soap and shampoo and moisturizer. I washed my clothes in a different detergent and cleaned my dorm room thoroughly. It never came back so I suppose I did something right.

Maybe you could try changing the same things I did. Since this rash of yours seems to be an ongoing problem, if I were you I would certainly change all cleansers that you use on your body, as well as detergent and other types of hand soap. Clean the house too.

It doesn’t really sound much like fleas or mites to me, either.

Might be scabies. I’ve had that (them?) twice, and it sucks.

If the bits appear in straight-line patterns (of an inch or two in length), that might be it.

If it is an allergic thing, I find Claritin keeps the itching under control during the day and Benadryl works at night. Glad you’re going to see a dermatologist. My dermatologist can pick up stuff at 100 yards that leaves my GP standing there, staring blankly.

Thanks again to everyone for their thoughts on this.
As to scabies: I don’t think so…I’ve seen scabies on children, and their are no straight line patterns to mine, plus my hands/fingers are totally unaffected.

Fleas: We do have outdoor animals, but they are not my responsibility and I never go near them or their bedding areas. This would also not explain why these itchy spots mysteriously appear out of nowhere, even when I’m away from home (I spent a week on the Gulf Coast for Spring break)

Elysian, interestingly bizarre seems somewhat of an understatement :eek:

don’t ask, atopic eczema sounds kinda close. I have noticed that the more I scratch, the more seem to show up. If I keep my hands off myself, it seems to almost go away until I absently scratch without thinking.

The article states

and

It sound similar, but not as bad as they describe. Like I said, I have no scaling, or oozing, no raised patches, and nothing is even red, until I scratch it.

Anyway…thanks again for the input.

FaerieBeth

A good friend of mine just came down with a case of shingles. It was completely out of the blue, and she’s in her twenties. Again, the derm would know.

My skin has been kind of dry and itchy lately, and my psoriasis, which has been nearly-nonexistent for 10+ years, has decided to flare up again in a few spots. Maybe it’s the weather.