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Conditions

Pruritis

All over itching is all over irritating and could have any one of a number of explanations. It might be caused by an allergy to food, cosmetics, metals or fabric dyes, or it could be down to an infection like thrush, athlete’s foot or chickenpox or possibly even an insect bite like that from head lice. A skin disease can sometimes explain the itching, such as dry skin, eczema or hives – or it might be caused by a hormonal change such as pregnancy or the menopause. Failing all else it could be a symptom of an underlying systematic disease like diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease or anemia. To put it plainly, whatever the cause, it might be a while before you are able to diagnose it and find the exact treatment you need. Working with your doctor to eliminate possible culprits and to experiment with different creams and ointments should hopefully lead you towards a solution, until then get someone to tape some boxing gloves to your hand – scratching never helps!

Comments and Questions

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Please note: Unfortunately Channel 4 cannot respond to individual inquiries. If you have any concerns, you can check out NHS Choices, but ultimately it is always best to check with a health professional.

im am 24 and for about 3 months i have had heat bumps kinda thing that are really itchy i keep scratching my belly is red and sore my arms ive made bleed its slowly spreading more down my back and onto my bottom





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I am a 37yr old man and I seem to constantly sratch my scrotom like a cats does to a sratching post. But i also seem to sweat considerable in the groin area which results in my underpants and trousers eroding. What is wrong





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my daughter is 12 yaers old and face is filled with scratch marks her face and body has blood all over it we have to change her pillow case in the morning night and afternoon and its so much hard work,so hopeully you dont get as bad as my daughter and i would go to the docter if you have already been go to the hitalspital coz all it will do is get worse i have tried over 120 lotions for my daghter but all they do is make it work.good luck and make sure it dosnt get as worse as my daghters xxxx.





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My daughter is 13 and has recently started scratching her face during the night. it 1st happened a couple of months ago and seemed to be a 1 off. However, in the past week she has scratched the right hand side of her mouth one night, her nose and upper lip 2 nights ago, and now has 4 scratch marks under her right eye and a scratch on the left side of her mouth. They are quite bad and are not just raised lines or a bit red but have dried blood on them when she gets up which is then scabbing over. Can you help?





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I have suffered for 24yrs now from what i can only call "A skin Reaction to water/sweat and even rain" Fiona(question dated 26th April,My post is underneath saves me re-typing) describes it to a T...Same place(Upper body),Same rash everything! Ive had countless blood tests,Antihistamines,Creams etc the latest is Doxepin(Sinepin) but that just made me a zombie,I felt like i was living in a dream world needless to say after 3months ive stopped taking it but it did calm the reaction slightly but not enough for me to become a zombie permantly that was 5 month ago. Im considering going back to drs again in a hope he will try something else as i really truely cant cope with it for much longer...My last resort is to stop bathing/washing full stop its that bad. I've also got what i call hyper-sensitive and extremely dry skin I have to be very careful what products i use,but as fast as i put them on my skin absorbs it fast and i have to re-apply.I also used to suffer from dermititis for 4yrs when i was younger 1st flared up when i was a hairdresser to the point of it was eating my fingernails,cracking,bleeding and weeping I eventually gave up hairdressing because of it and yes i wore gloves but they just made my hands worse. I think my point is does anyone else suffer from this? And for how long? Did you find a solution? Im totally at my wits end with this now i just want some sort of normality or even 1 of those long soaks in the bath im always hearing about.





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Aqua pruritis is a condition like this except there is no rash - mind you the skin is prety marked by the time you finish scratching. I have had this for ten years and it drives me mad. I bathe in very oily water and this helps altho it is very very slippery and you have to be careful. I am on a whole selecton of different antihistamines plus a low dose of steroids. It is a little better but still stopping me sleep - hence I am writing this at 1.35 am. There isn't a single cure because the causes can vary. Go back to your doctor and keep trying. Good luck

hi jane mine are the same they really get me down!! altho tis year i have to say iv managed to controll them by not gettin to cold or gettin in to a hot shower etc!! im hopin to see a specilest about them because im still not happy will post any finds here to hopefully help others!xXx





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I have a really itchy area of skin in my bottom crack around my anus it gets so bad that I cant help rubbing it through my underpants when Im alone I know that doesnt help and it always gets agitated when I wipe my bottom. Its not worms im certain of that. Ive tried Sudocreme and anti itch creams they dont work, I keep my bottom very clean, im very higenic. I just need to stop rubbing but it is very hard sometimes I just cave in.





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You should go on anti candida diet it cleaned up all my bum itching problems, take tea tree oil baths and rub garlic around the anus, chances are you got thrush too? Men get it too and you might not even know it, it looks like a white deposit under the foreskin or around the head and you will often have an itchy / sensitive possibly sore penis head.

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I am 28 years old and for the last 10 months, my face seems to be constantly itchy and feels as if I have tiny insects crawling all over it. I cannot stop touching my face for more than 10 minutes. I get spots regularly and am using minimal makeup, but would like to use more. Could this be a skin condition or something else?





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Hi, I am 16 years old and i've had verrucae's for about 3 year, and they didn't go away until last year as I had them freezed away. However, after this i've had this sort of after effect which has left my foot itchy which is just not bareable at all! I feel like I need to rub my foot for ages on a carpet to stop this itching and it makes my skin break obviously, and causes slight bleeding when I scratch away and then I get these under skin spots. Could this be athletes foot?





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I'm 16 and when I was 13 I remember getting a bunch of verruca's on my foot. I only got shot of them last year but everything I tried didn't work! So I had my foot frozed and it got rid of them. After that, I started getting an ithcy foot in the exact area where I had the verruca's and its extremly itchy. When I sweat, or when i've been wearing socks I feel like I need to rub my foot across the carpet to stop it itching. But after I do this, blind spots start appearing afterwards and they're really itchy and my skins all broken. The itchyness is just not bareable at all! Is this athletes foot and if so how can i get rid of it?





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It looks like no one else has asked this question, so please fill in the rest of your details below.





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