Dearest angels,
Once again I have terrible itching, all over, that is the hallmark of an allergic response to something I've ingested.
Most likely caused by: one of my medications.
Possible villain? The last addition is Losartan, an anti hypertensive medication.
I'm getting sooo tired of the whole medication thing (yeah, Joe I can hear you 'sighing' right now!) ;D
The other possibilities are endless as I have developed allergies after years on a medication. But I'll start with the Losartan while monitoring my BP closely.
I just started the Losartan in September, because the Lisinopril gave me the famous Lisinopril cough.
I take another anti hypertensive (blood pressure medication) Atenolol, which I've taken for 12 years. So I'm not discontinuing all blood pressure meds at once.
I also have a constant headache in the front of my head, sort of sick feeling. I think that's the left over gift of my respiratory infection which is in its 5th week, but who's counting?). And Losartan is associated with increased respiratory infections, above the placebo comparison.
I'm getting tired of all of this. Going into a bit of funk, I'm afraid.
I realized that every time I walk, since it's so difficult and exhausting, I get all upset about it again! My husband expects me to get stronger and be able to walk longer and longer.
I wonder if that's really possible? The physical therapist seemed to indicate that I wasn't going to improve markedly with time. Only accommodate better with a cane and the proper gait.
I am very tall and always had a fantastic 'walk'....smooth and graceful. Now I walk like a duck, and my feet flap.
I guess this is going to take extra effort at acceptance and patience, angels.
It's colder outside now, so I CAN go outside and walk, which I cannot do in the horrible heat and humidity here half the year.
I'll keep at it, and I know my husband means well, wanting to me get up and about.
I'll keep you posted on the itching and waddling and general b*itching as well!
Hugs
Elaine
I really doubt a medicine from Sept is just now causing you an itching side-effect. That doesn't make sense. Allergic responses are usually right after starting.
Have you had the itching before? I know you have neuropathy. Are you aware that itching can be from the neuropathy? Well, it can...and may be more likely in your case vs a medicine started 3 months ago. I get the itching from neuropathy...profound itching! It comes for a while then settles down...then starts back up a couple months later.
Hope you find the cause.
Anita, how interesting!
Does the itching occur randomly and all over? It seems to be mostly my head, but it can be everywhere, arms, 'private parts', and so on.
It got me up last night, which is very unusual.
I have had things take a while to build up to the itching. At least it stopped when I stopped the med. But who knows?
I also had a med send me into very close to anaphylatic shock on the second dose.
I'm really really really tired of this. Probably just the season, which depresses me every year, and every year I forget that this happens.
Right now the backs of my hands are itching slightly, isn't that weird.
I had the Nerve conduction studies and the needles in the muscles in my arms during the summer and appear not to have any PN in my arms. Or was it last Spring. That's the other thing, I'm tired of tests and little progress.
Pooh. I'm off and running with my gripes again!
eeek, shut me down.
Hugs
Elaine
Hi Carolina,
Oh my, I understand the itching all too well and I am sending you some ( ( H U G S ) ) (mine was caused by Doxycycline (used it for six weeks by then), and the docs had to put me on Benedryl for a week to finally get the itching to quit).
I understand what Anita is saying, but for me it was a rapid onset, not a slow builder. But then I always said that my body never has "acted normal" about anything ever. :-\
I sure do hope that you finally get an answer as to what is causing the itching soon.
Take care of yourself -
Patze
Carolina,
I get random itching and yes, it can be all over. Sometimes it's so bad that I just want to smack the skin because scratching does nothing to help...like the itch is down inside.
An EMG will not show small fiber neuropathy (only a skin biopsy) and this is were itching due to neuropathy comes from (unmylinated fibers).
There are many causes of itching (pruritis). Have you had this itching 'ever' before this medicine? Does benydril take it away?
Dear Anita and all,
The hard part is that I take TWO Benedryl EVERY night to help me sleep (since I can't do RX pain meds).
SO, I'm itching WHILE taking two Benedryl.
Now I'm noticing it in the day time, so it is progressing in severity.
I have itching reactions to: Codeine, Hydrocodone, Vicodan, Oxycontin, Talwin (real severe allergy there), Tramadol and an analog of Tramadol, Darvocet, Sulfa, Elmiron (given for interstitial cystitis), a couple of the anticonvulsants (Lamotragine, Topiramate), a maybe another one or two.
That list is the reason I think first of drug reactions. All these have become a problem in the past 11 years, and increasing over time.
I feel like I'm becoming impossible to myself!
Thanks for paying attention to this and for all the good advice and suggestions.
Hugs
Elaine
Oh, Elaine! That all over itching is maddening. I had that when I tried Tramadol for pain. Not only did I itch all over, but scratching ONLY MADE IT WORSE! Argh! I will say a special prayer for you.
About the walking: I can totally relate. I am not terribly tall, but tall enough (5'7") that I have always stood a bit taller than a lot of ladies plus I have always liked modest heels with my work outfits. I used to lift weights MANY year ago, and always walked with a brisk confidence. Most evenings, I shuffle my feet, barely able to pick them up off the ground, and slouched over no less! I hate looking pitiful, as I am certain you do.
Vent away, my friend. We understand and (literally) fee your pain.
Soft, non-abrasive HUGS,
KellyG :D
I really feel for you. Lord, it all gets on top of you every so often, doesn't it? And husbands, GRRRR! They can be so wonderful, and other times they just DON'T GET IT!
And itching while taking 2 Benadryl? Just awful.
Something to throw into the mix - one time when I had really bad itching, but no mosquito bites, my doctor said it could be a sign of liver trouble and ordered up a liver panel.
Please gd, yours is fine like mine was, but is it worth looking at?
Wishing you peace of mind and freedom from every annoyance to your skin, mind and soul,
Suzie
Carolina,
Your "list" is common for itching. All those drugs are known for itching side-effects. So I wouldn't automatically assume this other medicine is the culprit.
Did you have any itching before you started the medicine?
Elaine,
I'm so sorry you are suffering like this. After having intense itching for a while, I think anyone would get a bit grumpy. I certainly do!
Someone posted that the itching may be from neuropathy and it well could be. Personally, I've experienced intense itching from neuropathy and from drug reactions. Both STINK! Either way, I pray that you find relief soon.
I will be praying for you.
Jorja
Sorry to hear that you're suffering with itching.
I have been too for the last 6 months. Can't figure out what is causing it. I was blaming it on meds but am now down to just vitamins.
I'm being tested for food allergies next week and I'm going to ask them to throw in a check for goose down feathers. Spent good money on a very nice goose down feather pillow. Feels great to sleep on, but wonder if it's the cause of my itching.
Might be due to neuropathy as I have that as well.
Feeling your pain.
Hope you find relief soon,
Debbie
I have yet to experience this awful itching and I hope I never do. I'm so sorry Elaine. I hope it eases up fast!!
Carolina my friend,
I am so sorry you are going thru all this. Is it itching or pins and needles feelings? My skin gets dry in the winter and I tend to itch also. My Rheumy just told me about Gold Bond cream and I have been using it since Sat and boy my skin feels better already.
I am having a terrible time with my dry feet and hands splitting. I have been using pedifix on my feet and the Gold Bond on my hands. They are much better.
I pray that you get some relief soon so you can rest. It is a terrible thing when you feel so down.
Keep your chin up!
hugs and prayers, harlin
I took Nexium for several years and it just now began to make me itch. You can develop an allergy to something at any time.
I recently found out I was itching from a PROBIOTIC. Very weird and so unexpected.
Hope you feel better soon!
I see you're not on Plaquenil but it makes me itch all over from time to time. Of course, that's not an allergy, just one of those weird side effects some of us get!
I don't know anything about the medication you're on, but itching as an adverse reaction isn't necessarily an allergy (and often isn't) so perhaps your doctor can help you sort out the cause of this and whether or not this medication's benefits outweigh the extremely annoying side effects (if it is the med causing the itching!) The first time Plaquenil gave me that awful scalp itch I had to take Benadryl to try to help with it, but I think all it did was help me sleep through the misery ;)
You guyz are the greatest!
Jazzlover, I hadn't thought of the probiotic, or the Omeprazole (which I've taken for years).
I didn't take the Losartan (latest addition) last night, and had no itching. So, perhaps that is it. Though my head and face itch this morning a bit. But nothing like the misery of Saturday night.
It's always tricky to separate the regular ick from the super ick at this stage, I've found.
It would be ironic if I ended my life with itching.
My first 27 years were a nightmare of eczema, sometimes covering almost every inch of my body, nipples and scalp, face included.
And this was BEFORE cortisone creams and Benedryl. I used lovely things like cold tar ointment and shampoo (which really had to be akin to using some of the weird remedies from the middle ages).
The mantra in my family was, "Elaine, stop scratching!" "Don't scratch, you'll make it worse".
Anyway, I'm giving it thought.
Let me post the list of tests I have in JUST the past 18 months, to give you an idea of why I don't look for liver problems or vitamin deficiencies or thyroid probelms.
This isn't ALL the tests, and the two years preceeding this list had spinal taps, EEGs, many MRI's etc.
10/11/2011 Cardiology DCR Echo Note
10/10/2011 CULTURE BACTERIA URINE
10/10/2011 DUAP URINALYSIS CHEMICAL
10/03/2011 BASIC METABOLIC PANEL
10/03/2011 LIPID PANEL
10/03/2011 HEPATIC FUNCTION PANEL
09/30/2011 IMMUNOGLOBULINS (IGG,IGM,IGA)
09/30/2011 IMMUNOGLOBULIN E
09/27/2011 CTA CHEST W/WO ENH + PP
09/27/2011 CREATININE
09/23/2011 URINALYSIS COMPLETE
09/23/2011 CULTURE BACTERIA URINE
09/16/2011 URINALYSIS COMPLETE
09/16/2011 CULTURE BACTERIA URINE
09/13/2011 HAND-RIGHT 3 VIEWS
09/13/2011 HAND-LEFT 3 VIEWS
09/13/2011 CHEST-ROUTINE PA AND LAT
09/13/2011 C3 COMPLEMENT
09/13/2011 G6PD ASSAY
09/13/2011 C4 COMPLEMENT
09/13/2011 BASIC METABOLIC PANEL
09/13/2011 AUTO BLOOD CT WITH AUTO DIFF
09/13/2011 HEPATITIS C VIRUS ANTIBODY
09/13/2011 SEDIMENTATION RATE-AUTOMATED
09/13/2011 ANGIOTENSIN CONVERTING ENZYME
09/13/2011 IGG SUBCLASSES, SERUM
09/13/2011 URINALYSIS COMPLETE
04/04/2011 LIPID PANEL
04/04/2011 HEPATIC FUNCTION PANEL
03/22/2011 BASIC METABOLIC PANEL
03/22/2011 CBC W/O DIFF
03/14/2011 MM CAD SCR MAMMO
03/14/2011 Mammogram screening bilateral
03/10/2011 Myocardial Perfusion Study
03/10/2011 DCR Arterial Doppler Lower Ext
03/07/2011 BASIC METABOLIC PANEL
02/07/2011 HEPATIC FUNCTION PANEL
02/07/2011 LIPID PANEL (CALCULATED LDL)
09/07/2010 DUAP URINALYSIS CHEMICAL
08/02/2010 LUMBAR SPINE COMP W FLEX-EXT
08/02/2010 Cerv Spine complete W flex-ext
08/02/2010 LUPUS ANTICOAGULANT EVALUATION
08/02/2010 IMMUNOFIXATION,SERUM
08/02/2010 SM ANTIBODY
08/02/2010 TTG IGA AND IGG
08/02/2010 ENDOMYSIAL ANITBODY IGA
08/02/2010 PROTEIN ELECTROPHORESIS SERUM
08/02/2010 URINE PROTEIN ELEC RANDOM
08/02/2010 THIAMINE B1, WHOLE BLOOD
08/02/2010 CYCLIC CITRULLINATED PEP AB
08/02/2010 VITAMIN B6/PYRIDOXINE
08/02/2010 RNP ANTIBODY
08/02/2010 CHEMISTRY MISCELLANEOUS TEST
08/02/2010 SJOGRENS A/SSA AB
08/02/2010 SJOGRENS B/SSB AB
08/02/2010 CRYOGLOBULIN
08/02/2010 ANTI NEUTROPHIL CYTOPLASMIC AB
08/02/2010 CARDIOLIPIN AB (IGA, IGG, IGM)
08/02/2010 ANTI-NUCLEAR ANTIBODIES
08/02/2010 RHEUMATOID FACTOR SCREEN
08/02/2010 SCLERODERMA ANTIBODY
08/02/2010 ANTI JO1
07/02/2010 AUTO BLOOD CT WITH AUTO DIFF
07/02/2010 FERRITIN
07/02/2010 C REACTIVE PROTEIN-HIGH SENSIT
07/02/2010 COMPREHENSIVE METABOLIC PANEL
07/02/2010 VITAMIN D TOTAL, 25OH
07/02/2010 THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE
07/02/2010 LIPID PANEL (C REFLEX DIR LDL)
07/02/2010 DUAP URINALYSIS CHEMICAL
07/02/2010 SEDIMENTATION RATE-AUTOMATED
I don't want any more TESTS!
Hugs
Elaine
Good grief!!! :o
Elaine, do you have a lab tech who perhaps has long and pointed fangs teeth?
Elaine,
Itching is maddening. There are always so many possibilities. This discussion, though, has turned up a couple of contenders: medications, and peripheral neuropathy. If it's on the skin, it's more likely to be medicine; if it's "inside" the skin, it's more likely to be PN. I often don't find which it is until I start to scratch. If I can't get at it, because it's not on the surface, then I figure it's PN.
"And by scratching, scratching, we'll come 'round right!"
This season is definitely not my favorite, either.
But the days do get longer, starting Thursday. More sun, no heat yet. All goooood!
(except for snow and ice, I had to add, just to be honest!)
Soycoffee
Caroline, I am sorry that you are backing to consuming your time with the itch-scratch cycle. I do want you to know that it is not unusual and it is very common for people to develop an allergy to a food or a medication after years of taking them. This is just the way the body is. There is othing sacred when it comes to allergies.
My husband was on Spireva inhaler for many months before he started itching. We stopped all the newest drugs or the ones that seemed more likely to cause itching and hives and to no avail. For some reason I decided to look up the inhaler never thinking that it would be the culprit.
Darned if it wasn't the inhaler. After months of being on it he started to itch all over his body but not always at the same time. Some hives appeared also. He stomusclepped the inhaler and in a week he was better. He had taken so much medication and used to many creams and none of them helped.
One thing I do want to mention though is that benedryl can cause a bad case of reflux. Years ago my hubby developed a rash on his body that was bad and ended up taking benedryl several times a day for a month or so. By the end of the month he had the worst case of reflux and had to be put on a med for that.
It turns out that benedryl relaxes the sphincter/muscle at the top of the stomach causing the reflux of the gastric acid into the esophagus. That is something I didn't know until it happened to him. Just to let you know.
Also, I don't take benedryl anymore as it sedates me so badly. I have a tendency to develop itching and little hivey things that can keep increasing. My immunologist put me on the Xyzal for these skin eruptions to keep them from getting worse. It is a second cousin to Zytec but doesn't cause the sedation.
It is spendy but I don't use it that often so I continue to stay with it. I can take that pill and my itching will stop within about 45 minutes and stay gone. I had a whole body hivey reaction to my first IVIG infusion product after using it for one year. I started itching under my arms and in 10 minutes it was all over my body. My lips swelled up but it didn't go into my airway which was a miracle. That little pill really helped me through the event along with some extra IV push steroids.
Hope your itching comes to a halt. Once those histamines get released they can raise havoc. Irish ;D
Dear all,
Last night I popped all my pills into my mouth, and as I was swallowing I realized the Losartan (anti hypertensive) was in the mix.
Soo, another itchy night, with achy arms, hands, legs and feet.
I'm going to take them all out of all the pills boxes today.
If it turns out they aren't the culprit (tho' it looks sorta like that now) I can put them back in.
Thanks soycoffee and Irish for the thoughtful posts.
I would say the itching is more surface that not, soy.
I take Benedryl precisely because it makes me sleepy, tho' it may be fogging me up round the clock, as well.
I don't get the reflux, in fact I've never had it even tho I have the hiatal (hiatus?) hernia condition.
Sometimes Aleve bothers me a bit, but it's in my stomach, I take some Tums, and try to be more careful for a while (whatever that means).
That allergic reaction is really scary, Irish. I had it with my second Talwin (pain killer not used much now because of side effects, but my Orthopedist tried it) pill. I spent the entire day in bed after a night of gobs of Benedryl. I also had the lips swelling and all your symptoms.
I am getting more and more suspicious of everything I take. Sigh.
Thank goodness for this forum.
Hugs
Elaine