Good morning!

[miss_pryss]

I'm itchy. I've been itchy for a few days, now. It's bearable during the day but it's harder to deal with at night. I'm itchy on the soles of my feet, the palms of my hand, my armpits, my sides, my ankles, and some less mentionable areas. There's no outward sign: no redness or inflammation or anything. I'm just itchy.

This happened once before, in November of a couple years ago. It got worse and worse and then it went away. It lasted about a week, that time. I started taking benadryl at night every night, and I don't know if it made me less itchy or just knocked me out, but it did help. Maybe I'll take some tonight.

Anyway, now that I've googled this, I realize that I clearly have MS. This is why you should never, ever google your symptoms. You'll end up with a degenerative neurological disease.

Comments

[randomblade.livejournal.com]

Hm. My mum has M.S.

Current treatments are good if you catch it early. Do get checked.

[helenish.livejournal.com]

hey, when I google my symptoms, I'm always having a STROKE or ANGINA. Or Fibromyalgia. EVERYTHING is a symptom of Fibromyalgia.

Also: it's probably the weather changing - I don' t know a single person whose body isn't going completely bananas in some way with this weather.

[jacquez.livejournal.com]

I'm having that itchy right now! Well, not right now, because last night my husband looked at me and said "you know, it's been a HORRIBLE allergy week for me, and sometimes allergies make me itchy."

So I took one of his allergy pills and fifteen minutes later the itchy was gone. Even the bit in the unmentionable areas (thank GOD).

He uses the generic version of Claritin (loratadine?) which doesn't knock you out at all and isn't horrifically expensive, if you want to give that a go.

[kupukello.livejournal.com]

Spouse was having the same problem also, especially his palms and the soles of his feet started to itch with no visible cause. The third time it happened, he became swollen all over the place, and got a nasty rash everywhere also. It was hilarious and disgusting: you could poke him in the puffy arm, and the DENT STAYED! He finally went to see a doctor who got really serious and scared: Spouse had a severe penicillin allergy and the fourth time would have most likely killed him. The reason why he (or I for that matter) couldn't figure it out was that he had finished the course of penicillin a week or two ago, the symptoms just came after that time.

Now he's extremely careful with any prescription medicine; even when the allergy is mentioned in his papers, he makes sure any medication he gets doesn't contain any penicillin.

And me? I get all itchy every winter when the temperatures drop and after any long contact with water (SWIMMING!). No soap for me, but shower oil, two minute showers only and a litre of moisturizer afterwards. And I still ITCH!

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh -- I just finished a course of antibiotics just last week! There was about a 4-day interval btw finishing the antibiotics and starting itching. Maybe that's what it is!

[kupukello.livejournal.com]

It very well could be!! If not penicillin, it could be some other schtuff in the medication that's causing it! Shoo! To doctor with you! (Spouse didn't do anything but scratch the first two times, the third time it got so bad that even he had to admit a visit to the doctor might be a good idea ;)

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

!!! OK, now I am nervous. Happily, I'm seeing my implausibly talented and attentive primary-care doc in a few weeks for a check-up, so I'll be sure to mention it.

My auntie has M.S. as well, and my understanding is that although it's not strictly genetic, your chances go up if it's already in your family... so another reason to pay attention, I suppose.

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

I have a pal who always has Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

The weather is a good conjecture -- the last time this happened it was during a radical change in climate as well.

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

I'll have to try some of MY husband's loratadine, then! (He's also an allergic kind of guy). I did take some Benadryl during the day and it stopped the itching but I nearly fell asleep at my desk. I have rarely been so HIGH.

[miss-pryss.livejournal.com]

I've got a doc appt coming up in a few weeks; I think I can hold off till then especially as the itching has kind of died down in the last day or so. Thank goodness!

[kupukello.livejournal.com]

There isn't much they can do; Spouse got a heavy-duty antihistamine prescription and the doctor's condolences, and warnings about further use of penicillin. He survived the first two rounds rather easily, but the third was BAD, and the fourth, if one is to come, is supposed to make his throat swell shut etc *shivers in horror*

Not that yours is necessarily penicillin allergy, it could be some other ingredient in the medicine you were taking. My bet is that it was something in the medicine since you got the symptoms so close after you stopped taking it. Just like Spouse :D

[randomblade.livejournal.com]

Heh. Didn't mean to freak you out! A good GP is a fantastic thing to have. Stay healthy!