I wonder how much a total body skin graft would cost....
I know a lot of people reading this have had strange and inexplicable
health problems. I'm posting this painfully long tale in the hopes that
someone, somewhere, has an insight that neither I nor any of the
medical professionals I have seen have had.
Plus, it always helps to gripe....
About 4 or 5 years ago, I started itching. It started out minor, but within months, became unbearable. It is now at the point that if I don't treat it in some way, I will have uncontrollable itching in random places, all over my body. It will travel. For example, my feet and ankles might itch for 2 hours, and then stop. In the meantime, my neck will begin itching, and will itch for 3 more hours. Sometimes I'll itch just in one place, sometimes 3 or 4 places at once. Scratching doesn't make it worse, but will only help very temporarily (think mosquito bite itching as opposed to poison ivy itching). When it first happened, I tried to fix it myself. I switched shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, and ditched fabric softener. None of it helped. I went to my doctor. I have a good doctor, but he's quick with the pills. His solution? "Sounds like you have allergies. Take Zyrtec." Zyrtec worked great, but it put me to sleep. I went back to the doctor. He told me that since the itching was relieved by an anti-histamine, it was caused by a histamine reaction, and was therefore an allergy. When I complained of the drowsiness, he told me to take it every other day. So, on odd days I was sleepy but not itchy, and on even days, I was awake and itchy. Not really a good combination. So, I went back again (thank goodness for insurance!). This time he put me on Allegra. Allegra worked some, but not as well as Zyrtec. However, it didn't put me to sleep. The downside was, Allegra is a one-a-day pill, but it wouldn't last for 24 hours. It wouldn't even last more than 16 hours, which meant if I stayed up late, I started itching again. I couldn't take it more often, because insurance wouldn't cover more pills than days. I went back to the doctor and asked for an allergy test. He said that there was no point doing one, because it was not caused by something on me, but rather in me. He said because of the random nature of the itching, it was being caused by something I was taking into my system, so a skin test wouldn't help.
Well, I decided that I gave Western Medicine its fair chance, and it failed, so next I tried acupuncture. The nice Chinese acupuncture lady told me that I had too much heat. After 2 treatments, I could actually go without medication for an entire week. However, nice acupuncture lady cost $60 a visit, which was too much to spend every week. I tried fighting with insurance to cover it, but they refused (which was stupid, IMHO).
Next, I tried seeing a chiropractor recommended to me by a friend who said that the guy cured his allergies. The chiropractor was covered by insurance. The guy told me I had a weak liver, and told me to take 30 pills a day to strengthen it. Plus, he cracked my back. The pills were useless, but my back felt better...
So, I am still on the Allegra. Some days are good, some aren't so good. Last night was so bad that I was crying. I've had horrible pain before (back pain so intense I had to crawl from bed to the bathroom and back again, and that was all I went). I would rather have the pain than the itching. People look at you funny when you're always scratching yourself. I leave wounds all over my body (thank goodness I'm a nail biter, or it would look really bad).
I have analyzed my diet, and can find nothing that I intake every day. It's not the cats, because I've had them longer than I've had the itching. It's not something in my house, because I itch when on vacation. I'm out of ideas, but this is becoming less and less livable. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Can anyone offer me any advice or suggestions? At this point, I'd go back to the 30 pills a day, if they only worked!
Plus, it always helps to gripe....
About 4 or 5 years ago, I started itching. It started out minor, but within months, became unbearable. It is now at the point that if I don't treat it in some way, I will have uncontrollable itching in random places, all over my body. It will travel. For example, my feet and ankles might itch for 2 hours, and then stop. In the meantime, my neck will begin itching, and will itch for 3 more hours. Sometimes I'll itch just in one place, sometimes 3 or 4 places at once. Scratching doesn't make it worse, but will only help very temporarily (think mosquito bite itching as opposed to poison ivy itching). When it first happened, I tried to fix it myself. I switched shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, and ditched fabric softener. None of it helped. I went to my doctor. I have a good doctor, but he's quick with the pills. His solution? "Sounds like you have allergies. Take Zyrtec." Zyrtec worked great, but it put me to sleep. I went back to the doctor. He told me that since the itching was relieved by an anti-histamine, it was caused by a histamine reaction, and was therefore an allergy. When I complained of the drowsiness, he told me to take it every other day. So, on odd days I was sleepy but not itchy, and on even days, I was awake and itchy. Not really a good combination. So, I went back again (thank goodness for insurance!). This time he put me on Allegra. Allegra worked some, but not as well as Zyrtec. However, it didn't put me to sleep. The downside was, Allegra is a one-a-day pill, but it wouldn't last for 24 hours. It wouldn't even last more than 16 hours, which meant if I stayed up late, I started itching again. I couldn't take it more often, because insurance wouldn't cover more pills than days. I went back to the doctor and asked for an allergy test. He said that there was no point doing one, because it was not caused by something on me, but rather in me. He said because of the random nature of the itching, it was being caused by something I was taking into my system, so a skin test wouldn't help.
Well, I decided that I gave Western Medicine its fair chance, and it failed, so next I tried acupuncture. The nice Chinese acupuncture lady told me that I had too much heat. After 2 treatments, I could actually go without medication for an entire week. However, nice acupuncture lady cost $60 a visit, which was too much to spend every week. I tried fighting with insurance to cover it, but they refused (which was stupid, IMHO).
Next, I tried seeing a chiropractor recommended to me by a friend who said that the guy cured his allergies. The chiropractor was covered by insurance. The guy told me I had a weak liver, and told me to take 30 pills a day to strengthen it. Plus, he cracked my back. The pills were useless, but my back felt better...
So, I am still on the Allegra. Some days are good, some aren't so good. Last night was so bad that I was crying. I've had horrible pain before (back pain so intense I had to crawl from bed to the bathroom and back again, and that was all I went). I would rather have the pain than the itching. People look at you funny when you're always scratching yourself. I leave wounds all over my body (thank goodness I'm a nail biter, or it would look really bad).
I have analyzed my diet, and can find nothing that I intake every day. It's not the cats, because I've had them longer than I've had the itching. It's not something in my house, because I itch when on vacation. I'm out of ideas, but this is becoming less and less livable. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Can anyone offer me any advice or suggestions? At this point, I'd go back to the 30 pills a day, if they only worked!