trox
05-13-2012, 01:08 AM
Hi everyone, this is my first post, and I have to start by saying I am so grateful that a forum like this exists. I have had this particular problem for many years, and am at about my wits end with it. Let me explain in as much detail as I can.
From a young age I developed this problem, though it started only as an anal itch, and spread to the gentials (the scrotum and shaft in particular) a few years back. I am a 23 year old male from Colorado (though I have been living in Italy for a couple years now.) It occurs almst always at night (and almost every night), though it has happened also less frequently during the day, that it begins to itch, and it is so intense that I find myself itching it until it begins to bleed and give off a wet discharge (a clear tacky pus.) Usually I am in my boxers at night in bed, and i try to scratch through the boxers to lessen damage, and end up with a modest amount of dampness from this discharge. A few days after a particularly intense episode the skin begins to heal itself by drying and flaking off. No hemorrhoids, or anything visually unusual, aside from the slight redness from years of itching, and a very small skin tag that developed most probably because of the itching.
-It began before I became sexually active, ruling out the diagnosis of an STD (though I've been tested anyways, clean.)
-I thought it may have been a climate issue as well, but I'm move from a dry cold location to a hot wet one and the problem persists.
-I've used jock itch sprays, powders and creams with no postive results.
-I've taken a cycle of amoxicillin in case it was a bacterial infection, but no sucess.
-If it were pinworms, I would think that my family would have also gotten them, but for the century and some that I lived with them, they never suffered the same symptoms.
-Hydrocortisone cream make it worse (any creams in general have made it worse, I think maybe because of the hightened moisture level.)
I have seborrheic dermatitis, which I also combat, which began many years after the anal and genital itching started. For this I am using Protopic (tacrolimus ointment, 0.03%) to keep the lesions I get on my upper forehead, behind the ear, and occasionally the eyebrows and sides of nose. I have tried using this on the anal and gential problem, with negative results (it made the itching far more intense and miserable afterwards.) I would say with a slight bit of certainty that the two problems are not the same demon, because even when my seborrheic dermatitis is under control, the itching problem is persistant as ever. I have found that when I drink alcohol and go to bed, the itching is more intense, which continues for the next couple days, so my intake of alcohol is limited (though I had a long term binge in the first year at university.) Other than the Protopic, I take finasteride for hair loss (which I also began taking many years after the itching problem.) No other medicines, I only recently began taking a multivitamin for overall health, eat healthy, whole grains, from scratch meals every day, and drink plenty of water. I get in about 2 to 3 hours of cardio exersize in via running every week. I've tried everything I can think of from the practical to the wierd. All attempts at doctors offices have lead me no where, theyve taken blood samples to check my thyroid levels, ect, all with normal results. I would usually leave the doctor with a prescription of hydrocortisone cream, that whenever i introduced it to the area it became much itchier and not solve anything. It is a very embarassing, mentally exhausting problem that I have dealt with for most of my life, and I just want to be free of it already. Would anyone know of any other avenues I could take to free myself from this? Thank you for having read this and given me your time.
From a young age I developed this problem, though it started only as an anal itch, and spread to the gentials (the scrotum and shaft in particular) a few years back. I am a 23 year old male from Colorado (though I have been living in Italy for a couple years now.) It occurs almst always at night (and almost every night), though it has happened also less frequently during the day, that it begins to itch, and it is so intense that I find myself itching it until it begins to bleed and give off a wet discharge (a clear tacky pus.) Usually I am in my boxers at night in bed, and i try to scratch through the boxers to lessen damage, and end up with a modest amount of dampness from this discharge. A few days after a particularly intense episode the skin begins to heal itself by drying and flaking off. No hemorrhoids, or anything visually unusual, aside from the slight redness from years of itching, and a very small skin tag that developed most probably because of the itching.
-It began before I became sexually active, ruling out the diagnosis of an STD (though I've been tested anyways, clean.)
-I thought it may have been a climate issue as well, but I'm move from a dry cold location to a hot wet one and the problem persists.
-I've used jock itch sprays, powders and creams with no postive results.
-I've taken a cycle of amoxicillin in case it was a bacterial infection, but no sucess.
-If it were pinworms, I would think that my family would have also gotten them, but for the century and some that I lived with them, they never suffered the same symptoms.
-Hydrocortisone cream make it worse (any creams in general have made it worse, I think maybe because of the hightened moisture level.)
I have seborrheic dermatitis, which I also combat, which began many years after the anal and genital itching started. For this I am using Protopic (tacrolimus ointment, 0.03%) to keep the lesions I get on my upper forehead, behind the ear, and occasionally the eyebrows and sides of nose. I have tried using this on the anal and gential problem, with negative results (it made the itching far more intense and miserable afterwards.) I would say with a slight bit of certainty that the two problems are not the same demon, because even when my seborrheic dermatitis is under control, the itching problem is persistant as ever. I have found that when I drink alcohol and go to bed, the itching is more intense, which continues for the next couple days, so my intake of alcohol is limited (though I had a long term binge in the first year at university.) Other than the Protopic, I take finasteride for hair loss (which I also began taking many years after the itching problem.) No other medicines, I only recently began taking a multivitamin for overall health, eat healthy, whole grains, from scratch meals every day, and drink plenty of water. I get in about 2 to 3 hours of cardio exersize in via running every week. I've tried everything I can think of from the practical to the wierd. All attempts at doctors offices have lead me no where, theyve taken blood samples to check my thyroid levels, ect, all with normal results. I would usually leave the doctor with a prescription of hydrocortisone cream, that whenever i introduced it to the area it became much itchier and not solve anything. It is a very embarassing, mentally exhausting problem that I have dealt with for most of my life, and I just want to be free of it already. Would anyone know of any other avenues I could take to free myself from this? Thank you for having read this and given me your time.