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View Full Version : Itchy legs for 17 years.



Krystina1
05-31-2012, 03:51 AM
Hello everyone :)
I'm really hoping I can get some advice and help here. I'm suffering so badly.

I'm a female, 17, very skinny and eat loads.

For all my life, I've suffered from itchy legs.
I had sever eczema when I was a baby.
I've had chicken pox twice, and nearly got a third dose of it.
I have Hand eczema, other wise known as "pompholxy" which I diagnosed myself with because majority of doctors here are brainless, but one doctor confirmed that it is pompholxy and prescribed me medication that healed it. It is brought on by stress. That's affected my hands and my feet over a period of 5 years, it's mainly on my feet now though.

Back to my problem,
My legs are so incredibly itchy.
I don't know what to do anymore.
I've tired just about everything. Moisterizers, baby oil, coconut oil, pinetarsle, that white creamy crap that dries hard, Caroline's cream, also Vera (and the natural plant), baby products, the list goes on! It all just makes my legs sweat and itchy even more, that's why I was recommended Caroline's cream because it doesn't have any perfume in it, and they suspected it was a perfume.
If I shave my legs, they get itchy. If I don't shave them, they also get itchy. If they're nice to me and heal quickly, they'll soon just start itching like crazy for no reason. I cut my nails to refrain from scratching too deep, I try to rub the skin but it just doesn't work. My legs are so dry, but whatever I put on them, makes them worse. I wear jeans all year round as direct sunlight makes my legs itch like crazy, I also live in Australia, so it doesn't help.
My diet isn't the best, but I don't smoke, drink or do drugs. It's got something to do with my legs!

And recently, I've been getting deep sores all over my legs where I itch. I can't even walk properly without feeling discomfort.

I went to the doctors today and they dobbed in my mum saying "... Why didn't you take her in earlier!?"
We rung a dermatologist, but we can't see one till 22nd October. 5 months. I need help, relief.

My legs are ruining my self esteem and confidence. They're giving me sleepless nights.
People tell me "you gotta stop scratching" but that's just like going up to a meth head and saying "stop shooting up meth". It's impossible to do alone and instantly.


Every doctor says "eczema, that's all it is, try moisterizig your skin". I do that, and it just fails, my skin flares up majorly.

I don't know if I'll get an answer or if anyone else has this condition. :(
Thank you though.

Dr.Deepak
05-31-2012, 10:52 AM
Well as everyone said it might just be chronic eczema, vascular eczema, folliculitis or neurodermatitis, or others due to systemic causes like endocrine disorders or even genetic like keratosis or ichthyosis and many more. It's hard to precisely confirm a diagnosis without direct examination and investigations. Its very important to see a dermatologist if your condition is a chronic one which is not healing by any means, so he/she could rule out some possibilities. By the way, could you please post a pic so that we may at-least come to some conclusions.

Krystina1
05-31-2012, 12:08 PM
Damn, that's alot of things it could be ):
It's something chronic, and as far as I know, no one in my family has what I currently have.

But as I said, the earliest dermo appointment is 22nd october which is a long way away. The doctor is going to try get me in earlier, or else we are going to have to drive 4 hours to Perth, pay for fuel, accomadation if it's needed and argh, it's just too much. ):

If there was any medication that could subside the itchy for a while, that'd help heaps.
I'll try to post pictures of my legs tomorrow. Thanks for replying (:

Krystina1
05-31-2012, 12:13 PM
And damn, just by searching those things and looking at the images, it doesn't look like any of it. ):

Dr.Deepak
05-31-2012, 01:12 PM
have you taken any oral medications, i mean anti-itch medications ? u may take oral antihistamines which will relief itching as a result u may stop itching. Some common OTC antihistamines available in AUS are Fexofenadine (Allegra,Telfast, Xergic,fexotabs) or Cetirizine (Zyrtec,zodac). Cetirizine may cause mild drowsy so u may take it before bed, this will decrease itching as well as u may have a goodnight sleep. Fexofenadine may be taken during day. If the itching is severe, taking one Fexofenadine on the morning and one Cetirizine during night for 1 week, may help. But either way it better to consult a doctor for better recommendation. Please do post the pics so members might suggest u more.

Krystina1
05-31-2012, 01:57 PM
I currently havn't found any antihistamines that work for me.
Other than that, I've never had a doctor perscribe me any medication as they just assume it's eczma and force me to moisterize.

That's alot of confusing words!

The doctors can't really do much about it, just prescribe me antibiotics and hope for the best. They just tell me now that I need to see a dermo ): It's so unfair.

Krystina1
05-31-2012, 02:21 PM
233234235236237

There's a few pictures of my legs. The one of my foot alone, the faded out spot is from pompholxy which has partly healed but comes back from stress, and I tend to get stressed alot. Scabs come off when I shower and I blindly scratch them ):

Krystina1
05-31-2012, 02:23 PM
These pictures really don't do justice though, it's much worse when you see it directly.

Dr.Saiyan
06-01-2012, 04:10 PM
hi !
from the brief history you have given above it seems you have history of atopic dermatitis since childhood which has family history in most of the cases. Form the picture you have posted and also from the history you have given the condition seems like generalized chronic eczema to me which is a type of allergic disease aggravated by different allergens including internal (different diseases conditions) and external (food, medicine, dust mite, animal fur, cosmetics etc). so you may need to do some blood tests as well as patch test/prick test to determine internal and external culprit allergen respectively causing the condition followed by desensitization treatmet or avoiding of the allergen.

For the symptomatic relief you can take some oral antihistamines as suggested by Deepak for about 1 month in tapering dose, initiating with sedating and non-sedating antihistamines together for first 2 weeks. if u a have already tried using other steroids i suggest u to try topical tacrolimus (which is very helpful in case of moderate to severe chronic eczema) together with some topical antibiotics like fucidic acids etc. Try not to use too harsh chemicals or soaps to the skin frequently that can dry your skin aggravating the condition. Try to keeping your skin hydrated and moisturiesd as far as possible. avoid scratching as well as avoid food such as alcohal, fish and seafood for sometime which can aggravate the conditions. i also suggest you u visit a dermatologist as early as possible.

Krystina1
06-02-2012, 03:47 PM
Thank you (:

I just found out that my dad is allergic to dust mites, thus why we stripped our house of it's carpet and layed down tiles. He's also allergic to cat fur. We only have birds and fish and they aren't contributing to any allergies.

My room still has carpet, so I'm wondering if it's the carpet, and if it's dust mites that have been agrivating me.

We are picking up a doctors referal on monday and am taking it to the dermo and seeing what they say.
I use Advantan Ointment on my Pompholxy which cleared it up, but I used it just on the sores on my legs yesterday night and it made a big difference! The redness/swelling went down but it's just sort of.. dried out, but the scabs are like.. fused to my skin which is nice because then I can't scratch them!

Other patches of my skin will get agrivated, and with about.. 5 scratched, my skin will be exposed, like pea size pieces, it's kinda hard to explain. Like when you graze your knee and you lose the top layer of your skin. It's awful, and leaves an awful scar and prolonged painful healing time (1-2 weeks).

But I'm still.. not.. convinced it's eczema because I've looked at eczema and it's more blotchy, mines just sores/irritated skin/the need to scratch. I had eczema as a kid and my god, that was hell, I remember that, I was covered in it, even my face.

I also don't wash my body with soap, and now I just don't bother to wash my body with anything because everything aggrivates my skin. I also get a very sensitive scalp if I use harsh chemicals on my head (I use to dye my hair loads for 3 years/bleaching ect) so I just use Selsun now.

Mum's not really wanting to take me back to the doctors because she doesn't want to "waste" money, which makes me a bit upset. I also have really bad hayfever and am allergic to most perfumes, hence why I also don't buy or wear purfume and body sprays!

I use to use a baby cream from Johnsons a while ago. It worked wonders, it was amazing, then.. one day, it just stopped working, my legs went beserk. I tried it a while later and it had the exact same reaction.

Is there anything.. else I can put on my legs to keep them moisterized? ):
I've used; johnsons products, carolines cream, jojoba oil, baby oil and olive oil with no results. They're all too oily, and oily products make my legs sweat, which then itch.

Thank you for helping me and giving me advice though,
I really do appreciate it (:

Dr.Saiyan
06-03-2012, 08:16 AM
hi!
i mean to say u seem to have cutaneous pruritus presenting as eczema caused by different allergens that may be external( dust mites, fur, food,drug) or internal( to systemic diseases like liver, kidney,thyroid or diabetes etc). so without delay you may also have to take blood tests for ruling out systemic diseases e.g blood sugar level, thryroid function test, liver function test, kidney function test etc as well as prick/patch test for determining the external allergen. After knowing the cause can only we can go foe specific treatment. you seem to be using steroid externally but make sure u dont use it for long time, to prevent for steroid dependent dermatitis.Soaking feet in water for minutes and applying baby oily or cream or moistures may help. Using soap free hypoallergenic cleansers (cetaphil cleanser)may help to reduce dryness.

dunlopka
06-03-2012, 03:53 PM
Your legs look and sound just like mine. We just moved into our house a little over a year ago, and my eczema has flaired up so bad, and I just can't get rid of it for long. I've had eczema my whole life, but not this bad. I have dry patches all over my body, but my legs are almost unbearable. I've also developed what I think is hand eczema too, which I've never had before, and at night the itch between my fingers and my legs is ridiculous. My doctors have just always prescribed me steroid creams, and creams for inflammation, but it just never helps. I know your pain, and wish you luck. My skin has never looked like the pictures on the internet either, but I'm sure that's all it is. I've considered the carpet being the issue too, as this house is old and the carpet can't be in the best shape... I'm hoping to see a dermatologist too, but I'm sure all they will do is prescribe more steroid cream. -__-

dunlopka
06-03-2012, 03:55 PM
I've also considered the thyroid issue for myself, as I've had a ridiculous amount of weight gain since I had my son last year, and my immune system just seems shot. I wonder if that has anything to do with my skin flaring up so bad. Good luck!!

Dr.Deepak
06-04-2012, 05:53 AM
When nothing is working, its time to get a detail systemic examination, lets not just guess this and that, its hard to explain online, visiting doctor personally is a better option. Could be just eczema or other condition like prurigo ( due to systemic cause like liver, kidney,thyroid, diabetes, hormonal changes, iron deficiency and other malignant blood disorders) or any others...as u said u r visiting doc today or so.. get checked for liver, kidney,thyroid or diabetes, blood disorders and iron deficiency.( don't want to scare u with many tests, but early diagnosis is better than regretting later)