lol, it does feel good to scratch it. :-) I think the reason not to scratch is one, breaking the skin can cause infection/scarring etc., and two, scratching, breaking the skin, causes more swelling and a much more severe reaction. I have found the latter to be very important for me, if I can avoid scratching it can sometimes make the difference between a severe case and one that I can treat on my own.
What I do is run under extremely hot water, so hot that it is painful, at first it feels like you are scratching it, then it hurts. I use technu before or after the hot water, and follow with benadryl gel lotion. The itching will subside for several hours for me this way. When I had a very severe case though,
nothing helped, I had to sit with my legs in buckets of ice water
and in a/c and could not sleep. I was on steroids for 6-8 wks and had blisters 1 1/2" wide and deep, I looked like I had lepresy,
it was scary. Finally I went to the er and they gave me hydroxizine for the itching which allowed me to sleep. That case took 2 months before it began to subside and even then the scarring/blisters were still very visible and the skin was only partially healed. That was one of the worst things I've ever had in my life, fortunately I've never gotten that bad again. I found that hydroxizine was not as effective for me the last time I took it though, fortunately the hot water works extremely well for me.
I noticed someone else on this site posted about it too, and that the histamines are reduced which is why it works. I though it was because the nerve endings were overstimulated. |
