I have really dry skin and its incredibly awful, could use help!?
I have such extreme dry skin in the winter. I have tried lots of things. I bought Aveeno Colloidal Oil (oatmeal oil) for in the shower, I bought Aveena Anti-Itch lotion with Cooling Menthol. Neither are doing enough. I have a sugar scrub which makes my skin soft and I thought it might help with exfoliating, because maybe that was the problem, but it hasn't helped.
I am so itchy, I scratch my legs and arms constantly, even my stomach itches. The only things that don't itch are my face, arms, back, and feet. Everything else is so itchy and I just can't stop. I scratch and scratch. I have red marks all over my legs (especially my thighs and shins), red bumps form from all the scratching. Currently I have deeper scratches on my knees from it being so bad I just kept going even when I broke the skin and started to bleed. And then my skin just burns and it feels even worse. There's no relief!
I need some advice, is there any lotion or cream or ANY product I can try that will help? A friend suggested Gold Bond Medicated lotion but I'm just not sure. That Aveeno stuff was like and its not even half gone (I bought it last year). I just don't want to needlessly spend money if there's a proven to work product out there. Or at least one that several people have tried and found relief. I need opinions and very few people I know have this dry of skin.
My next step would be to go see my doctor, except I can't imagine they'll have much help for me. I'm not taking any new meds, nothing has changed when it comes to laundry or other soaps. I'm trying to take a shower every other day instead of daily in hopes that would help. I'm using warm not hot water. I am cold almost all the time, and the heater makes the air dry, but I can't imagine that is doing this extreme of a job on my skin.
And I'm working on the more water. I try to take a daily vitamin which includes A, C, and E. I eat plenty of fruits and veggies too.
I would appreciate any suggestions of products, commercial or natural, your experience with them and the Pros and Cons, and then also a link to the product so I can read about them too.
Thank you so much!
MORE: Vaseline Cocoa Butter Vitalizing Gel Body Oil got great reviews on TotalBeauty.com
Also, does anyone have any thoughts on Vaseline Clinical Therapy lotion?
http://www.vaselineskinfund.com/Carousel.aspx?Path=Consumer/OurProducts/IntensiveRescueRange/Home
I'm not allergic to anything. Nothing at all has changed in my house to cause this. I have been living here itch free first, my entire life, and then for the past 10 months I have been here I've never had a problem.
Its not meningitis, that doesn't even answer any of my question. I never said anything that could be connected to that.
I don't have blisters and I'm not hot and this is occurring. Like I said, I have DRY SKIN and its causing crazy itching! I just want to know the best lotion or oil or cream for dry skin and that would help stop the itching.
November 1st, 2010 - 17:45
Try Eucerin Intensive Repair Lotion. I just had surgery recently and the incision and all of the skin around it was awful. Itchly, flaky..etc. This lotion is great. It gently exfoliates the dry skin away and makes your skin feel baby soft.
November 1st, 2010 - 17:45
Hi,
Although I think you are having allergic reactions to something – IF the following symptoms would ever occur – I think the worst it might possibly be is deadly bacterial meningitis.
From: <> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_Meningitis <>
<>
“IF a rash is present, it may indicate a particular cause of meningitis; for instance, meningitis caused by meningococcal bacteria may be accompanied by a characteristic rash.”
<>
<>
“The MOST common symptoms of meningitis are headache and neck stiffness associated with fever, confusion or altered consciousness, vomiting, and an inability to tolerate light (photophobia) or loud noises (phonophobia). SOMETIMES, especially in small children, only nonspecific symptoms may be present, such as irritability and drowsiness.”
<>
For further details see <> http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/about/faq.html <>
Even so these are my thoughts of what ‘might’ be happening in almost any rash situation >>=> I have not been educated to be an M.D. – just a lifelong learner.
My own view from my own experiences is that rashes break out in the weaker parts of one’s skin, usually because of allergic reactions; OR perhaps due to fungus problems that more easily occur when one has too many carbs and fats in one’s daily calories, and therefore one has inadequate micro-nutrition absorption in the gut.
What I have learned is that my occasional stresses have sometimes caused me to do things or to eat things or to inhale things that have more toxins in them and that have then weakened my immune system, like drinking and eating caffeine chocolate or high carb foods and sweets.
It sounds like the malady may be a result of an allergic reaction to something that is toxic to the liver/kidneys. IF it is due to a toxin overload of the lymph system, you might then notice that when one gets hot – then a rash or itching will sometimes occur since the toxins are sweating out of one’s system ONTO an area of the skin that may be weaker and more easily irritated and inflamed.
ALSO whenever one’s immune system has become weakened the other problem can easily become a bacteria-fungus i.e. ringworm and/or yeast infection thrush, but it is hard to tell what the root causes may be without seeing and learning the details about what one has been eating breathing and applying to the skin. SEE <> https://health.google.com/health/ref/Ringworm <> Monistat 7 will likely kill any fungus in a few days and better micro-nutrition will keep it killed and will also strengthen one’s liver lymph and kidney systems to be able to better handle both an allergic reaction AND/OR bacteria-fungus outbreaks with less suffering in the future.
IF you think it may be an allergic reaction – although it may be a difficult process – try to identify the triggers from cosmetics meds nuts milk grains other-foods chlorine-water-in-showers smoke perfume moldy-smells laundry-cleaners etcetera by discontinuing them until the symptoms stop and then beginning them again to see how the body reacts. If one is like me one may start to see allergies to many things because the root problem for me was a severely weakened liver from too many nutritional supplements that were toxic and I never knew it until it was almost too late.
After several months of pruritus Urticaria with blisters and skin fevers primarily at the back of my knees and thighs sometimes when I got warmer, that had begun during the colder months of November inside a gas heated low humidity home, I have identified enough of my own triggers to allow my legs to heal with only a super-minimal amount of coconut cream cut with de-chlorinated water rubbed over my skin and a minimal number of full body showers.
After several applications my lymph glands have become severely allergic to petrolatum products that are similar to Vaseline Petroleum Jelly, and common sense has now taught me that any petroleum products should always become toxic to anyone’s kidney and liver with repeated applications. I had flare-ups immediately after I had applied organic olive oil so I eventually changed to minimal amounts of coconut oil after I had used a minimal amount of a petrolatum steroid for a few days to allow my legs to heal up. I also have flareups when I eat over 150 calories of nuts and/or milk fats and/or oils, but these usually flare up about three hours after eating them, but the olive oil always took about five to thirty minutes to begin itching.
Skin diseases can always return again and again and again and can get much much worse over time if they are not resolved. Soo I would strongly encourage you to seek out a ‘good’ doctor or a ‘good’ nurse and s/he will make a knowledgeable medical diagnosis and thoroughly explain the causes preventions and solutions much better than anyone on Yahoo_Answers could do without being able to see you personally.
Also, to know how difficult or easy it should be for a doctor to make a ‘good’ diagnosis – I encourage you to also become a ‘good’ medical diagnostician from your doctor’s advice and your own research through Yahoo_Answers and via browser searches.
ITCHINGS & RASHES / WATER BLISTERS CAN BE CAUSED BY EITHER:
* an allergic reaction to ‘toxins’ in one’s food or skin applications or meds or air (i.e. molds or smoke or vapors) etc.
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urticaria <>
* fungal bacterial = Deadly_meningitis Anthrax Thrush Yeast_infection Jock_itch Ringworm Impetigo etc.
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidiasis <>
* viral = Measles Smallpox Shingles Hand_foot_and_mouth_disease Roseola etc.
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand,_foot_and_mouth_disease <>
* parasitical = Scabies_mite lice chiggers mosquitos ants etc.
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scabies <>
* inadequate micro-nutrition absorption in the gut = Pellagra Scurvy Beriberi Rickets etc.
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellagra <>
* also other treatments for various skin eruptions
<> http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/womenshealth/facts/skinrash_pregnancy.htm <>
<> http://www.healthcentral.com/sexual-health/c/80228/60290/vagina-lumps <>
* either sun or hormonal or stress related or a combination of the above that make it difficult to find a definite single cause since there are multiple causes at the same time
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/formication <>
FOR FURTHER HELP WITH PICTURES & INFO SEE:
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast_infection <>
<> http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/skin-rash/SN00016 <>
<> http://dermatology.about.com/cs/dermphotos/a/dermgallery.htm <>
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatosis_of_pregnancy <>
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestational_diabetes <>
<> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_disease <>
I truly hope what you learn will help you to decide on the correct choices that will remedy your painful experience of pruritus-itching and rashes in the future.
My best to you and yours,
AI – self taught nutritionIsT ><+>[(-:]
PS – IF you are interested, I feel I have become a quasi-expert on rashes and pruritus itching after many years of off and on flare ups due to my own nutritionally related asthma and gallbladder disease that ‘continued’ to become heart disease and T2 diabetes and then non-alcoholic fatty liver disease with either PBC or PSC. So you are not alone. Many many people suffer from pruritus and I have learned very late in my own disease(s) that when it is nutritionally related most doctors do not tell their patients that inadequate micro-nutrition absorption in the gut and liver ‘might’ be the root cause and the best solution, and is also the most likely cause to the pruritus and liver diseases that are currently overwhelming our American culture. So to do my part to make a difference in the world I now take a little time each week to help others understand why better micro-nutrition absorption in the gut is so important, and I have posted much of my own story via the link at: <> http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091025223942AAni6lC <>. I hope you will have learned something today from my own mistakes and would not duplicate them – please pass on what you will learn from your own malady to your family friends neighbors and acquaintances. My best to you and yours. AI – self taught nutritionIsT ><3>[(-:]