Itchy Skin Is Driving Me Nuts...

[rbeccatexas]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. I started having really bad symptoms the weekend after Mother's Day. I've been fatigued for a while and it's been getting worse with nausea most of the time,muscle aches,joint aches, head fog,tingling in hands, shortness of breath and dizziness.

My belly felt distended with a burning sensation to the left of my naval and right under my left rib cage. I also had what I would consider horrible hot flushes. What's really bothering me though is the extremely dry itchy skin. I have had poison ivy a couple of times and if any of you have ever had it, you'll know it feels like your blood is hot and everything is inflamed and your skin itches all over. This feels sortof like that.

I went to the Dr and he did a regular cbc that came back with high lymphocyte counts and white blood cell counts. He thought I had a virus so took the blood test again 3 weeks later. Lymphocytes still high but lower than the first time, white blood cell counts back to normal. But this time he did an IGA for Gliadin antibody which was 23, the normal range is below 17 I think. The IGG was negative. My TSH was .98. Kidney and liver function normal. I did do an echocardiagram to rule out any heart issues since I was having shortness of breath. No other tests have been done for gluten,yeast,dairy or soy.

I've been eating gluten free for about a week now. My energy is better but I've been eating Dannon yogurt in the mornings and read on here this morning that Dannon has been known to have gluten in it. So I stopped eating that. Maybe that's what's causing me to still feel the symptoms?

My question is, is the dry itchy skin a typical symptom of Celiac disease and did yall have it too? What keeps going through my mind is I have some kind of horrible lymphoma. But it really feels like an allergic itching from the inside out. My skin is sensative to the sun and heat right now too. I don't really have a rash but it looks a little red, kind of like when you go out in the sun for a few minutes and come back in, not really sunburnt just a little color.

I've gained so much info from this sight in the last few days. Thanks in advance for your input everyone!

Rebecca

[jerseyangel]

Hi Rebecca

After I went gluten-free, I had itchiness like you described. No rash, just a terrible itch. I went to an allergist, but there was no obvious reason for it. I switched laundry detergent (I use Purex Free and Clear) and fabric softener (Unscented Bounce), and used a mild soap. Dove is good, I've been using Basis Sensitive Skin Bar Soap lately, which I like even better.

Those changes helped a lot--as well as being strictly gluten-free, and cutting out the other foods I was intolerant to. I would start with the topical stuff and concentrate on being gluten-free.

Fage Greek yogurt is gluten-free, and delicious. It comes plain, in a variety of fat contents (I eat the 0%, and it's so thick and rich you'd swear it was full fat). I add fruit, but they also have small cups with fruit or honey to go with it.

Let us know if you need anything else.

[OptimisticMom42]

Yeast makes me itch! The gluten free yogurt is a good idea.

[OptimisticMom42]

Dapsone has side effects but it does work to stop the itch. It's prescription.

[mushroom]

Most of the things I'm intolerant to make me itch, sometimes with rash, sometimes without. Of course, with psoriasis I've been scratching for five years now ; itching seems like a normal state