Neurodermatitis

I'm just realizing how many other conditions I have that are potentially related to Fibro. So in 2010 I was diagnosed with Lichen Simplex Chronicus (A.K.A. Neurodermatitis). As the name implies, its anxious itching and scratching at a certain part of the body and you cant stop. Its like a compulsive scratching situation. I was on corticosteroids for almost 2 years and I finally got off them in January of this year. Seems with the new symptoms I've been having, the itching took a back seat and became a bit more manageable...but now that my other symptoms have improved, its making a comeback. I really don't want to go back to steroid creams...do any of you have this? If so, how do you manage it?

I should note, that I developed this condition after taking Diflucan which can cause itching for up to a month! I even called Phizer (the drug maker) to let them know what happened but it may have only been the trigger or possibly a wild coincidence because it never went away once it started.

I get itching spells that come and go but I've always shrugged it off as being related to my eczema. I try to stay hydrated and use Dove moisture creme. I didn't want more corticosteroids and the dove is working. Have you asked about nonsteroid medications from your dr? I hope you can find something that works. I know the itching is maddening. :(

Sometimes my skin - my legs in particular - gets so itchy I can't stand it. I want to scratch the skin right off. I've tried slathering my skin with lidocaine, Gold Bond medicated itch cream, hydrocortisone, antifungal cream, etc. It's worst in the evenings. Scratching it just makes it itch more and more. Benzodiazepines or antihistamines seem to help a bit. But I'd rather not take drugs for it.

Just reading this thread is making me feel itchy. I wonder if I have the same condition as you? It's always worse if I shave my legs, so I guess I always assumed I was just really sensitive to the hairs growing back in, but I do also get itchiness in non-shaved areas.

I suffered from Lichen Simplex Chronicus for about 20 years. Creams, sunlight exposure, sea water and various natural therapies may have provided some relief on occasion, however, I had never found a cure and overall, my condition progressed with time...

...Until, something extraordinary happened about a year and a half ago. I started taking 300mg of St Johns Wort a day, to treat an unrelated and temporary anxiety condition. After about 6 weeks of treatment, the redness, scaling and oozing on my skin had completely dissappeared. I increased my daily dose to 600 mg and after about 5-6 months, all the scarring left from those 20 years combating the disease was gone, and I literally had fresh new skin growing everywhere the lesions used to be!

Puzzled about how this miracle had taken place, I decided to do some research to see if there might be a scientific explanation. It turns out I discovered several recent scientific research articles explaining that a common but tough-to-beat bacteria was involved in about 90% of cases of atopic dermatitis (which include LSC). Here is a link to one of these articles: http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201310/stapheczema

If you read the article, you will learn that the bacteria called Staphylococcus Aureus is at least an aggravating factor, responsible amongst other things, of the chronic itching often associated with a worsening of the condition. Additional reading about St John's Wort lead to a molecule called Hyperforin, apparently one of the most effective antimicrobial agents against Staphylococcus Aureus. In fact, the bacteria is often resistant to most of the conventional antibiotics on the market. So, because typical St John's Wort extract contains about 3-4% Hyperforin, I now have excellent reasons to believe it may first have helped me in getting rid of the Staph infection. And, because St John's Wort also has a documented ability to repair damaged skin, it may help in healing the broken barrier that allowed the bacteria to colonize the skin in the first place. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22staphylococcus+aureus%22+and+%22hyperforin%22

So, there it is, my lesions are completely gone and there is little doubt in my mind that St John's Wort was a complete cure for my condition. I don't even have a trace of LSC left on my body! This obviously does not guarantee it will work for everyone and as a word of caution, St John's Wort can interact with other medications, so it is essential to read about those potential interactions before trying it out. Hope this helps as much as it helped me!

Good luck to all in fighting this horrible annoyance!

I get really bad itching but I also have very bad stress hives. People think I am crazy itching at nothing at my skin because mine don't always show on the skin. Zantac twice a day and zyrtec has helped lessen the problem.

Hi Mojave,

Although this story is quite funny, it does not provide much help for all those who suffer from this debilitating illness. My dermatologists also used to tell me that some form of anxiety - or bad emotions if you will - were leading me to "auto-mutilate" in a constant itch-scratch cycle that kept on damaging my skin further and further... Which is why they kept on prescribing corticosteroid-based creams, in hope of helping me stop attacking my own skin...

...However, I somehow knew this could not be true, since I went through the whole spectrum of emotions over time, positive and negative, just like everyone else in a perfectly normal life, and the flareups never really coincided with the highs and lows of my own existence.

My break, as I described above, was when I tried St. John's Wort, which coincidentally is known to help with anxiety. However, if the new research proves to be correct, the itch-scratch cycle is actually due to a toxin from Staph bacteria colonized skin, that causes a liberation of histamine and degranulation from the Mast Cells. So this chronic itching and scratching might be viewed as the equivalent of having a group of mosquitoes or spiders, perpetually biting at the skin, and indeed being a cause for much anxiety and negative emotions!

My life is not particularly exciting right now, yet the Neurodermatitis beast is completely gone since I took St. John's Wort over a year ago. Quite frankly, I know now that my skin doesn't care much about my present emotions. And I'm convinced that many people out there with extremely negative emotions, may never have suffered from Neurodermatitis!