Itchy skin - severe itching

Regarding severe itching; I have been in contact with quite a few PALS that have experienced itching that is enough to drive you insane! It seems to be an ALS symptom where the nerve endings become super sensitive. Since ALS is a neurological disease this makes sense to me and I have been bothered by this for about the last 9 months. I initially was able to deal with it by using Aveeno shower/bath Wash and Tide Free for my clothes. Also Gold Bond. But the last 2 weeks I have been plagued with unbelievable itching on my legs and around my belt line. We have been unable to control it. We have tried everything and there are no marks, red spots or any indication. The skin looks completely healthy and normal. After corresponding to a number of PALS that have had this problem I am trying Neurontin, as a number of them claim they have had some success with this. Eddited July 18th to add: I have now taken Neurontin for one month and I have found it works to get rid of the severe itching. Here is an article about itching. New findings about itching ~ it*is tied into complex action of nerve cells and their link to the brain. *Given PALS/PMND complain of itching at times, it makes you wonder if it could be an associated effect of nerve damage of another type in MND? While most focus is on the motor neurone it is not to say that the degeneration is always contained to motor neurones ~ perhaps other nerve types can also be involved and where itching is seen? Perhaps a new avenue of research? How scratching can stop an itch Scientists have shown scratching helps relieve an itch as it blocks activity in some spinal cord nerve cells that transmit the sensation to the brain. However, the effect only seems to occur during itchiness itself - scratching at other times makes no difference. While it is widely-known scratching relieves an itch, the physiological mechanisms for how this works are little understood. The University of Minnesota study appears in Nature Neuroscience. ' We all know that scratching helps alleviate itch, but this elegant study helps to show how this mechanism works ' Professor Patrick Haggard University College London. Previous research has suggested that a specific part of the spinal cord - the spinothalamic tract - plays a key role. Nerve cells in this area have been shown to be more active when itchy substances are applied to the skin. Blocks activity The latest work, in primates, found that scratching the skin blocks activity of nerve cells in the spinothalamic tract during itchiness - preventing the spinal cord from transmitting signals from the scratched area of skin to the brain. ITCHING There are many causes of itch, including more than 50 diseases including shingles, Aids, gallbladder problems and Hodgkin's Disease The itch produced by many diseases can greatly affect quality of life and can not be treated currently For many types of itch, it is not clear that itch serves any clear purpose Researcher Dr Glenn Giesler hopes the work could lead to ways to relieve chronic itch effectively for the first time. However, he said more information was still needed about the chemistry underpinning the effect. Professor Gil Yosipovitch, an expert on itching from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, said the finding was 'potentially significant'. He said: 'Although there is a long way to go, methods that can induce a pleasurable scratch sensation without damaging the skin, via mechanical stimuli or drugs that can inhibit these neurons, could be developed to treat chronic itch.' However, Professor Yosipovitch stressed that scratching and itching were complex phenomena involving factors such as emotions as well as physiology. 'The main open question is what happens in patients who suffer from chronic itch where scratching may actually aggravate itch perception.' Professor Patrick Haggard, of University College London, said: 'We all know that scratching helps alleviate itch, but this elegant study helps to show how this mechanism works. 'It's an interesting illustration of a very general principle of the brain controlling its own inputs, in this case by making movements that triggers an interaction between scratchy touch and itch.' Dr Paul Bays, based at UCL's Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, agreed that the study provided an important part of a physiological explanation for how the sensation of itch is reduced. 'However, it is still unclear why scratching should have this effect, or why it is only effective for itches and not for painful sensations - which are transmitted to the brain through the same pathway.' Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...th/7976606.stm Published: 2009/04/06 00:58:27 GMT