New member, help with itch

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CaregiverRach

New member
Joined
Feb 10, 2018
Messages
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Reason
CALS
Diagnosis
03/2017
Country
US
State
Missouri
City
Catawissa
Hello to all! I am a 42 year old caregiver of my MIL with ALS. Recently she has been experiencing a lot of itching in her diaper region and her legs. mostly the waist, and where the diaper rubs most. We have tried diaper rash creams, hydrocortisone creams, and benadryl. Does anyone know of any good treatments for this kind of itching? Thanks your all your help.
 
Rach welcome to our world

It could be an allergic reaction to something in the diapers. Don’t know if she’s getting up and out of the house with them. If so, maybe try different brands. Also you could try putting a strip of material between her and the diaper. Say try it at the waist, where it should stay dry and see if that helps. If so, you’ll know it’s something in the diaper. Try other brands etc.

If she’s not leaving the house, you could do as my husband does, he calls it pants optional. She could be commando under her blankets. You can get cloth bed pads on Amazon. We’ve used them for years. Easy to wash. If she still has control of her bowels and can tell you when she needs to do, then add the bed pan and a green paper pad under neath for a short bit. That will help eliminate the worst of it without it being on the cloth pads where the paper/plastic would only be against her skin for a short bit.

If you determine it’s definitely a reaction, and she needs to leave the home with clothing on, then I suggest looking for adult cloth diapers. I’m sure they’re out there, but haven’t looked myself.

I really like coconut oil for the skin. Works well for DH. However there ,igniting be a bit of fungal mess too so you could try monostat cream or athletes foot cream on the rash as well.

Hope this helps

Sue
 
Welcome to the forum. I used to manage a lot of groin rashes/ itching back in my days as a physician. Most of them are fungal (yeast), as yeast thrives in warm, moist areas. I recommend Lotrimin 1% cream, which I believe you can get over the counter. If you can’t find it, try the powders used for athlete’s foot. Prescription Nystatin powder also works well. Cortisone cream can actually make these rashes worse. These rashes tend to recur, so keeping the area dry and well-aerated helps.
 
Hi, Rach, and welcome. You will find great support and much useful information here.

My husband has frequent episodes of what you are describing and it is due to fungal infections. When the infection is active (red skin, very itchy) I apply Ketokonazole cream to the red areas. I also apply an antifungal powder to the entire region every day as a preventative. As Karen said, cortisone cream is not good for this and seems to make it worse.

Sharon
 
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