A couple months ago I woke up with an unshakable, indescribable itch on my arms and legs. The itchiest areas were my ankles and shoulders. The weirdest part was there was no visible rash, reaction, or dryness.
For the first couple of days I tried my best to ignore it. I put coconut oil based lotion on and pretended it didn't exist. A week in and I could no longer ignore it. I was itching in my sleep despite the amount or types of lotions, oils and anti-itch creams I applied. I was driving myself and my husband crazy. I had an appointment with my OB, the final follow up from my c-section. I asked him if it could be something postpartum related. He told me he had never heard of itching with no rash as a postpartum issue. He told me to call my dermatologist. I called my dermatologist. He was booked for two months straight. I took the next available appointment on 10/23 anyway and called my primary care. I requested a physical because I wanted labs - ALL THE LABS - to tell me what was wrong with me. The next day I went to my primary care doctor. I checked in at the check-in kiosk. It asked me all kinds of questions because this visit was masquerading as a physical exam. I sat down in the waiting area. I heard someone addressing a "ma'am" about checking in. I had already checked in. I am not a ma'am. I continued reading my facebook feed on my phone. Suddenly there was someone right in front of me, too close to my personal space. I scooted back in my seat and looked up.
"Ma'am?" I am not a ma'am.
"uhhh yes?" I replied.
"Sorry, but you have to fill out this questionnaire." I took the piece of paper. I perused the questions and deduced that they were the exact same questions I answered on the check-in kiosk.
"No, I'm sorry, but I already answered these questions on the kiosk." I said with a little snark in my tone.
"Well they want you to fill it out on paper too." She walked away. Really? Do they? I thought.
I answered the questions again. And waited. And itched.
The nurse called my name. She ushered me over to the scale in the corner. I had gained five pounds since my first post partum weigh in. Maybe that's too much weight. Maybe I'm bloating from getting fat and my skin is itching in retaliation... probably not.
The nurse took me to room #3 and asked what brought me in. "I'm here for a physical but I have an ulterior motive. I'm hoping the doctor will run labs to figure out what is causing me to itch with no rash." We went through my itching timeline and she took detailed notes in my chart. She asked about the products I use, when my last menstrual cycle was, how I've been sleeping and how I've adjusted to life as a new mother. She took my temperature and blood pressure - all very good numbers she assured me. She gave me another questionnaire, one for new mothers.
"The doctor will be in shortly." She left the room. I started reading the questions.
On a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being horrible and 5 being awesome (I'm paraphrasing here, roll with it) in the past 2 weeks how has your sleep, mood, outlook, etc. been? - HORRIBLE. It's all been horrible. I itch so much I can't focus. I can't wear pants because I can't stand the feel of the material on my legs. I'm running out of skirts to wear and I'm not sleeping because of this incessant itch...wait. I don't think this questionnaire knows about my itching. I think this questionnaire is trying to assess how I'm adjusting to motherhood and if I wasn't an itching hot mess I would be circling all 5s on this sheet of paper. I circled mostly 5s and waited for the doctor.
The doctor came in. She examined my arms, legs, back and stomach. She saw no visible rash or reason for the itching. She laughed, "your skin is sticky." "It's the vitamin e oil, " I replied. "It's thick like honey. I mix it into my coconut oil based lotion and apply it twice, sometimes three times per day."
She asked questions. Loads of questions. She asked what other strange symptoms I had been experiencing.
- daily headaches
- occasional fatigue
- dizziness and blurred vision at times first thing in the morning
- nausea in the afternoons
- trouble falling asleep and staying asleep (partly due to the itching)
- canker sores
"Could you be pregnant?" Now it was my time to laugh, "No, I am quite certain I am not."
She asked if my right abdominal region was tender. Oddly enough it was. "What does that mean?" "Well," she said, "it could be something to do with your liver. Sometimes new moms create too much bile after delivery and that can cause itching." This was the condition I was sure I had while I was pregnant. This was my answer! She ordered labs to look at my liver and iron and blood cell counts and who really know what else. I left more worried than I went in but thought finally, I'll know what's going on.
The next day my labs came back. Everything was normal. My liver is 100% normal. My platelet count and white and red blood cell counts are normal. My iron level is normal. Normal. Normal. Normal.
She ordered a chest x-ray. "What would that show?" "Swelling that could be the cause of something greater to investigate." I went to the chest x-ray. Two quick snap shots and I was on my way. The phone rang later that day, "good news! Your lungs look great. I can find nothing wrong with you. Maybe go back to your OB and see if it's hormonal based. Have you considered that this could all be a result of stress?"
I called my OB. We went through all my symptoms again. He pulled up my chart and mumbled through all the results of my recent labs. "Everything looks normal, hon." "Yeah, so they tell me. Could this be a vitamin deficiency or over production or something? I've read a lot on vitamin deficiencies and some cause itching. What about hormones? Could I be producing too much estrogen or something?" My primary care didn't test vitamin levels. He said we could check that and ordered the labs. He also said it was unlikely the result of a hormonal imbalance because I was on the birth control with the lowest amount of estrogen in it possible. He said I could go off birth control for a few cycles and test my hormone levels but he didn't expect to find anything. I said I wanted to try any way and he agreed. I finished the last of my birth control cycle two weeks ago and am supposed to call him when my next period begins. He's probably right, it won't show anything but I'll feel better knowing we checked.
I had more blood drawn. I got more of the same news. "Your vitamin D is the highest it's ever been. You were extremely deficient before you got pregnant. Now you're on the chart. Everything else looks normal." There's that word again.
"Is there anything else this could be? I'm going crazy here." My voice started to break. I was getting emotional. I was past the point of just mildly irritated or frustrated.
"Have you considered that this could be stress?"
"Excuse me?"
"We've talked about postpartum depression before. Since you don't feel that fits the bill I think we have to look at the next obvious diagnosis - stress."
"That's not a diagnosis. I'm not stressed. I don't feel stressed."
"You have twin girls and you work full time. No one in that situation isn't stressed."
"Ok. Let's just say I'm psychological stressed without realizing it. How am I supposed to fix that?"
"Are you sleeping enough?"
"I am literally the most rested mother of twins you will ever meet."
"Try exercise... and see what your dermatologist has to say. Maybe there is something we're not seeing."
I went to the dermatologist last week. In the weeks in between all the labs and other doctor's visits and this visit the itching had almost entirely stopped. I had some dry patches on my shoulders but they didn't really bother me. The itching wasn't keeping me up during the night anymore and I was down to applying lotion only once per day and I had ditched the vitamin e oil all together.
My dermatologist took one look at my shoulders and announced, "you have eczema." He looked at my ankles and agreed there was no visible rash. I showed him my feet. "You have psoriasis." I was flabbergasted. Where did these things come from. I never had them before. Do you just wake up one day with eczema and psoriasis? Why now? I asked if it was common for these things to just 'show up'. Who wants to guess what he told me?
"These seemingly sudden flare ups are most likely the result of stress." STRESS!!!!
"But I'm not stressed."
"Before now when was the last time you had a flare up on your feet?"
"A week or two before I delivered."
"And the time before that?"
"Ummm when I was in the process of leaving my last job I guess."
"Mmmhmm. And you're not stressed? Do you work full time?"
"Yes."
"And you have young twins?"
"Yes."
"But you're not stressed?"
"No?"
Maybe I'm stressed.
He wrote a prescription for a cream to put on the eczema on my shoulders and told me to pick up new body wash, lotion and a foot cream for my psoriasis. He wrote the names of everything he wanted me to buy on a script page and said I could pick all of them up at Kroger or on Amazon. He said all of these "ailments" are completely normal and people deal with them every day. He said by keeping up with the creams and lotions and managing my stress I could minimize flair ups and hardly notice them.
So the whole itching thing is still a 100% mystery. In a couple months I'll get my hormone levels tested just to be sure we're not missing something there. In the meantime I'll use my new lotions and creams and try to figure out how to manage the stress I didn't know I was harboring. Three doctors. Loads of tests. Common diagnosis - Stress. Maybe they're on to something. And maybe it's normal to be stressed but if that's the case, then I don't want to be normal.
For the first couple of days I tried my best to ignore it. I put coconut oil based lotion on and pretended it didn't exist. A week in and I could no longer ignore it. I was itching in my sleep despite the amount or types of lotions, oils and anti-itch creams I applied. I was driving myself and my husband crazy. I had an appointment with my OB, the final follow up from my c-section. I asked him if it could be something postpartum related. He told me he had never heard of itching with no rash as a postpartum issue. He told me to call my dermatologist. I called my dermatologist. He was booked for two months straight. I took the next available appointment on 10/23 anyway and called my primary care. I requested a physical because I wanted labs - ALL THE LABS - to tell me what was wrong with me. The next day I went to my primary care doctor. I checked in at the check-in kiosk. It asked me all kinds of questions because this visit was masquerading as a physical exam. I sat down in the waiting area. I heard someone addressing a "ma'am" about checking in. I had already checked in. I am not a ma'am. I continued reading my facebook feed on my phone. Suddenly there was someone right in front of me, too close to my personal space. I scooted back in my seat and looked up.
"Ma'am?" I am not a ma'am.
"uhhh yes?" I replied.
"Sorry, but you have to fill out this questionnaire." I took the piece of paper. I perused the questions and deduced that they were the exact same questions I answered on the check-in kiosk.
"No, I'm sorry, but I already answered these questions on the kiosk." I said with a little snark in my tone.
"Well they want you to fill it out on paper too." She walked away. Really? Do they? I thought.
I answered the questions again. And waited. And itched.
The nurse called my name. She ushered me over to the scale in the corner. I had gained five pounds since my first post partum weigh in. Maybe that's too much weight. Maybe I'm bloating from getting fat and my skin is itching in retaliation... probably not.
The nurse took me to room #3 and asked what brought me in. "I'm here for a physical but I have an ulterior motive. I'm hoping the doctor will run labs to figure out what is causing me to itch with no rash." We went through my itching timeline and she took detailed notes in my chart. She asked about the products I use, when my last menstrual cycle was, how I've been sleeping and how I've adjusted to life as a new mother. She took my temperature and blood pressure - all very good numbers she assured me. She gave me another questionnaire, one for new mothers.
"The doctor will be in shortly." She left the room. I started reading the questions.
On a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being horrible and 5 being awesome (I'm paraphrasing here, roll with it) in the past 2 weeks how has your sleep, mood, outlook, etc. been? - HORRIBLE. It's all been horrible. I itch so much I can't focus. I can't wear pants because I can't stand the feel of the material on my legs. I'm running out of skirts to wear and I'm not sleeping because of this incessant itch...wait. I don't think this questionnaire knows about my itching. I think this questionnaire is trying to assess how I'm adjusting to motherhood and if I wasn't an itching hot mess I would be circling all 5s on this sheet of paper. I circled mostly 5s and waited for the doctor.
The doctor came in. She examined my arms, legs, back and stomach. She saw no visible rash or reason for the itching. She laughed, "your skin is sticky." "It's the vitamin e oil, " I replied. "It's thick like honey. I mix it into my coconut oil based lotion and apply it twice, sometimes three times per day."
She asked questions. Loads of questions. She asked what other strange symptoms I had been experiencing.
- daily headaches
- occasional fatigue
- dizziness and blurred vision at times first thing in the morning
- nausea in the afternoons
- trouble falling asleep and staying asleep (partly due to the itching)
- canker sores
"Could you be pregnant?" Now it was my time to laugh, "No, I am quite certain I am not."
She asked if my right abdominal region was tender. Oddly enough it was. "What does that mean?" "Well," she said, "it could be something to do with your liver. Sometimes new moms create too much bile after delivery and that can cause itching." This was the condition I was sure I had while I was pregnant. This was my answer! She ordered labs to look at my liver and iron and blood cell counts and who really know what else. I left more worried than I went in but thought finally, I'll know what's going on.
The next day my labs came back. Everything was normal. My liver is 100% normal. My platelet count and white and red blood cell counts are normal. My iron level is normal. Normal. Normal. Normal.
She ordered a chest x-ray. "What would that show?" "Swelling that could be the cause of something greater to investigate." I went to the chest x-ray. Two quick snap shots and I was on my way. The phone rang later that day, "good news! Your lungs look great. I can find nothing wrong with you. Maybe go back to your OB and see if it's hormonal based. Have you considered that this could all be a result of stress?"
I called my OB. We went through all my symptoms again. He pulled up my chart and mumbled through all the results of my recent labs. "Everything looks normal, hon." "Yeah, so they tell me. Could this be a vitamin deficiency or over production or something? I've read a lot on vitamin deficiencies and some cause itching. What about hormones? Could I be producing too much estrogen or something?" My primary care didn't test vitamin levels. He said we could check that and ordered the labs. He also said it was unlikely the result of a hormonal imbalance because I was on the birth control with the lowest amount of estrogen in it possible. He said I could go off birth control for a few cycles and test my hormone levels but he didn't expect to find anything. I said I wanted to try any way and he agreed. I finished the last of my birth control cycle two weeks ago and am supposed to call him when my next period begins. He's probably right, it won't show anything but I'll feel better knowing we checked.
I had more blood drawn. I got more of the same news. "Your vitamin D is the highest it's ever been. You were extremely deficient before you got pregnant. Now you're on the chart. Everything else looks normal." There's that word again.
"Is there anything else this could be? I'm going crazy here." My voice started to break. I was getting emotional. I was past the point of just mildly irritated or frustrated.
"Have you considered that this could be stress?"
"Excuse me?"
"We've talked about postpartum depression before. Since you don't feel that fits the bill I think we have to look at the next obvious diagnosis - stress."
"That's not a diagnosis. I'm not stressed. I don't feel stressed."
"You have twin girls and you work full time. No one in that situation isn't stressed."
"Ok. Let's just say I'm psychological stressed without realizing it. How am I supposed to fix that?"
"Are you sleeping enough?"
"I am literally the most rested mother of twins you will ever meet."
"Try exercise... and see what your dermatologist has to say. Maybe there is something we're not seeing."
I went to the dermatologist last week. In the weeks in between all the labs and other doctor's visits and this visit the itching had almost entirely stopped. I had some dry patches on my shoulders but they didn't really bother me. The itching wasn't keeping me up during the night anymore and I was down to applying lotion only once per day and I had ditched the vitamin e oil all together.
My dermatologist took one look at my shoulders and announced, "you have eczema." He looked at my ankles and agreed there was no visible rash. I showed him my feet. "You have psoriasis." I was flabbergasted. Where did these things come from. I never had them before. Do you just wake up one day with eczema and psoriasis? Why now? I asked if it was common for these things to just 'show up'. Who wants to guess what he told me?
"These seemingly sudden flare ups are most likely the result of stress." STRESS!!!!
"But I'm not stressed."
"Before now when was the last time you had a flare up on your feet?"
"A week or two before I delivered."
"And the time before that?"
"Ummm when I was in the process of leaving my last job I guess."
"Mmmhmm. And you're not stressed? Do you work full time?"
"Yes."
"And you have young twins?"
"Yes."
"But you're not stressed?"
"No?"
Maybe I'm stressed.
He wrote a prescription for a cream to put on the eczema on my shoulders and told me to pick up new body wash, lotion and a foot cream for my psoriasis. He wrote the names of everything he wanted me to buy on a script page and said I could pick all of them up at Kroger or on Amazon. He said all of these "ailments" are completely normal and people deal with them every day. He said by keeping up with the creams and lotions and managing my stress I could minimize flair ups and hardly notice them.
So the whole itching thing is still a 100% mystery. In a couple months I'll get my hormone levels tested just to be sure we're not missing something there. In the meantime I'll use my new lotions and creams and try to figure out how to manage the stress I didn't know I was harboring. Three doctors. Loads of tests. Common diagnosis - Stress. Maybe they're on to something. And maybe it's normal to be stressed but if that's the case, then I don't want to be normal.
Comments
Post a Comment