Out of control scratching habbit.

[mum2four]

I don't know if this is part of my anxiety issues but I have noticed recently it dose seem to happen when I'm deep in thought and/or stressed out. I started over 6 year's ago now when i first got pregnant with my 3rd child and at one point it was so bad that i would make my skin really red raw and even bleed while i was sleeping as well awake. I realised that i was having a reaction to washing powder but even after changing washing powder reaction subsided i realised I wal still scratch with no real reason for it. Just scratching or rubbing gently would progress to to hard scratching and then to I would realise that i was hurting my self but trying to stop my self was like trying to hold your breath it never lasted long and i would find my self scratchy the same spot of another spot soon after this has been an extreamly frustrating for year's now and it's a habbit that i have not been able to brack I would end up holding my hand's away from self and counting just to distract my self long enought to ease the pain in hopes that the erg to scratch would go away. At night the habbit is worse than during the day but during the day i was more likly to scratch my head till I bleed which start off as playing with my hair cause I'm nervous about something or deep in thought. I'm not really itchy at all. I have used ice pack's when the scratching was real bad and sometime's my frustration over the scratching get's so bad that start pacing the floor and and shaking my hand's if my parnter is not home to hold my hand's for me.

Anyway my point to writing this was that today my Dr gave a prescription for Luvox(for anxiety) 50mg tablet's and I have only had a one a today my first dose i have never been on this medication before only Zoloft year's ago(for depression). I dont know if it is in my head or not but i just realised that I have not scratched uncontrolably once tonight yet. I'm still scratching but it is not with out a real reason and I'm finding it so much easier to stop when I tell my self to stop. I feel like i have control over my hand's again for the most part.

I just found that interesting and anyone has eva had a simular experiance it would be interest to hear.

Thankyou.

[mum2four]

Last night after getting bed I watch tv for while after I while i realised that I still had not real bad scratch episode. I was still sratching but not much and when I did sratch is very managable and easily stopped I did have to hold my hands and count to distract my self. Normal when eva my partner would just lightly touch my skin at any time in almost every way I would scratch that spot and the erg to scratch would become so intence when eva I eva I tryed not to scratch that I wanted to scream that's why i had to count and if I didn'd hold my hand's thay would go right back to scratching the same spot till i felt like cry at the pain or my hand would scratch somewhere els that I lightly touched myself.My hand coulf be no where near my body some night cause the habbit had a mind of it's onw if i could find a position to lay in that meant my arm were comfortable and in a postion that thay couldn't start the scratching cause if it started 8/10 time I would hurt my self before I realised that i was scratching.

Last night was the best night for not scratching in a long time the erg was easily controled and my partner's light contact didn't cause me to scratch at all not one I felt like I was heaven I couldn't wipe the smile of my face at how I felt which is hard to discribe really but most night I would either be fighting with my the sensation all over my body telling my hand's that i didn't need to scratch it it would go away if i just let it pass. I didn't catch my self scratching every time i did scrtch I had far more control over I didn't hurt myself once I was able to ignore the little sentsation and itches for the most part or I could scratch a fue time's and stop with reasonable ease. I didn't wake up once and find self scratching I stil woke up fue time's but my hand's were no longer anoying my skin. I could go back to sleep with out having to fight with hand's like most night all over again.

last night felt like heaven compared to a good night in bed and undiscribable compared to a bad night of scratching. For 6year's I've been fighting this scratch habbit/erg and in one night I feel like I'm finaly in control of my hand's again. My frustration level alone is so much lower from just being in control of my hand's let alone the frustration of hurting my self from scratch. I really never expected to the med's them self could have a impact on my scratching habbit i thought that maybe just maybe I could have enought strenght to stop if I no longer had the anxiety to deal with as well.

I was really thinking that i would have to live with the scratching habbit for eva I tryed changing so much in case it was caused my another alergic reactin but there was a big part of me that felt even if it was reaction i should be in more control of it. I have had so many night's of just pure frustation with my inablity to stop my self from scratching myself and my partner were so at a loss for what to do. It was as much a iratating habbit to him as much as me. I cant count the amount of time's he told me to stop scratching and i didn't even know I was doing it he saved me from many night's of it getting to the point of feeling like i wanted to tear my skin off just to feel better. If this continue's to get even better I'm not going to know what to do with my hand's [8D]

Thank's for listening.;)

[tammyg]

Hi,

I don't really have any experience of what you have been dealing with but just wanted to say well done, you are making good progress! It is hard to know whether it is down to the meds or down to knowing the meds are doing you good so not needing anything extra to cope (the scratching). I don't know, maybe that's rubbish!

Anyway I am allergic to many things (washing powders, creams etc) and always find I scratch for much longer than it is itchy, it's wierd.

*I didn't catch my self scratching every time i did scrtch I had far more control over I didn't hurt myself once I was able to ignore the little sentsation and itches for the most part or I could scratch a fue time's and stop with reasonable ease.*

This is great!! Especially if you are scratching as a way of hurting yourself but are managing to control it - well done you!!


Tam x

[mum2four]

Last night was a very good night again I'm still scratching but NO where near as often or as hard. Touching and brushing my skin has seldom tirggered the thought to scratch and if i do scratch it's far less intence and I have heaps more control over it.

The main spot that I all way ended up sratching which never had a chance to fully heal in over 3 years because of my scratching or rubbing the area has already gotten so much better. I tryed so many things in the past to stop my self from scratching area long enought to allow it to heal but even with medicated creams ect I would still scratch the area even while it was still healling and make it worse again. As long as the erg to scratch stay far out of my mind I dont care if it was the med's of the thought of the med's that did. I'm just happy that my hand's have made peace with skin:D. Fighting the erg to scratch and pain responce and hy thoughts and with kids (thay love to fight[V]) was causing way too much frustation and stress. It's one less thing I dont have to worry about as much.

Late night sleeping was even better I did wake up untill my baby did and nights like that are rare if every night could be like last 2 night that even better. Not having the itching and scratching is having a huge impact on my day and night. When my hands and mind weren't busy(with good behaviour's) like at bed time Thay use to just go crazy most of the time. If I wasn't scratching my self I was fighting the erg to scratch and getting really frustated with so many thing's about the habbit and how if effected me. Which seem to feed the habbit really bad.

I just feel so much more at peace with skin. I haven't had on single moment of pure frustation over not being able to ignore the erg to sratch and I have had only fue moment's of wanting to scratch a spot even though I after the itchy sopt is no longer itchy or after scratching a fue times in an effort to rid that spot of what eva sensation was bugging me. The best part of all is that my parter's light touch's have not caused me to want to push him away or his hand away from me. My own light touch's are not starting as many erg's to scratch and when it dose is is so much easier to ignore.

I really feel that with out the sratching my I will have higher tolerance now for other sorce's of frustration. The medication I'm one is one thay use for OCD to help stop the unwanted repeated thought's(obsessions), and to help stop the need to repeat an action over and over (compulsions). I have alway's was stuggled to overcome different obsession's and I really thought about it more, since finding out my son has asperger syndrome which one of the caratistic of it is obsessive behaviour's to a certain extent not as bad as ODC all thought thay can have OCD as well. I really dont care why or what has made the habbit so much easier to overcome I'm just injoying the moment and hoping I dont start it up again.