Extreme itching on feet and hands with no relief when scratched

whitleynn822, I have had some of this and it is miserable. Here are some thoughts:

1) Have you changed detergent or hand soap?
2) Are you on Thyroid Medication? They had to switch one of mine thyroid meds due to itching.
3) Is your skin dry? Moisturize with Cetaphil cream on your hands and feet every day. (I know, one more
thing to do, right?). Also, Benadryl makes a cream for itching.

I hope these help. Blessings & Prayers....

The person ahead of me has some good advice.
Have you had skin testing done for chemicals that could be in products you were using.
Did you start any new medication?, Or did they change the amount of a medication or a manufacturer of a medication?.
Are your sheets made with cotton or a synthetic blend that can cause irritation?
You need to check everything that touches your feet that could be causing itching. Check your shoes do you wear flip-flops or something like that. Your hands touch many more things and chemicals.
Do a diary write down how your day is going you’re itching level One to Five, With five being the worst.
Did you wash clothes? Did you change your bedding? Did you use a cleaner in the bathroom? Something you wash the floor with and so on.
Check your memory for your childhood memory. Did you have hives or rashes growing up that caused itching?
I have an egg allergy that makes toothpaste, soap foam up. The white you could beat them up and that’s what makes the bubbles. I have an egg allergy. I have to be very careful as what I use so no products with egg whites.
I hope some of this helps. It’s not easy..
You have to be your own detective
I wish you the best

whitlynn822, the patches of hard dry skin make it sound like psoriasis. If you see a dermatologist they can do a skin biopsy, or they might recognize it right away.
Psoriasis can cause weight gain.
There are some prescription topical meds and some new monoclonal antibodies for psoriasis https://wchh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/psb.1790
Sorry for the photo. I'm sure yours doesn't look that bad, but is the appearance of the skin similar.

Omg, everything you have described is exactly what I have suffered with for over a decade! I’m female, Started when I was 19 and now 33. Only happens on my hands or feet. The itching/burning comes out of nowhere, especially at night. It’s so severe I start to bite into my hand for relief. It can last up to an hour and then poof it disappears like nothing ever happened. I can’t seem to pinpoint in all these years what is triggering it. I’ve also noticed hot/sweat is one trigger. I’ve dropped a lot of weight and put on over the years but it doesn’t matter what my weight is, it still happens. In all these years, the only relief I’ve found is a Zyrtec which I’ve recently started taking frequently. I take one every few days. It definitely keeps the itch away but if I miss taking it then it almost always comes back. I also have psoriasis on my scalp, since I was young. I have no idea what it is or what causes it! If you find any other tips for relief please let me know

I suffer from medication allergies (histamine reactions) and I experience severe itching on palms, lower arms and feet nearly every day at around 8 PM. There are sometimes red dots but most times no rash. I keep it under control with a large dose of antihistamine and if uncontrollable, a very small does of prednisone. This is what has worked for me. Speak to your doctor about your situation and severity. I need to note that my allergies are for drugs that keep me alive so for me this is a situation that I must deal with.

Perhaps consider getting an opinion from a NEUROLOGIST. He or she would be a licensed M.D. I don’t mean a homeopath or naturopath but someone who uses any needed testing agent or device to assess your nervous systems functioning. Your itching may come from within your system rather than from a topical cause. And yes, there is something called “neurological itch[ing]” in which the brain sends the itch command, not poison ivy or bug bites. If you’ve really “had it”, look online for descriptions of what neurologists treat and how. It couldn’t hurt. Feel better.

I suddenly developed a skin condition covering both my arms, itchy rash , and other parts of my body…but doesn’t really sound like yours. However your comments about sweating, etc, are you going thru menopause? Menopause can cause everything from skin conditions to anxiety, depression. I think that is my problem.
As for my skin itching, they said it was eczema but I’m not convinced. I solved my problem by doing the Budwig Protocol …flax seed oil .you can find info on the internet but this is what I did twice a day:
2 T organic cold pressed flax seed oil
1 C of a fermented milk product (kefir, yogurt)- this is essential because the good bacteria feed on the oil and makes it more available to your body
Make a smoothy with a blender so it’s fully emulsified. You can add fruit.
For me I virtually saw results in a few days and definitely in a week.
For the itch, I use corticosteroids when it’s bad. I use a herbal healing gel and my own homemade eczema creme. Home this helps. BTW , I just started hormone replacement therapy to see if that is the cause of both the itching and terrible anxiety .

@swiss344 I had the same thing, went to an allergist, and he told me to take Pepcid — an unintended side effect is reducing itchiness/hives. IT WORKS. I’ve been taking it and Zyrtec every night for 7 years & it’s the only thing that helps. I made a Mayo account just to tell you this! Try it!

I had the same thing, went to an allergist, and he told me to take Pepcid — an unintended side effect is reducing itchiness/hives. IT WORKS. It’s likely a slight allergic reaction, and the itchiness for that starts to be felt in the hands and feet. I’ve been taking it and Zyrtec every night for 7 years & it’s the only thing that helps. I made a Mayo account just to tell you this! Try it!

ER doctors are only equipped to test and diagnose life-threatening conditions. They can also provide temporary relief untill you can get to a primary doctor or a specialist, so they are not a good option for a chronic condition like yours. It's also not a good idea to assume anything they tested would discover a serious condition in its beginning stages while it can be easily resolved, because most of the tests center around diagnosing conditions that have become severe enough to become immediate life-threatening conditions. It would be like going to your obstitrition for the flu; sure they're a doctor, have gone through the training, and can prescribe medication, but don't keep updated on what type of flu is going around, who is at the highest risk of serious complications, or what medications have been most effective. It can take several appointments with a primary care doctor just to get directed to the right specialist (if needed) in order to treat a chronic condition like yours. It's not because they don't care, it's because there are so many conditions to diagnose with those symptoms that unless you are able to hand them a blank check for a full body scan and every possible test available at once, it will take several visits to narrow down everything to get to a diagnosis. The ER probably did a CBC and tested for advanced Kidney and liver disease, which you obviously didn't have otherwise you would still be there. Now that's out of the way, wouldn't it be good to find out if you were having a major organ issue before it got to the point of requiring dialysis 4x a week while waiting for a transplant? That's part of the narrowing down part the primary care doctor looks for. Basically, what I'm trying to say is you are absolutely correct when you say this is not topical because only internal problems would be limited to your hands and feet. The reason the ER gave you Zyrtec is because it is a textbook reaction to a mast cell dysfunction, which is relieved with allergy medication. You may want to try a few more different allergy medications prior to completely writing it off. If you know anyone who has been diagnosed with seasonal allergies, most can list off several medications that "didn't work" before they found "the one" and this is no different. Just knowing if there is an allergy medication works or not will save you a lot of time and money. It is also a very important diagnostic step that will help the doctor not only treat you but narrow down conditions that they need to keep an eye out for. If allergy meds continue to have little to no effect, that will also drastically change what they are looking for. Everything I'm telling you is based on my personal experiences with doctors, specialists, and ER's. I have a few autoimmune disorders that led to a lot of unnecessary suffering and complications due to my urgency to get treated ASAP as well as my desire to save time and money. For instance, the my last diagnosis was Severe Pancolitis (ulcerative colitis). Has I not seen the gastro, as recommended by the ER, I would be dead. After the 3rd visit to the ER I finally made the recommended appointment with the gastro and the day before I was supposed to go, I went to ER again (4th time in 2 weeks) where they finally gave me a CT scan and the radiologist indicated a high probably of Ulcerative Colitis (they didn't bother checking my blood work again and didn't treat me). I went to the gastro that wanted to try a week of antibiotics and said if that didn't work he would have me hospitalized. By the 5th day I was worse and felt I was pretty close to dying. I called the doctor, who directed me to a different ER and made sure I received certain testing to determine if I was eligible to be hospitalized. By then my red blood cell count was so low I was 1pt away from needing a blood transfusion. I was hospitalized for 10 days, then had a to be hospitalized again a week later for autoimmune heart inflammation, which meant longer high-dose steroids along with chemo pills to try and lower my immune system. It took a year to physically recover to the point I could walk through a grocery store without a scooter. But shortly after I dislocated my ankle and broke it in 5 places because I got osteoporosis at age 40 from all the steroids and chemo. I had to give myself a daily injection for a year and a half and get yearly maintenance infusions for my bones. My Esophagus is permanently damaged (Barretts Esophagus/precancerous) and I now have to get an endoscopy with my colonoscopy (for severe ulcerative colitis) every 2 years. All of this happened because I didn't follow up with a gastroenterologist to get a colonoscopy (too expensive. 😆) after my many trips to the ER. When I say that I would be dead without the gastro, I really meant it. After going to the ER 4 times, if I didn't already have a plan with the gastro to be hospitalized after my antibiotics was finished, I probably would have just lost hope, not realizing how to get the care I needed. My point is, follow up with a primary care. Do whatever you can to get this checked out now while it's still in its infancy stages. Itchy hands and feet is a very unique and remarkable symptom and one you should follow through with before it gets out of control.