Has anyone experienced itchy skin (pruritus) with CKD?

Hello pranny;
I recently had surgery for bladder cancer, and my kidneys have fluctuated in their health, but I don’t have kidney failure either. However, I do have itchy skin. My doctor thinks it’s probably one of the medications I’m taking, but we just don’t know which one. I’ve always thought that it was my kidneys. However, that being said, I do have triamcinolone cream that I can apply that helps. But the itching is all over my body and particularly my back and arms. It has gotten better as my kidneys have improved. Here’s hoping that you improve as well.

@kfontaine1002 thank you so much for this information glad to hear you're improving I'll give it a try hopefully this will help because the itching is causing me to loose sleep

@pranny Although the itching issues is often reserved for more advanced stages of CKD and dialysis, it can appear earlier. Here is what the National Kidney Foundation says about itchy skin: https://www.kidney.org/kidney-topics/pruritus-itchy-skin

Keep in mind, there may be other factors at play here, like change in detergents, lotions, sheets, soaps, or combination of one or more!
Ginger

@kfontaine1002 I’ve experienced the itching after surgery to remove my right kidney and during my immunotherapy while I patiently wait for my kidney function to improve (CKD stage 3a right now). However, my oncologist and I believe the itchiness is from the Keytruda infusions rather than from the kidney disease. I’ll ask my nephrologist when I next see him for his opinion as well. Hope your situation improves!

I also had severe itchy skin on my hands to begin with. Went to alergist, did patch testing, I am allergic to tixocortal pivilate. Sure nobody knows what that is but I stopped using all kinds of soaps, detergents etc. I had an ointment prescribed that helped. Itching went down to the backs of my knees, my neck and a few other breakout areas. Oinment helped but when I passed a 7mm kidney stone most of the itching and skin irritation is gone. Have an appt with urologist in 2 weeks and allergist in a month. I am convinced itching is from kidney. Doctors give me a HMMMMM. Never been diagnosed with CKD or other issues but I will continue to explore.

@mc2230 thanks for the information I will be going in today for blood work so this will tell me where my levels are

@pranny

So I just got test results today and everything was fine except my glucose level It's been a lil high for about a month now but doctors haven't said anything about it yet. My eGFR was at 66 today, down from 73 in January. No phosphorus test was done, don't know why but maybe because this was just for clearance for upcoming surgery on March 6th to remove kidney stones and change Stent. Currently waiting on appointment with Nephrologist, hopefully I can get a better understanding of how things are going. Thanks so much for all the responses I will keep everyone updated. Also was suppose to have a urine test but after 3 bottles of water and sitting for an hour still couldn't produce urine

@pranny welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I have Stage 3 CKD my father-in-law got to end stage renal disease. We both had itchy troubles at times. But it could have been due to something else other than our kidney conditions.
Members here have given many helpful suggestions that have helped them. I switched to hygiene products, laundry & cleaning supplies that were fragrance free and hypoallergenic. My husband has very sensitive skin and allergies. He gets rashes from lots of things. So my solution was good for both of us. My father-in-law tried lotions & creams to apply to his itchy areas. The name Eucerin (spelling?) comes to mind.

@cehunt57 thanks for your feedback I'll keep those things in mind