Severe full body itching after Covid vacine.

@whamman Welcome To Mayo Clinic Connect. That must be pretty frustrating for you to have been going through "the itchies" for almost 18 months now!

I am not a medical doctor, and will not be able to give you medical advice. In my own experience, reducing the amount of Vit B12 taken helped. Where I was doing a supplement everyday, we moved it to 3 times a week. Also, I watched my niacin intake in supplements.

Another thing to explore is environmental causes, seeing it has been so long. A new apartment/house/living situation. New cleaning products. Different fibers in your clothes/bedding. Pollution factors in the environment you are in. Changes in medications/supplements you are taking. When you say it is worse with foods and exercise, that leads me to think that raising your internal body temperature is producing a histamine/allergic type reaction. Have you tried something like diphenhydramine [brand name Benadryl] for the worst symptoms?
Ginger

I also have major itch issues…from change in temperature and water contact…with no visible skin changes.
On a Facebook group for water contact itch, someone discovered that when they worked out, they didn’t itch…it turned out that it was the preworkout supplement they were taking and isolated it to Beta Alanine.
I buy the NOW brand on Amazon and take 750 mg every four hours as needed…
Here is a link to a Stanford paper on the subject. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33170524/

I have RA and I had the same intense severe debilitating itch after having 4 full dose Covid vaccines made worse by the addition of Humira, then Renvoq. Nothing helped to relieve the itch all day/night even after taking Atarax 3 x a day, I would only get temp relief for a few hours. . I also tried Gabapentin, which created a very dark mood and depression. I have been to several dermatologists who frankly were useless and of no help what’s so ever. Finally I was given a referral to a Mayo trained Dermatologist who knew her stuff and gave me an antidepressant called Doxepin 10 mg. I started with 10 mg but can take up to 3 per day! ! AMAZINGLY the next morning (after a full night of sleep) I woke up with barely any itch!!!!
A godsend in my book and may be worth a try. She also referred me to the Mayo Clinic to be followed by Rheumatology and Dermatology.

I should add that I’ve only been taking this for 2 weeks now but the relief is promising and I can always increase the dose if needed.

Hi! This is me right now! I have been struggling with intermittent itch that comes and goes since 2020! I’ve been to many different specialist and no one can figure it out! All my blood work is normal! The itch is worse on my scalp, face and ears but it will spread to my arms and legs at times! It’s so awful to live with and antihistamines don’t work! Did they ever give you a diagnosis?!

@karranne1213: sorry you can’t find relief! I have no answer, but I have a wonky liver and they always ask me if I itch incessantly… maybe coincidence? Keep on truckin’…

I can certainly sympathize with your malady. After receiving two Covid vaccinations in 2020, my wife and I spent a week at Hilton Head, SC. On the 4-hour drive home, may ankles started to itch. By the time we got there my whole body was itching. No rash nor hives anywhere. The next day I experienced sinus congestion. My primary care doctor referred me to a dermatologist. Blood work revealed no abnormality. Next stop: an allergist. Tests revealed I was allergic to cats, dust mites, and fescue grass. I was put on a weekly injection regimen for nearly a year. Symptoms only worsened. In the mean time, I was in 4 very diverse climates: S. Carolina, Indiana, Arizona, and Bavaria, Germany). Symptoms were the same everywhere I went. Next stop: an ENT, then a physical therapist, then a neurologist. After multiple blood tests, scans, and ultrasound, I am no better. Only things that help are antihistamines for congestion and steroid cream (triamcinolone) and pills (prednisone) for pruritus. The itching is relieved somewhat by physical activity, but it is always present on my scalp (sometimes my whole head) and then my back. Here is the strange thing: when itching occurs on an extremity (hand, arm, leg) the itch occurs in the identical spot of the parallel area : right thigh/left thigh, right wrist/left wrist, right buttock/left buttock, etc. No doctor and nothing I have read explains this phenomenon. Every day for over five years--itching and congestion. I firmly believe that my symptoms are caused by a compromised immune system due to the Covid vaccine. At first, my doctors brushed that aside; now they are listening. But not a single doctor (as yet) can tell me the exact cause or provide an effective cure. I am inclined to believe that the symptoms are neurologically-related, possibly some type neuropathic disorder. My neurologist has ordered a skin biopsy to check the nerve endings. If that does not reveal anything, I have no idea where to go next. I will be 81 in November, and am in pretty good shape for my age. I can live with the symptoms, but I would prefer not to. I am open to any suggestions.

After two very serious infections (pre Covid) that I believe triggered my itch problems…since been diagnosed with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. I also believe the itch is a form of neuropathy. Beta Alanine is the only thing that kills the itch for me.

I wrote this post in 2023…

I also have major itch issues…from change in temperature and water contact…with no visible skin changes.
On a Facebook group for water contact itch, someone discovered that when they worked out, they didn’t itch…it turned out that it was the preworkout supplement they were taking and isolated it to Beta Alanine.
I buy the NOW brand on Amazon and take 750 mg every four hours as needed…
Here is a link to a Stanford paper on the subject. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33170524/

New note…there are now a few other papers on the subject and the nih lists beta alanine as a treatment for Aquagenic Pruritus itch…