I first suffered with this as a teenager only to be laughed at by those who I told because they thought it was so odd. Having read through a lot of the comments I would say it is definitely down to circulation for me - and particularly bad on any parts of my body where there is fat and cellulite. It gets much worse when I don't look after my diet and exercise - which is difficult because I work in a sedentary and stressful job. The good news is, in the last few years I joined a gym and persevered with exercise, building up gradually until I actually managed to run a half marathon two years ago - slowly albeit I managed the whole 13 miles!
Unfortunately, I had a car accident last summer and have only just been able to start getting into walking and exercising again - and as part of the lack of exercise I have put on quite a bit of weight and haven't been eating as well and drinking as much water as I did when I was being fit and healthy. I've just come back from a 20 minute walk and had to keep stopping because I was crying my legs and stomach were itching so much.
All I will say to people is do try to get active - I firmly believe those who say it improves with exercise are right - it worked for me. It wasn't easy - I joined the gym and could jog no more than 2-3 minutes to start with but I stuck with it because I was fed up of being so unhealthy and restricted by this bizarre itching.
As well as exercise I would say there are a number of changes I made to my diet which helped me. Number 1 I began to drink plenty of water - sounds obvious but really helps your body flush out toxins and improves circulation. Number 2 I cut down on alcohol, caffeine and quit smoking - all three really hinder your circulation. Number 3 I cut right down on heavily processed and pre-prepared foods and meals - they're full of salt and sugar not to mention bad fats which are all really bad for your circulation too.
Basically if you read up on nutritional tips for cellulite and circulation you'll find that the same tips will help with managing the itching as well.
I'm definitely going to try the anti-histamines because I want to make some progress now I've started physical exercise again. I know it's really easy to give up trying because of the discomfort but I started small by signing up for a 4 km fun run and got people to sponsor me for my favourite charity. I then had a goal to work towards and a reason to persevere even when it was at it's most excruciating. Whenever it got really bad, I would stop, drink plenty of water and get back to it the next day - trying to improve how much time I could continue daily rather than focusing on distance or speed.
I'm not saying my way of dealing with it can work for everyone but good luck if you try it and I hope it works out.
Louise
Posted By Louise on January 15, 2008 at 10:28:12:
