Hi, I am new to the group and I guess I will jump in with my experience. I
am really slow and really dumb, I guess because it took me years to figure out
what was going on and years more to accept it. Let me tell you about it.
Several years ago I woke up one night feeling like I needed to scratch the
skin off my arm. It was something so far beyond an ordinary itch that I can't
even describe it. Let me just say that it felt like the only way to get to
the place that I needed to scratch was to peel back the skin and go underneath
it somehow. It lasted several hours and I put ice packs on it til I probably
had frostbite but it still did not kill the itch. The area involved was about
half the size of my palm but there was NO RASH. Nothing.
This happened repeatedly and I tried everything over the counter I could
find to help it. There would usually be a really hot spot when the itch was
going on but that was probably from my scratching it. It was really more pain
than itch and it would move from one arm to the other, always on the
backside and no more than half the size of my palm. I searched for something
that
might be biting me, nothing was there.
Every time I tried to go to the doctor about it, it would go away
by the time my appointment rolled around. Sometimes it went away for months or
maybe just weeks, but it would be gone and I would never know when it was
coming back. Sometimes it lasted a few minutes, sometimes days. Still no rash.
I began to think it was in my mind because whenever I went on vacation it
disappeared completely (who diets on vacation??). I worked in a very
high-stress
daycare center and I tried making them order me the powder-free gloves and
bringing my own soap. I changed every shampoo, soap, washing detergent, etc.
that I could think of. Threw out towels and sheets and got new ones. Same with
clothes. EVERYTHING. I am ashamed to say that a couple of times I considered
burning my arm to see if that would somehow stop it.
I gave up and kept my appointment with the dermatologist finally,
feeling foolish because it was not happening and there was nothing going on
when I
went. I tried to describe it to him and he seemed to understand it and called
it by some long name I should have written down that has to do with the
nerve endings. He said it usually happened on the shoulder or the tops of the
thighs, though, for some reason but it was undoubtedly the same thing. He then
told me about the only thing he could recommend was to use arthritis cream
containing pepper that would burn. He said the burn would mask the itch. Right.
Twelve bucks for a tube of stuff that burned my skin but didn't touch the
itch/pain.
As I said, I wasn't itching at that time and I had begun to notice that
it happened whenever I was dieting - which is on and off, never lasts. I
actually asked him if it could be my Diet Coke. He said no, Nutrasweet didn't
stay in the system or something to that effect, can't remember his exact words.
Nevertheless, I started cutting out the Diet Coke and eventually other diet
stuff with aspartame and the itching stopped.
Brilliant me, I figured out that I could drink a certain amount of this
stuff and if the itching started up again, I would just back it off. Also,
the caffeine free varieties took longer to bring on the itching. In short, I
worked it out so that I was drinking Diet Dr. Pepper once a week or so and no
itching.
I have also, during the same amount of time, been plagued with
depression and horrible mood swings. I would go to visit a family member once a
week
in a nursing home and on the way down I would get a big cup of diet soda at
the gas station. They don't have anything non-caloric without aspartame, of
course, but since it was once a week it didn't cause the itch. It's a
self-serve
situation and I always hit the syrup button a couple of times because it is
stronger that way and diet fountain drinks taste yucky anyway so that helped
the taste. I started to notice that I would leave home in a great mood and by
the time I reached the nursing home I was ready to break down and cry or
pick a fight or crawl into bed and die, if not all of the above. I thought I
was
depressed from going there, but I got curious and quit the diet soda
completely. The depression and mood swings stopped completely.
Then, a couple of months ago, I had parathyroid surgery. Several of the
symptoms for that condition matched mine and so on Thanksgiving I decided to
give it a try and drink Diet Coke for a few days. The nurses at the hospital
had actually looked at me like I was nuts when I told them I was allergic to
nutrasweet and wanted to know why I thought that, so I figured what the heck.
I spent Thanksgiving and the day after (my birthday) in bed, bawling my eyes
out and swallowing Benadryl trying to calm down the itching on my arm.
It took me years but I have finally accepted and admitted that I might
as well drink rat poison as to drink Nutrasweet. I will never swallow a
mouthful of the stuff again. Sorry for the long email, but it's been a long,
terrible experience.

Sabby





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