Ok now I am itchy


(Denise Palmer) #61

That’s great! Any relief is a good thing:)


#62

I dont yet dare to yell it from the rooftops- but it seems to be working. I put it on my chest and my front and it soothed my skin and made the torment go away. Peace! Then due to the itching left, I just went to the trouble to try to get the oil on my back- and here I lay after only minutes with no more itch on my back. This is a MIRACLE Denise. I have been suffering for weeks and trying everything I could find. Now it is something as simple as olive oil which I have in my kitchen? I pray that the rash subsides now within a few days too and then I finally start to look normal again and have peace. This is something everyone should know!


(Denise Palmer) #63

I’m so glad! I find that 2 to 3 days after using the olive oil that the rash dries up and goes away.

I would recommend using the olive oil during that time even if the itchiness goes away.

That’s what worked best for me.

:slightly_smiling_face:


(Paulene ) #64

I’ll definitely try olive oil over the weekend. Thanks for the suggestions @Dpalmer.

All this week I have been having carbohydrates - rice or pasta as medicine with lunch and evening meals. I have stopped the IF that I was doing. My rash still has period of being red and angry, but overall I think it is getting better. Certainly not an immediate response though.

I’ve done a bit more reading and it really seems that reintroducing carbs is the most effective way of fixing the rash. Antibiotics have had mixed results.

BUT I’m supposed to be travelling through Italy in April-May and do not want to worry about having an aggravated rash that could get infected and require treatment in a country that has enough pressure on its health system from Corona. So, I think I’ll give eating carbs a longer shot - maybe another week, and if no improvement I’ll try antibiotics.

Even if I have to leave a strict keto way of eating behind, these last 5 months have been fantastic at helping me understand the impact of carbs on my health, including mental health. Since being back on carbs I can definitely feel a difference, with moods oscillating from feeling depressed to wanting to rip peoples heads off! (sometimes both :face_with_hand_over_mouth:). It’s also been great at helping me be more cognisant of what I put in my mouth and breaking ingrained snacking habits. Conscious control over what I eat has been a gift.

Once this rash is gone, I’ll try keto again but at the first sign of itching, I will increase carbs again. People lose weight on non-ketogenic low carb diets as well. I just have to find the best fit for me.


#65

Yes, I have seen that article too. There are so many many articles out there on pruritus pigmentosa and nobody really knows the cause except that it is tied into ketones. So frustrating.
The doxycycline was only effective in that it made the itching milder and the spots more pale. So I could tolerate it. But I was still suffering. The ACV as well. After I scratched and applied it to the skin, oftentimes in combination with the black seed oil, I at least had some peace for a while. But it definitely did not stop the rash from progressing through its stages and now I really do have dark brown spots ( which is why it is called “pigmentosa”) and even scabby crusty spots. NOT pretty. So happy I don’t have it on my face although I did have 2 spots between my eyebrows and one on my chin that finally went away.
Now using olive oil, I immediately had a cessation of the itch. That was a miracle. But this morning I still itched and so I reapplied the olive oil this morning. It took a while but again, the itching has stopped. I will use this for 3 or more days and keep you all posted.
@Paulene Please do NOT go to northern Italy. It is a hotbed of corona. And through northern Italy the virus has spread to other places. All the cases in Switzerland can be traced to northern Italy. And in Spain a man came back from a vacation there with it and has infected a few more in Spain. So I am really sorry to give you this bad news. I have cancelled a trip to Spain because of corona. Nobody wants to get sick on the road. I am actually waiting to get it. I got the swine flu and the bird flu and was in bed with fever for 2 weeks each time feeling like shit. I am pretty sure I will get corona too- it is only a matter of time. Hopefully not to the point of mortal danger. Please be careful Paulene. I am not in any panic, but I am being prudent. And nobody here travels to northern Italy right now.


(Paulene ) #66

Things will change in 7 weeks and the trip may get cancelled anyway.


#67

I woke up itchy this morning. It is not as bad as it used to be but I scratched myself all over. It also doesnt LOOK as bad as it used to. There are less visible lesions and the scabs are much less. I don’t know what to think, but will continue with the olive oil and just see what happens. The itch has lost some of its urgency- but it still is not good. This all makes me really sad.


(Karla Sykes) #68

I thought I was just itchy I never Associated it with my ketogenic lifestyle


#69

@Karla_Sykes
Oh Karla- it was EXCRUCIATING. SO bad that some of us were contemplating going back to SAD. Nothing really cures it except upping the carbs. The rest is just making it less unbearable by using olive oil or apple cider vinegar. My skin looks a mess too. I am full of dark discolourations and scabs. I am praying for it to be over soon. The doctors dont know what causes it either- they just know it has to do with the ketones.


#70

@Paulene
So the itch is getting less and less. I don’t know if it is the olive oil or the ACV or what it is. What I do know is that my keto sticks are pale in the mornings and quite light during the day too. They only turn dark purple by evening, now. And I am not cheating! So now I am wondering if I am just taking longer to become fat adapted, and maybe by finally actually burning all those extra ketones instead of having them hang around in my blood and my sweat, I am finally losing the irritation from them? Because they do say the rash is from the ketones ( if they know nothing else about it). So maybe this is why? I have no answers but just hope that this will pass very soon. It has been enough suffering.


(Denise Palmer) #71

How goes it with the itchiness and the olive oil?


#72

@Dpalmer
My friend told me that her italian grandmother used to use olive oil for everything - diarrhoea etc - including rashes. :grinning:
Thx for asking.The rash has gotten less itchy and the scabs are falling off. Much improved. But I am not really sure what helped, because it began to improve with the doxycycline I was taking too. The inflammation lessened and the spots turned more pale in color, but the itch was still driving me crazy. The ACV also took away the itch for a few hours and the olive oil was great too. I don’t know what I would have done if I had been unable to get relief from the itching from time to time. It was torture. And the rash seemed to go through these stages, from angry extremely itchy red bumps to more pale bumps, to scabs to dark brown spots. All the books say this is what pruritus pigmentosa does. So at least the treatments helped with the itching, but I am unsure whether the illness had run its course anyway? I have noticed that my keto sticks ( urine test for ketones) have been very pale the last 2-3 days, without my eating anything not keto. So basically I know I must still be in ketosis, but perhaps I am finally actually burning those ketones and before they were languishing in my bloodstream and therefore my sweat, and irritating my skin? Maybe it has actually taken me 3 and a half months to become fat adapted??? Because I am somehow not the least worried that the keto sticks are showing no ketones all day- they then turn purple by the evening. I am just theorising here- but perhaps I am now burning those ketones I am making and this is why i can’t see the excess in my urine anymore? And if this is so, then my bloodstream and my sweat will contain less ketones to irritate my skin? I have to honestly say that fat adaptation has been a rocky road for me.Some days I felt zero hunger and thought this must be IT. Now I am fat adapted. But a few days later I was hungry again. So maybe my body needed more time to finally learn to burn fats? I am also still waiting for that burst of energy that is supposed to come when fat adapted. I have been taking naps lately! :worried: It is so strange to watch your own body doing stuff you have never seen before.
P.S. After all the ACV and olive oil, the parts of my skin which are unaffected are really soft and nice to the touch! LOL Who needs expensive creams and lotions?


(Paulene ) #73

Pee sticks are pretty-much useless this far into a keto diet as they only measure Acetoacetate (AcAc). As you become fat adapted the body produces Beta-HydroxyButyrate (BHBA) ketones instead of Acetoacetate. If you want a real measure of ketosis you need to test your blood ketones (BHBA).
The darker measure in the evening may be because you are more dehydrated in the evening so the concentration of AcAc is higher.
Besides which, the degree of ketosis does not seem to influence weight loss - darker pee stick does not mean you burn more fat or lose more weight.


(Kristen Ann) #74

I haven’t read through all of these posts, but is it possible your keto rashes are really “oxalate dumping rashes”? I’m just now starting to educate myself about oxalates, so I’m no expert. Just seems like similar description to the oxalate rashes…


#75

@Paulene
Why should I be more dehydrated in the evening when I have been drinking all day long?
I am unsure if the ketosticks don’t measure BHBA too. I have not read that they discern between ketones? But there is no way I am gong to prick my finger every day. Either way, I know I am in ketosis simply because I have kept my carbs that low and the rest has been keto too.

Itched again this morning, but the strange thing is I itch without the red bumps. I put either ACV or olive oil on my skin and that is soothing. It is much more tolerable now, at least. I think maybe Dr Boz is right that you have to ride it out. Otherwise you undo the whole process.
I have not been on the scale in days because I also was unable to do IF. I was miserable and needed my breakfast. But at least i kept my food Keto. We shall see.

BTW- I went to youtube to look at some before and after keto fotos - and in the comments below about every 4th person says they itch. I think doctors should be seeing more and more keto rash and maybe they will research it to not only understand why, but to find a therapy for it if it becomes so widespread.


#76

@kaclp
In the meantime - who knows? The only thing that is certain is if you eat more carbs, you stop itching. But nobody really wants to do that because you lose the weight loss.


(Paulene ) #77

@kaclp that is certainly something to consider in my case - my rash is only on my shins rather than the typical torso pattern of keto rash. I don’t have any other symptoms of oxalate dumping, or at least none those I have come across in my very brief reading on the topic. Broccoli is my fav green vegetable, I’ve always eaten sweet potato and beans, and I started eating kale when I started keto - all high in oxalates. But I also eat more cheese and cream than I ever had, which really should help bind oxalates. So I will have to do some more research on this. So far I haven’t found anything on how to actually get rid of a oxalate dumping rash.
If you come across anything please let me know.


#78

I checked the list. I hardly eat any of those high oxalate foods. Probably only broccoli from time to time.


#79

@Paulene
All of Italy is now on lockdown. What will you do? I think they should give you your money back, or a trip somewhere else. Sooooo sorry for you.


(Paulene ) #80

I don’t know. My travel insurance does cover inability to travel because of an epidemic but the Australian government only has a level 3 travel warning ‘reconsider your need to travel’ for Italy, not a level 4 ‘do not travel’ warning. Have to call my insurance and check if they will cover cancellation under a level 3 warning. If not, have to wait and see if the travel agency will cancel and refund. They have cancelled tours to China but only offered credit notes, which is against Australian consumer law. I dont want a credit note because there is a big chance they could fail from the loss of business caused by this epidemic and I then lose over $10, 000. :sob: