Subconcious Scratching

[HenryB]

Another day and I have to wash my bed linen again! Blood stains all over again from scratching while I slept.
Anyone got some miracle advice as to what I can try and do?

Applying Elocon cream at night before I go to sleep. Tried some other creams but found that some will make me sweat like a pig and have to wash the linen anyways

Apart from sleeping on towels (which I hate to do). I do not like any other material around me other than bed linen. Yes I have tried pyjamas but end up feeling like a burrito roll at some point in the night and just rip them off.

[Turnedlight]

I have used cotton gloves in the past, they were quite effective actually. Also if I get to the point of intense itching at night I used sudocreme (the tub) which has zinc (same as calamine lotion) and seems to calm down the itching but it is messy. No real miracle ideas I'm afraid..

[jiml]

I've never found a solution to the problem, apart from getting clear of the plaques. I dread them ever coming back, the cotton gloves sounds a good idea from Turnedlight, I would say worth a try unless anyone has a better idea

[Grizzly Bear]

Hi Henry,

i'm in the same boat as you on this one.

I have cotton bedding, i trim my nails right down, cover myself in a thin amount of coconut oil etc & still wake up as if i was visited during the night by Dracula !!!



However, lately have have made my own cococtions up by mixing things up, washing in soaps etc etc & my P is getting better slowly.  

I also take Chlorphenamine 4mg tablets to allegedly take the crawling ants feeling itch out of my skin.

By the way Henry, what soap powder / liquid are you using ?

Everyone is different but i find non bio things like Fairy, Persil  seem to be good.

They won't get the blood out of your bedding 100% but if yo use Daz we shall say, that will be like getting into a bed made up of treacle & having millions of horse ants crawling over you & eating you alive !!!!  

GB

[Turnedlight]

I have to use Persil non-bio as other family members are allergic to all the others. When we go on holiday I have to take our own bedsheets as more than one night in biological washed sheets leave my skin feeling like its dry and 'burning'.
I recently worked out that newer antihistamines have sacrificed some of their effectiveness in order to cause less drowsiness, so older types might work better, I certainly don't notice any relief from the over the counter ones like piriton or zirtec. One of the older ones that might work better is called phenergan - will be asking to try it next time I'm in need..

[D Foster]

I have to use non-bio wash powders or it sets the scratching off . I read somewhere ,I think it was one of the USA P sites, that there is a very new cream out that is very effective on the itching but I don't know what it is but I will have another look though it may not be available in UK yet.

[Kat]

Gloves are probably the best option to help keep you from scratching. You may still scratch, but it won't be as intense as what you can do with your fingers and nails.

If you have an area that you constantly want to scratch, perhaps after applying a cream that helps with the itch you could wrap it with gauze, but if you're scratching all over that wouldn't help.

[HenryB]

I use Persil non-bio as well. I think it's the after effect from Hotel sheets I still have. During the week I stay in hotels/B&B's. Last week was really bad as the bed linen in the hotel drove me nuts. Never thought of the idea to take my own linen with to replace the sheets on the beds. Come to think of it, I always have issues with hotel linen.
Thanks for that bit of advice.

Regarding the cotton gloves. My wife had a really good chuckle when I told her we must try this. She used to work on the same construction site where I worked and she did all the orders for gloves, PPE etc. Now when it came to ordering gloves for me, we had to special order them. Background info - I am South African and pretty tall - 6ft5 actually. And my hands are big. I can just barely endure wearing a size 12 work glove for a few hours. Then got to let my hands breath So, our first priority would be to try and find some company that make big sizes. Not very easy in Scotland. But I'm sure I can find something elsewhere and import it.

[Fred]

The trick is not to scratch in your sleep. Obviously that is not easy, but you can with hard work train yourself not to do it. First off you must not feel guilty, but you have to imagine you are staying at a friends house or a hotel and you would feel embarrassed by seeing the stains you had left behind after your visit. Without getting to hung up about it as after all it is still your bed, try to get you subconscious mind to not want to scratch.

Yes cotton gloves, and keeping your nails very short as the others said are also very good. If you ever notice yourself scratching in bed, get up and rub an ice cube over the offending part or hold a bag of peas on it for a while. It will calm it down, but don't go back to bed wait until you can't keep your eyes open. You hit the nail on the head when you said "Subconcious" you don't know you are doing it, but remember It Is You that is doing it and nobody else.

It's very difficult and like I said don't get to hung up about it, most people with psoriasis have been there. It's annoying and can also be embarrassing, but it happens.

I would give the creams a miss and sleep naked, yes you may find stains in the morning but a lot of it is not always blood. A lot of the time it's like Sebum or a mixture of sebum and blood, as for removing the stains soak your sheets for a few hours in a high concentrate of clothes washing liquid and luke warm water before putting in the washing machine. Another trick is to rub the stain with neat clothes washing liquid for a while between your fingers before putting in the washing machine.

Use a good quality Non Bio clothes washing liquid, and if you have hard water invest in a water softener. It will make a huge difference, not only on the cleaning, but also your skin.

Another tip is to invest in good quality Egyptian cotton sheets and quilt cover, it's very soft and light and will help you sleep better.

*A basic water softener will cost around £300 but it will do wonders for your skin, make cleaning easier, and will stop scale in your electrical heating equipment so they will last longer.

*Spend as much money on Egyptian cotton as you can afford, but don't be tempted with the cheap products. Go the few extra ££££s it's worth it.

Sleep well, and Stop Scratching.    

Water softener