I have had ongoing burning/stinging/irritated skin for months. Could this be anxiety?

[altered_stu]

For a few months now, I have been experiencing a sensation that feels like sunburn in certain parts of my body (tops of feet, buttocks, neck, forehead). The sensations come and go but they are there every day. My dermatologist ran blood tests and can't find anything wrong.

Often there is no visible sign, but sometimes there is some blotchy redness. It's causing me a lot of distress - it's uncomfortable to walk or sit sometimes, and other times my feet burn so much I can't get to sleep at night.

It's also contributing to my health anxiety because I keep wondering if it means MS or something, or just that it will never get resolved.

Has anyone else had this with anxiety?

[Aaronsis]

Hey altered.stu

I can understand some of what you are going through as sometimes when I feel anxious I awake to wounds as I have hurt my hands in the night. I am not aware of it as I am asleep. I do notice though when I do feel anxious in the day that I am doing the same thing to my hands but I notice it and can stop.

As you say, there is not actually anything "wrong" with the skin to be causing the itch but there is obviously something going on to make these areas itchy.

Some things that I tend to do if I feel a little funny before going to bed is take an anti histamine, I find this helps just in the event that it is histamine building up. I have also had baths with some lotion to help sooth and this works really well too. Then some moisturizing with your favorite cream, if you have one, if not something without fragrance is usually best.

I am not sure if you are a tea drinker but a herbal tea helps sooth and also flush some of the yukkies away and I find that helps both mentally and also physically before bed.

I get how frustrating this is and how sore it can be too, I hope these little tricks of mine can provide you some relief too...it is so annoying!

Hope to chat some more to you altered.stu

Hugs to you

Sarah xx