Eczema Sensations That Make You Feel Like You're Going Mad

Eczema flare-ups have so many levels to them. And each type of rash, or crack, or bump that is associated with them has its own sensation.

A cutting sensation

For example, when I have had rashes due to dryness and cold weather, it has led to a lot of flaking and deep cracking. When that happens, it often feels like sharp daggers splitting my skin open. Depending on how deep it goes, it can feel really freaky as if a knife is being stuck into me every time I accidentally stretch out that area and potentially reopen that wound.

Crawling bug sensation

When I have had rashes because of sweating or being in hot humid weather, it just feels like a million tiny ants or spiders with feet that are laced with poison ivy crawling all over me. This feeling often makes me feel very anxious and start to panic because this type of itching can get very overwhelming very quickly.

Spreading heat and sweat

Because I'm sweating, the heat starts spreading, and then the sweat droplets themselves may also be spreading to other parts as they run down my skin and touch other body parts and potentially make those other parts itchy as well, which adds to the overwhelming feeling.

Hot to the touch rashes

When I was traveling to tropical places like Fiji and Bali, this would show up as intertrigo and the rashes would be very bumpy, juicy, red, thick and swollen and feel very hot to the touch. In Fiji, it almost felt as if they had been touched by a hot iron.

Often it's this type of itchiness that seems to allow other types of rashes to tag along like the ones I get if I have candida. With candida, I also get a lot of bumps but it doesn't tend to feel as itchy as the bumps I get from sweating or being exposed to a lot of heat and humidity. It shows up in my skin almost like in some sort of speckled, crocodile skin sort of pattern. In this case, I really like using a cooling spray. You can make your own using my Stupid Easy Anti-Itch Spray recipe here on AtopicDermatitis.net.

Burning sensation

If I get sunburnt or exposed to a lot of environmental heat, it can lead to heat rashes on top of the sunburn. And that often feels like having a 24/7 hot iron constantly pressed on top of the areas of injury. I’ll often get heat symptoms like irritability and an ongoing discomfort with exposure to warm weather that makes me feel very squirmish. Like I’m going crazy unless I have some ice water or eat something cold and refreshing like watermelon and cucumber. Sometimes it makes me feel very heavy and exhausted to feel all that heat and it will take some time to feel comfortable again. It will often take me at least a day or two to start to feel some kind of relief.

Can you relate to any of these symptoms? What do your flareups typically look and feel like?