Itching/Tingling Sensation Over Body - PAWS??
 

Hey everyone,


I am fairly new here. 25 year old male, binge drinker for a few years, that has finally (a lot sooner than expected) caught up to me. I have been sober for 46 days since my serious withdrawals where I went cold turkey (had no clue about alcohol withdrawals until it hit me like a truck).

Anyways...For the last 5 days, I have been extremely itchy or have a slight tingling sensation all over my body 24/7 throughout the day. On top of that, I get a few pimples/rashes here and there that last for a couple days.It isn't debilitating enough where I can't function, but after five days straight of it, it has been extremely annoying and getting me nervous that it will never go away.

I have been to the doctor and the dermatologist; every test checks out fine, and I'm healthy. They can not figure out what it is going on with me...At first I had dry skin so I've been moisturizing like mad but that hasn't helped. They thought it might be scabies (I've had it before) but I didn't show the normal signs...regardless, I took permethrin cream treatment and it severely dried out my skin and made the itching/tingling sensation 10x worse, which has just made me even more nervous and paranoid.

My dermatologist is not sure what it could be other than serious dermatitis and just wants to "wait it out" for a while; I am applying generous amount of lotion/oils throughout the day on my skin as well as taking antihistamines which do not help at all.

My main question is: Has anyone experienced anything like this during their recovery? Could this be a symptom of PAWS? I know this is common during the acute phase (which I experienced a little of it during then), but it is raising my anxiety level dealing with this 24/7 with no relief and my doctors are confused as well.

I am looking for another dermatologist to check me out...hopefully it is just a PAWS sympton and will go away (although I haven't really read anything on it appearing this late and for this long). Please, let me know if you experienced anything like this into your recovery.

Thanks in advance.

I'm afraid that in the end, it won't much matter what people say here, even if you get a bunch of responses that say "Yeah, I had that" -- whatever is causing your itching, it'll either go away on its own, or it won't, and you'll either find a treatment for it that helps, or you won't.

I went through a terrible post-acute withdrawal syndrome with all kinds of weird symptoms (although itching wasn't one of them), and in retrospect, the worst wasn't the symptoms themselves but my anxiety about them, and the feeling of dread and frustration that I was destined to feel that way forever.

It sounds to me like a worse problem than the itching and dermatitis could be your anxiety itself, which comes across quite clearly in your post. I found that when I took concrete steps to address my anxiety in general, and specifically my anxiety about all the weird symptoms I was experiencing, the symptoms themselves seemed to ease -- or at least, they didn't bother me as much.

Are you doing anything in recovery to address your general state of mind, anxiety levels, outlook on life, etc. -- or did you just stop drinking and carry on as you were?

I think its something a lot of folk have for a time. Not sure why.

PAWS tends to be later, but I'm no expert. I did find this article very, very helpful though.... https://digital-dharma.net/post-acut...r-immediately/

BB

BB beat me to posting that article- it's really good and helped me (and my loved ones) understand the process of healing, and physical/mental/emotional progress over many months, even up to two years.

I had the itching and far worse. Most of the not-fun things Iexperienced I just had to get through. At two years I would say I am 97 percent through my PAWS and seriously healing.

Keep going, and keep tabs on what is going on pyhsically - and in every way.

Young,

Ime...paws is whatever negative I feel since stopping being a drunk.

It took me many months to feel better. I didn't even find SR until I was 3 months clean. I googled...how long to feel normal after quitting booze. I was feeling exceptionally anxious and obsessive.

SR taught me it can take years to fully stabilize. I believe 5 years or more.

There is no going back to drinking for me. I don't believe I could physically and mentally survive it.

Proudly sober powered here.

I get little better with every moment clean.

Thanks.

Sounds psychological to me. The tingling especially. Related to stress and emotions. The fear you have of it perpetuates it. Has anything stressful happened in the past few weeks?

Read up on TMS. I think a lot of former alkies/addicts have it because we avoid and repress our emotions.

Intro to TMS

Tension Myositis Syndrome

In many people it shows up as a form of chronic pain, but I've found it can be almost anything, like tingling, rashes, ringing in ears, etc.

I had itching at about that time also. On and off numbness and tingling too. Plus a slew of other PAWS symptoms. Eventually the symptoms abated. Maybe wait and see a bit?

i had a tingly sensation but it wasnt skin related. it almost always felt like i was being electricuted kinda it would travel down my neck and spine and out my limbs and finger tips. Almost as if my body was a pitch fork that was constantly being rung. It was down right awful and didnt let up for months.

in time it got better its pretty rare i ever expierience it now as severly as i did then.

I'm glad the itching thing isn't debilitating.
Anxiety can be very debilitating, however.
Worrying that this will last forever is a classic anxiety symptom.
This isn't much help to you, I know but I think it's important to keep things in perspective - You've done great in quitting booze. You have developed a skin thing that may just go away or else you can get treated.
Either way, you're in a way better position than you were 50 days ago.

Hey everyone, thanks for posting and the encouraging words. It am still itching, although too a less slight degree, interesting enough, I don't feel anything when I'm active (walking around, talking) but when I am still, I can find tingling and itching. I have noticed my skin has been still super super dry, so I am continuing to moisterize it. Hopefully will be able to speak wit my dermatologist tomorrow. Trying to stay patient

Oddly enough, I feel very positive about my recovery so far. Mood swings are practically non existent, my diet is going really good, working out I've seen gains, as well as I have gotten a lot of support from friends and family. Even my work performance is doing a lot better (now that I'm not drunk or hungover) Literally the source to 90% of my anxiety is this itchin and whether or not this is paws or why can't my dermatologist provide me something that doesn't make it worst

This is interesting...I did have a big problem with plantar fascitis (I'm a runner) when I was binge drinking on and off 6 months ago and was super stressed out; the article mentions this is a was that TMS shows up. Ever since I've quit, I haven't had dealt with plantar fascitis at all

Yep, definitely a better position than I was 50 years ago! Thanks for the encouragement

IME, folks who suffer from alcoholism experience negative effects whenever they stop drinking. Alcohol had, in the past been the solution. When it is gone we are left with an alcoholic mind trying to function without alcohol. It can be a fear filled, anxious, irritating, and stressful time.

In my experience all that comes from an inability to connect with our fellows in a meaningful way, and get away from the self centred lifestyle at the heart of alcoholism. We call that, in AA, the spiritual malady.

Ou book says, in their experience, when we straighten out spiritually, we straighten out physically and mentally. If that is true, then if we get off track spirtually, there might be physical and mental consequences, right?

When I was seven years sober I had such an experience. I had got wrapped up in my work and forgotten my spiritual program of action. Mentally I became fearful, irritable, unsatisfied and highly stressed. It manifested physically in my fingers being covered in white pusstules (Hope that is actually a word), and then my neck locked up solid. Very painful. What happened was that the spiritual malady came back.

The treatment was simple. Get back to my spritual program of action, which means get busy in AA working with others.

I have had a couple of other similar spells in my life, and the solution has always been the same. I did try the doctor, accupuncture, and therapy as well, hoping perhaps that someone else could fix me, but they were all ineffective.

Here's a conversation on SR about itching and recovering alcoholoism. There may be more, it's common and beyond annoying. Don't forget to get your doctor's input about alcohol as a possible factor.

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...p-itching.html

Asmr
 

It could be anxiety or any number of things. One thing that has always worked for me is taking my mind off of whatever is causing the issue as much as possible. It will give yourself a chance to heal. You can exercise do projects etc. One funny thing that has worked for me is ASMR. Google it.