Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast

The 15 Causes of ITCHING You've Never Heard About

Mar 6, 2024

05:15

Snipd AI

Discover the 15 unique causes of itching, from body lice to dry skin. Learn how diabetes, polycythemia, and liver problems can lead to itching and discomfort. Explore rare factors like scabies and tick bites that contribute to pruritus.

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Quick takeaways

Itching can be caused by various factors such as lice, scabies, herpes, and diabetes due to circulation problems or allergic reactions.

Liver issues like cirrhosis, hepatitis, or cholestasis can lead to itching due to impaired bile salt production.

Deep dives

Various Causes of Itching

Itching, medically known as pruneitis, can be caused by a range of factors including lice, scabies, hookworms, herpes, insect bites like bed bugs, yeast infections, poison ivy, tick bites, diabetes, polycythemia, parathyroid gland issues, uremia, liver problems, and dry skin. These conditions can lead to itching due to factors such as allergic reactions, circulation problems, and nutrient deficiencies.

Exploring Rare Causes of Itching You've Never Considered

2min

Exploring Uncommon Causes of Itching and Their Health Impact

3min

In this podcast, I’m going to share 15 underlying causes of itching. Pruritus is the medical term for itching. Itching usually involves a superficial nerve that is aggravated to some level.

Here are 15 causes of itching:

1. Body lice

2. Scabies

3. Hookworms

4. Herpes

5. Insect bites

6. Yeast infection

7. Poison ivy

8. Tick bites

9. Diabetes

10. Polycythemia

11. Problems with the parathyroid glands

12. Uremia

13. Liver issues

14. Cholestasis

15. Dry skin

Itching is often a symptom of diabetes because of circulation problems. Poor circulation causes the nerves to die, which can feel like itching or burning pain and even cause severe pain.

Polycythemia is a condition where you have too many red blood cells. This can decrease circulation and the amount of oxygen in your skin, causing itching.

The parathyroid gland consists of 4 glands around the thyroid that control calcium. If the thyroid works too hard, you could develop too much calcium in the blood. This can lead to calcification of your skin, which can affect your nerve endings.

Liver issues like cirrhosis, hepatitis, or cholestasis can cause itching. You can develop cholestasis if the liver’s function is impaired and it can no longer make bile salts.

Dry skin is a common cause of itching, often caused by a lack of vitamin A or vitamin D.

There is a high correlation between people who have itching and people with liver or gallbladder issues. This is typically caused by irritation to the gallbladder and decreased omega-3 fatty acids.

Dietary changes can help eliminate itching. TUDCA, a bile salt that helps thin the bile, has been found to significantly decrease itching in people with cirrhosis.

DATA:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...