Itchy Skin! Is this a normal side affect?

Help I had RNY on March 27th 2007 and I am all of a sudden experiencing very itchy skin on the inside of my thighs aw well sa on my knees and calves and on my lower stomach and my upper arms!!! Is this normal? I am freaking out! My skin isnt dry or anything but it wakes me up in the middle of the night and right now its my legs and thighs that itch the most! My skin isnt dry at all its just Itchy! Help! What can I do too make it stop?

Are you taking any new medications since surgery? You could possibly be allergic to one of them if you are. That must be miserable! I feel for you! I hope you figure out the source of the problem soon and get it takwn care of! Good luck, Robin

not takin any new meds in fact I am off of my blood pressure meds now!

Glad to hear you're off of the BP meds. I'm off mine already too! Yeah!!! My doc put me on Pepsid and actigall post op for ulcer and gallstone prevention. I thought maybe you would be on them too and maybe that was causing the problem. Check and see if you can take benedryl and take some or apply some topical ointment. What about your protein that you are using? You may be having a reaction to that. Or did you switch laundry detergents or fabric softeners? Are you using a different shower gel than before? Try to think of anything that you changed at home that you could be having a reaction to. At any rate, call your doc and see what he says. Sorry I'm not much help, but good luck to you! ~Robin

Thanks Robin I am have been racking my brain and cant think of anything I have changed. sorta crazy stuff all this itching going on! And to top it off I havent lost any more weight the past 3 days! Now what is up with that? Good heavens I dont eat enough to feed a bird! Not that I did eat much before I am one of those oh yeah I havent eaten all day obese people! Yet for the past 8 months I had been doing much better at eating. I guess I have the constitution of a cave woman! I could eat only once every 3 months and still have meat on my bones! Juanita

Hey, 3 days with no loss is nothin' , I went for 2 weeks without any loss. I lost 20 pounds total during the 1 week preop and the 1st week post op. Then I didn't lose another pound for 2 weeks. I am losing again now - with a loss of 1 pound per day for the last 5 days. I am hoping this pattern continues for a while. I found that that when I increased my calories from 400 up to the 600 calories that my doc recommended, I started losing again. I also increased my exercise - now I am walking a mile a day and do 30 minutes of kickboxing. I can't wait until I can start lifting weights again! I really hope you get that itching taken care of! It sounds miserable! Take Care, Robin

I don't have dry skin either and I have itched, however most of my itching happened in the hospital when I was on morphine. The nurse said that the morphine causes some people to itch. Are you still on your pain meds? Maybe that is contributing. Now the only place that itches for me is my incisions, and that is due to the fact that they are healing. If it continues I would contact your primary doctor first..it may be something completely unrelated to the surgery! Rita

I having itching just where the plastic wound shields are going. Anyway if that's all I've got I count myself lucky. but some people have an itchy reaction to the anaesthetic. Although it seems a bit late in the day for that.

Juanita, I know exactly what you are talking about, because I also have been dealing with ichy skin alot lately. Especially on my calves, legs, and some of my arms. I made up my own treatment, which you are welcome to try. My assumption for the cause of itching is that my body is having a hard time shedding the extra skin fast enough, as I'm losing weight so quickly. First, I use one of those shower poufs to really exfoliate the ichy areas. I use a lotion soap on the shower pouf. Then, after i'm all dry from the shower, I use some lotion on the dry areas. Several times I've taken an extra shower in the evening, and repeated the same process. It's helped so I don't wake up in the night iching. Sometimes I'll put lotion on again in the middle of the day. I'm an Arizona person, and it tends to be a dryer climate here than lots of other places. Hopefully this will help. --Dave