So itchy and dry!!!

 I am about 2.5 weeks post BR & ext. TT and my boobs and torso are so dry and itchy! I've been so grumpy all weekend because I have sensitive skin and just thinking about feeling itchy can make me really itchy ;)! I'm not allowed to use any lotion on anywhere near any incisions until FOUR weeks out because of the possibility of bacteria in lotion. So I can put lotion on my arms and kegs only, but they're NOT itchy! Anyone else have this restriction?

I've been taking Claritin in the day and Benadryl at night but it hasn't helped that much. Any suggestions besides ripping my skin off or holing up in my room for the next 1.5 weeks so I don't go crazy on my hubby & kids ;)?

I have heard that alternating warm and cold compresses helps.

Let me know, I am a go for the 5th and will be waiting for you
response as to what worked for you.

Good luck

Dani

 Thanks for the suggestion! My husband won't let me do anything that's not in the Dr's instructions until asking one of his nurses so I'll call them tomorrow ;). One thing that I think is helping is alternating bras daily & making sure to put a clean one on each day.

I had asked how often I should wash the bra and binder the day after surgery and the nurse said she would wait until the drains were out first. My breast drains wee in for 5 days (I think they would've taken them out sooner, like day 3, but it was over the weekend. Then my TT drains came out on Day 8. I think I only washed the bra & binder twice in the first 2 weeks. Now though with all the skin flaking off, I've felt much better today with a clean bra on. The other one was washed like 2-3 days ago so it hadn't been that long. Also I tend to have *extremely* dry skin (every winter my hands crack and bleed and I've tried a variety of hand creams from cheap to expensive and nothing helps!) so if you don't, maybe you'll have less dry & itchy skin :).

 It was explained to me once by a surgeon when I was healing from extended mole removal surgery that itching is very low level pain and that if you take pain killers, that will help the itching.  It certainly worked for me.  Good luck.  I HATE itching. 

Thanks for the reply! That's actually very interesting... I knew that the itching around/on the incisions is normal and part of healing. What's funny is that I am *most* itchy in the middle of my breasts which is the only spot that doesn't have dry, flaky skin so I wonder if it IS very low level pain that's manifesting as itchiness.

I took some regular tylenol last night and though it didn't completely go away, it was tolerable. I hadn't been taking any pain medicine (not even regular tylenol) for several days so I wonder if that's why it got so bad. Thanks again so much for this info! I think I'll continue taking regular tylenol at night since that's when it seems the worst and benadryl and hopefully that'll keep me sane ;).

I started wearing a thin cotton tank between my skin and my binder. That helped a lot with the itchy feeling.

Thanks for the note :)!

It's my boobs that itch though. I do wear a tank over my bra and under my binder. I never considered putting the tank under the bra too, but I don't know if that would help. I think it may be what the other posted mentioned about actually being ver low level pain coming out as itching.