Scratch-like marks appearing on skin What is causing this? [picture inside]

I have been having these scratch issues since I was a little girl. I'm 33 now. I always get a stinging sensation first. On my face, back, arms and breast. It may have something to do with my diet because now I'm having issues when I consume dairy.

It has been so frustrating and is now a long term ailments as it has been present for several years. At times I have swathed myself in witch hazel to stop the itching so I can go to sleep. Periodically outbreaks are more pronounced. I am now taking a dropper full of pau d'arco morning and night by mouth and it seems that this has managed it, but just barely. I have thought it could be fungal, parasitic or diet related but can't really figure that out. Doctors are no help. So so relieved to hear other's stories about similar symtoms. 

Ours started this past summer. We do not feel stinging. They just appear. Could it be a fungus? 

So, I'm deeply relieved to know this is happening to others and to find this site. I had a 5" painful scratch spontaneously develop on my R wrist tonight at the dinner table out of nowhere. I ate sauerkraut from cans, mashed cauliflower with Romano and butter, and chicken spinach feta sausages with a glass of red wine.

I'm alarmed there seems to be little conclusive understanding of the cause, although I'm very appreciative of the anecdotal theories and exploration. Without this, I would not now be invited to recount all the possible relevant events and related symptoms in retrospect. Food allergy, Lymes and systemic bacterial/fungal/yeast infection are the things I suspect.

My issues relating to the post started last week. I believed I must have scratched myself when taking down the Christmas tree, although I did not experience the actual scraping of my skin. These scratched were so uncomfortable and irritating, I showed them to several people, and thought there must be some caustic chemical on this artificial tree to cause such irritating scratches that I did not actually experience. That night, I spontaneously developed several scratches: one on the top of my L foot resembling a bite of some kind that began itching intensely, the others were scratch-like lines on the back of my hands and forearms that were burning, raw, tender and inflamed, but did not itch. They looked, and felt, very much like cat scratches. That first night, the one on my foot itched so badly, it woke me up from a sound sleep, and I went into the bathroom to examine what it was in the light and put something on it. It looked like a mosquito bite with several small .25" scratches around it. I didn't have any hydrocortisone, but I did have tea tree oil. It helped the calm the itching symptom enough to allow me to get back to sleep.

The foot site did not itch again after that first night, but remained very tender and inflamed for a week. I was concerned all the sites were getting infected, raised broken skin (never bled) with bright pink edges, and hurt under my shoes or with any touch, the skin around them felt dry, chafed and prickly. I applied tea tree oil with a qtip 2x/day. I began to notice that when one became sensitized, they all became sensitized, suggesting a systemic histamine release. Just 2 days ago, the scratchs began healing and appearance of pink around the scratched subsided.

Now I'm piecing things together: I have felt very run down and immuno-compromised, have a bladder infection, and have retained enough water since the scratches appeared that my wedding ring was uncomfortably tight and I needed to take it off, as well as my feet are swollen enough the my shoes are tight. I just moved last month into my first purchased house, money is very tight and my mother in law is visiting from Germany for 2 months. (High stress.)

I will comment that the spontaneous appearance of scratches on your skin in front of your eyes without any external visible cause really does invite the imagination to conjure up supernatural conjecture, and if this was around in the middle ages would cause absolute hysteria and fear. [Relative to other posts I've read on this site relating to these symptoms.]

Let's compile as much supporting information together as we can.

I do not believe western medicine will help do anything but chase the symptoms. I appreciate others have gotten biopsies with no conclusive result. I'm certain my results would be similar. I've been putting off seeing a holistic practitioner until my mother in law leaves next month bc I wanted to share communal food prep/meals that accommodate her familiar gluten/yeast/dairy/meat-heavy diet and not have to struggle through an eliminating separate regimine.

Now I'm not sure I can wait because I'm recognizing all these symptoms are increasing exponentially, so I risk further health complications the longer I put off a detox. Ugh.

Thank you everyone!

(My husband took some pics tonight that I will attach in the future.)

Thank you ALL for sharing your stories. I thought it was just me. I have been battling recent onset edema, which is pretty bad in my legs and feet.  I’m pretty sure these cat scratch marks are related.  Still they just showed up. Burning sensation, then the marks on my left calf and top of my right foot. No, I didn’t scratch myself while sleeping, and I don’t have a cat.  I can’t believe all these people with the same symptoms, and NO doctor knows what it is. Somehow, I don’t think it’s diet or nutrition related, certainly not an allergy. It happened to suddenly. Thank all of you, again!

Update:

All my symptoms diminished after course of macrobid for a UTI, but have not completely subsided. Just received a call from gyn (I requested a thorough urine culture- gram+/- anaerobic/aerobic) and they found something unexpected: an EXTREMELY high yeast count in my bladder. Rx'd a 3 day course of diflucan and ordered a follow up culture in 2wks.

I do show signs of a systemic year infection, but I'm frustrated bc I take an excellent probiotic, eat love yogurt/kombucha/sauerkraut/kimchi. Eat minimal sweets, lots of dark greens. Though I'm T2 diabetic, have an auto-immune thyroid disease, have not exercised as vigorously as I need to lately, ate delicious Italian bread for a month like it was my job, and am more stressed than I'm consciously experiencing or processing. Those things can tip my already compromised body-wide ecosystem of flora.

(For the woman who doesn't think it's diet related, I'd encourage you to find a holistic naturopath, that edema will only be treated symptomatically by MDs, and the root of your problem will likely increase over years untreated and manifest other symptoms that will drag you down to a halt.)

The most powerful yeasticide I know is strait up garlic. I'm an orthopedic massage therapist- if I eat the quantity I need to, I WILL noticeable emit an odor through my skin... I can't wear masking scents, I'm just going to have to bathe constantly. Thankfully I have a shower in my office bldg.

No more new scratches, but the one on my wrist is re-inflamed and stinging.

I will look up that parasite mentioned. Keep the info sharing!

This same thing has been happening to me for over a year. The only thing my doctor could tell me was to put hydrocortisone cream on it the second I started to feel a whelp and that it should go away. I started using dye free and fragrance free everything but it hasn't helped. Have you developed any other symptoms - even if they seem unrelated??