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Severe tingling/itching whenever body heats up. Cannot sweat

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robert00172
robert00172

I have this strange new problem that just started happening to me recently. I don't sweat anymore (except under my arms) whenever I get hot. Instead my body becomes severely itchy and I get a full body tingling/pins & needles sensation. It is extremely painful and spreads through my body in a lightning type of pattern. It happens every time I get hot, nervous or physically exert myself. It evens happens if I laugh too much. It seems that in every situation where my body would normally sweat I don't anymore. I also notice when this happens my whole body becomes red and small bumps appear all over my arms and chest area. What I'm assuming is that this is some severe case of clogged sweat pores but all over my body instead of one specific place. Are there any doctors out there that know what this is and/or know of any medications that can open up sweat pores? Cold showers do not work. I am a 20 year old male.

3 likes, 82 replies

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  • saket2009
    saket2009 robert00172

    Posted

    Hey Robert, are you still around? is this thread still active? it would be great if we with similar symptoms keep in touch and share more experiences for improvement. i m waiting for the reply. thanks

    • robert00172
      robert00172 saket2009

      Posted

      Hey Saket, I am still around. I think this thread comes back to life every few months when sadly more people develop this condition but I will always be around to answer questions and discuss

    • saket2009
      saket2009 robert00172

      Edited

      Hey Robert, thanks for the reply buddy.

      So when I first developed this in Oct. 2022 i was looking everywhere for any probable solution and I found this thread. So thank you very much for putting it out here.

      I have exact similar symptoms mentioned by you.

      I am an Indian living in Germany from past few years. Atleast once a year I would go and visit India.

      So as winter started around September 2022 this year, i felt this first in October 2nd week.

      I was anxious about it. Felt terrible. Started with vitamin b12 suppliment as suggested by Dr. friend back in India.

      After reading this post I started working out and would try to sweat even with the pain. but must tell you its pretty difficult in the cold weather.

      Then comes my vacation time where I flew back to India this December 2022 fearing how will I survive there. The hot and humid weather there in Mumbai will bring sweat out every now and then.

      But I went on and accepted the challenge.

      BAMM...!!!

      I am pleased to inform you all 1st day in India I felt the pins for only 2-5 sec. and that too with just 10% of pain. And thats all.

      I did not encountered these pins and needles or any pain the rest days.

      I was there for 3 weeks and everyday had sweat without anything. It was such a relief.

      So the thing I can say is weather in India or any warm country is suitable. The heat and humidity is helpful.

      Now I am back to Germany from a week. I will try and keep my skin hydrated, humidified. I have not felt it again. Lets see how long can I go without this pain.

      one thing is for sure as suggested by many it happens only in winters. Generally in winters our skin becomes dry and dead. We have to avoid it. I also read somewhere that this dead skin blocks micro pores on skin and hence the sweat do not come out easily and would go to the nerves below skin because of which we feel pins and needles.

      Again guys now I am pretty sure it is not because of any deficiency or allergies but something skin related which triggers in Winters. We have to take care of skin in this period. Avoid long hot water showers as it dries your skin more. And apply body lotions and avoid dead skin.

      Maybe try traditional Sauna for sweating it out use humidifier in close rooms and keep your skin moist.

      I would definitely keep you posted for any further observations.

      Also one more observation is that I gained fair amount of weight before this winter. I am also trying to reduce it as somewhere I saw even lipid layer is not good for the respiration of the skin.

  • charlie51548
    charlie51548 robert00172

    Posted

    Hey,

    Thought I would share my experience with this condition as well.

    I'm 22 years old now and developed this condition when I was 19. I first noticed like many others during the winter. At first it started on my ankles ( I would have very itchy ankles when exercising ), then eventually it spread to my entire body.

    Like most others I seem to suffer a lot with this when the temperature drops low ( during winter times )

    This winter I was dealing with the issue very well, until the temperature in my country was below 0 degrees Celcius for a couple days in a row. These low temperatures seemed to reset any progress I had made.

    I have tried many different things to combat this ailment.

    I tried different creams, lotions, and oils.

    I used different shampoos and body lotions.

    I have tried using calamine lotions.

    I have tried using cream sparingly.

    I tried washing often, washing sparingly.

    Hot water, & cold water showers.

    I started drinking a ton of water everyday.

    I added more fish to my diet because I read that could be good for your skin.

    I changed clothes, bedsheets etc...

    But none of these seems to really help the issue...

    The only solution I have found to be quite effective is bathing in (very) hot water...

    PROS

    Getting in a hot bath forces my body to sweat a lot ( to the point where I feel exhausted )

    The next couple of days my body seems to have an easier time sweating. I only feel the burning sensation for maybe 10 second before I begin to sweat.

    CONS

    Painful to get in a hot bath ( Have to get in the bath very slowly )

    Strips skin of oils ( So I try to do this method very sparingly )

    Very dehydrating ( So drink a lot of water )

    Like others I also make an effort to go to the gym and force my body to sweat on a daily basis.

    One more thing that may be interesting...

    Whenever I have a fever in the winter and my body raises its temperature to combat the fever, I do not seem to suffer with the skin issue and I have no trouble sweating.

  • dylan97670
    dylan97670 robert00172

    Posted

    I really want to thank you for posting this forum. This has been an issue I have dealt with for at least 4 years now. To know that I'm not the only one feels so reassuring.

    The first time it happened to me was in March, 2019. I was 18 at the time and unemployed and lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle. After this, it rarely occurred and I'm starting to think it had to do mostly with sweat because that same month I ended up getting a job that required more physical work and the problem almost never persisted.

    However after a year or so, I ended up getting a job working from home and on my computer all day. I went to the gym casually (3ish days a week) so the problem was still pretty mild, happening pretty rarely. Fast forward to around a year and a half ago, I completely stopped going to the gym and my lifestyle was entirely sedentary. It just so happens that the itching problem became almost unbearable and much much more common. Fast forward to today, 11/28/23, it has gotten to the point where even if I'm angry, anxious, stressed I start getting itchy in all the places I used to sweat, like my stomach, arms, top of my forehead, back, etc. If I go out outside in the heat, I immediately start breaking out into itchiness and redness. It's gotten to the point where it affects my sleep. Now, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night itching and literally have to strip until I cool down. I went to go see a dermatologist about it a week ago and they told me it was urticaria and they told me to get Xyzal (antihistamine). It's been a week on Xyzal and nothing has changed.

    I had never really pieced it together until about a week ago when I noticed that I literally don't remember the last time I sweat. I used to be so lost when it came to this issue, I thought it could be allergies or a vitamin deficiency, etc. Then I found this forum, thankfully. Now, I entirely believe it has something to do with sweating. Whenever I think back of when I used to go to the gym, I used to have the itching problem mildly until I sweat and then I felt completely fine. There was about a 8 month stretch in 2021 where I was really good about going to the gym and I almost never had the issue.

    I'm going to try and fight through the pain and start working out again and see if it helps and I'll try to remember to update here how it goes. I'm thinking even visiting a sauna once every few days and just forcing myself to sweat might be a good idea. Thanks again for posting this Robert!

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