Re: hot water on eczema euphoria phenom; anyone?

I know this is old but I was Googling about hot water stopping itching and I had to sign up. I thought I was alone. I discovered this a long time ago but with hot cups of drink. I'd place them on the area that was itching and it would stop the itching and feel really good. The pain didn't seem to bother me even though I did this as a child too. When I was quite a bit younger a friend of my dad's got a little device that was designed for eczema sufferers. It had a plastic handle with a circle piece of metal that you could change heat settings on and you place the metal area on the desired heat setting on the eczema. It worked just as well as the hot cups of drink but I could make it much hotter and it would stay hot longer. I do not know what happened to it but I wish I had it now. Don't know what it's called or if they're still being made/sold? It was when I was probably around 8 years old that I had it and I'm now 24 so I'm not sure but may look in to finding another one. I've had eczema since I was 6 months old and it was terrible right through my childhood (tried everything, diet, creams, skin specialists, hospital stays, bandages etc etc but nothing ever worked) but it did ease off during my late teens. It was still there in small patches from time to time but nothing that bad. Recently it flared up randomly and it was really bad. Had forgotten how awful it is. It has cleared up except for my hands. During this bad flare up recently, I discovered the amazing feeling of the hot water on my itchy eczema during a slightly too hot shower. It gave me an amazing feeling right through my body, very short but it then stopped the itching for a long time. So I have become 'hooked' with this with my hands although it makes them dry and red. I sometimes wonder if it's a form of self harm? I have began to let cold water run on my hands afterwards to try prevent the redness the hot water causes and I then apply cream to try stop it drying up. It is such an amazing feeling, as all eczema sufferers will know the itch of eczema is 100x worse than a 'regular' itch. I also get the relief from scratching but I find it more difficult to scratch my fingers than it is to scratch your leg or arm so the hot water is perfect for relieving that awful itchiness on my hands. I try to resist it but when it's the only thing that works and you're trying to sleep, it's tempting to take a minute to stop it. I think I'm slightly addicted to the amazing feeling you get as well. It's so crazy to think hot water can create that, I don’t think I’d ever believe it if I hadn’t actually experienced it. I have tried it when I don't have an itch or when my eczema was clear on my hands and it doesn't have the same effect - the hot water just begins to hurt. I don't feel the pain when I have an itch, I get this sort of tingle all over – mostly on the area but also right through my body and the itch just vanishes. I do want to do it again then though and my hands do end up sore once I stop. It's quite bad and my hands currently have cracks on them. Whilst it is a great feeling and it does relieve you for a while, I do sometimes wish I hadn't found it out. I feel like it's a dirty secret as well and I shouldn’t be doing it and people sometimes notice my hands are bright red when I come from the bathroom. My dad knows and he thinks it's crazy and that cold water should be better but I find that when it's itchy cold water irritates it more. When it's hot, cold water is soothing and it's nice after using the hot water method. So I feel a bit stupid to tell any one and I think if I told my doctor I'd be told to just stop because it's not good for me. I do know that but it's really hard to stop because it feels so good and it actually works. People say just stop scratching but they seriously don’t know how it feels. It’s incredibly hard to leave a regular itch alone let alone an eczema itch. Sorry for rambling, it's just kind of nice to get this out and know you guys understand. It would be really interesting to know more about why this causes such a nice feeling. I first believed it stopped the itch because you focused on the pain instead but that feeling is something else - like orgasm as mentioned a couple of times. It would also be interesting and helpful to know what causes itching because maybe we could stop it happening in the first place. I’ve wondered if it’s to do with the blood because when you scratch you move the blood around under the skin? And for me if I scratch, the itch is only relieved once I bleed. Does any one else notice that? I would love a cure but sometimes having a scratch I find relaxes me after? I just feel all good yet sort of bad for wrecking my skin. I do really enjoy scratching is what I’m saying even though that’s probably odd because obviously I hate the itching. Later I often regret it when it's sore or worse or infected. I also since a child have pinched, bitten the area that itches or pull hairs out on the area that itches and hold the area against the hot radiator and it all stops the itch, I think this might happen because your brain focuses on the pain over the itch. I have to say the most effective way for me to stop an itch has been with hot water though. I wouldn't recommend it though because I don't think it's very good for you in the long run :/ Any way, if any one wants to chat about this I'd really appreciate it. If I find out anything about the 'heat device' I mentioned above then I'll post it here, I remember it being brilliant and it does no damage to your skin so it's probably a lot safer. Tweet