ive had an anxiety problem for years that i CANT CONTROL >;( have you ever heard of those people who sleep-eat? well i have a sleep-scratching problem, anytime im stressed i wake up with scratches all over my body, not like, fine, whatever, ones, but deep gouges and blood all over my sheets, sometimes my fingernails are broken off and peeled back. :-/

its really horrible, i went to a psychiatrist and the only thing they could do was give me sleeping pills, and im alergic to sleeping pills.

it gets worse with stress, which has gotten really bad as of late. im out of ideas, the only thing i can do to get "peaceful" sleep is take cough medicine or alcohol, which I have been getting a lot of crap about from some people I know, a few of them have been telling me i've become a "white trash junkie" haha. i dont even drink in exess, it's just something i do an hour-two hours before i go to sleep when people are over so they wont have to wake up and see blood all over the sheets and stuff. mrph.

im completely out of ideas, it seems ive tried everything, i tried going to sleep in tight jeans to putting duct tape over my legs, (the scratching is really bad on my legs) and it seems any place where I /know/ how i put it on and /know/ how to take it off does absolutly nothing.

does anyone have any ideas? I'll try anything. and i know this sounds completely psychotic, but im normal, i promise :(!

Does cutting your nails REALLY short help?

i tried that before. it doesnt work, i think i like, bite them in my sleep to where they get really ragged and it does even worse damage.

its really a nightmare.

Wow Spaz, I'd explore different doctors, there is something, I am sure, that could help, and it's a cop out on their part if they just say "sleeping pills" is the only thing that'd help...

There are many anti-anxiety meds out now, and even the mildest forms of anxiety usually seem to respond fairly well to some of the medications available. I'm not one to push drugs on people, but in the case where it disturbs your life (and I think most forms of anxiety tend to, in one way or another) you might see more benefit from taking the meds than not...

Don't let your doc pass it off as some hormone-filled teenager, or thinking that you must be over-reacting... they CAN address this sort of thing if you're (nicely) persistant.

How about sleeping with gloves on? I know you'd probably just pull them off... just sort of thinking out loud here...

Wow, sorry you are going through this. It's interesting to me because I have anxiety to a degree, not on any medication for it, and I scratch a lot as well and have nights where it's worse than others. Nothing to the degree like you have, however. I never made the connection to anxiety. I just assumed it was more like dry skin since certain areas are affected at certain times. Are you sure there isn't some underlying cause for the scratching, like eczema, contact dermatitis, etc? I'm sure you probably looked into that first. It's just a thought. I would definitely do as TNS suggests and try other doctors and get more feedback on the problem. Good luck.

Wow Spaz, I really feel for you. That's awful. I thought I had a problem with scratching, but I only do it when my skin is really dry. Food sensitivities add to the problem. For instance, when I eat soy I get hives. Although I can ignore them (with difficulty!) during the day, I often wake up in the middle of the night just scratching away. Is it possible that you have food sensitivities?

Definitely don't give up on finding a doctor who can help you. I would think that some sort of anti-anxiety medication would be much more useful than sleeping pills. I distrust sleeping pills and don't feel that you get a decent night's sleep with them. Lack of sleep might add to your anxiety.

Would it help if you wore mittens to bed? It might be uncomfortable at first, but it's GOT to be better than waking up ripped and bloody. You would have to come up with a way to make sure they stayed on...hmmm....

What if you have someone put arm braces in you before you go to bed at night? The kind that keep you from bending your elbow so you can't reach anything to scratch it. Someone else would have to put them on, but once on, you couldn't get them off again without someone's help!
Have you tried taking a Benadryl in lieu of a sleeping pill? They make you seriously tired, but I think it would be tough to be allergic to them since thats what they give people who are having allergic reactions.

Have you tried gloves already? If you could get them to stay on, they would at least keep you from harming yourself while you worked on the deeper issue.

What if you have someone put arm braces in you before you go to bed at night? The kind that keep you from bending your elbow so you can't reach anything to scratch it. Someone else would have to put them on, but once on, you couldn't get them off again without someone's help!
Have you tried taking a Benadryl in lieu of a sleeping pill? They make you seriously tired, but I think it would be tough to be allergic to them since thats what they give people who are having allergic reactions.

I was taking benadryl for a while, then i figured out nyquil(caplets) work a lot better and i end up sleeping without scratching at all.

the arm braces is a good idea, im going to check into seeing another doctor(which i might have to go out of town for, but still).

gloves/mittens dont work because i just pull them off when im sleeping.

i checked into skin diseases, food alergies, etc. i was hoping it was something treatable first, i've had this since I was like, 10+ but it turns out the only things im alergic to are sleeping pills and this certian kind of offbrand alergy medication, and i dont have any skin disorders, so they decided it was related to stress and sent me off to the psychiatrist that gave me my sleeping pills and sent me off.

that seems to fit, since its worse when im stressed out a lot. so ways to be anti-stressed before i go to sleep work most of the time (hot baths, reading)
it also seems to happen more when i think about it. like "oh god if i go to to sleep right now /this/ will happen." like sometimes i fall asleep reading and absolutly nothing happens, and othertimes ill purposly stop reading to go to sleep and wake up all scratched up.

I agree with tofu-n-sprouts that it may be an idea to try some anti-anxiety medication. Carefully monitored so you don't get addicted to it. Normally one can take it for at least two months or three months (depending on the kind) without creating a strong dependency.

And then you would need to get to the cause of your anxiety... with the help of a GOOD psychoanalyst. But they are I suppose expensive. :(

I had a really bad anxiety attack years ago days before a major surgery that caused me to break out in hives and scratch like I had fleas. They almost didn't do the surgery because of it. Had to wait a few hours while the Benedryl drip they put me on kicked in. I wish I would have known about the Benedryl sooner. Would have saved me from being so uncomfortable.

If you are having these attacks frequently, Benedryl may help (I see you've tried it) but it's a band-aid solution. You need to get down to the root of these attacks somehow to stop them. But you probably have already figured that one out.

Good Luck. :hug:

Wow, I don't really know what to do and this may seem obvious... but did you "google" the problem to see what comes up?

Huh? They didn't tell you about diphenhydramine? (Benedryl). It is non prescription. It both relieves itching, and makes you drowsy. It is used to relieve the symptoms of allergies, that is its original and primary use, and very few people are allergic to it, or it wouldn't be used for allergies, would it?

I don't know what you are, but you are neither psychotic, nor normal.

Not too surprising that Nyquil works just as well (or better) than diphenhydramine, as it contains a similar antihistamine, and also a pain reliever, anti-febril (acetaminophen), and involuntary reflex surpressant (the cough supressant, dextromethorphan).

Do you moisturize your skin really well? I've found that if your skin is really moisturized, you can still scratch, but it doesn't hurt as bad.

I think your problem is severe enough to warrant medical help. See another psych.

try taping your fingers together. use a tape that won't scratch your skin up. masking tape is pretty soft that should do. and just tape around your fingers and thumb so they're stuck together, and over the tips of your fingers. non-removable mittens :)
might suck for when you wake up and have to pee in a hurry though

i went and got some anxiety medication (and some other pill that i dont know what it is, supposed to help me sleep but without the stuff i was alergic to in the sleeping pills)

wish me luck!

Good luck!!! :)

"i went and got some anxiety medication (and some other pill that i dont know what it is, supposed to help me sleep but without the stuff i was alergic to in the sleeping pills)"

Huh? How can you not know "what it is"? Unless you buy pills from an illegal drug dealer, your pills will come in a container with a label. If the name on the label means nothing to you, you can just google it and always find reams of info about it.

i got it from the pharmacy, thanks! i didnt want to google because i don't really care as long as they work. soilman seems to be on his period lately, maybe?

they worked though, yay! just hopefully they kind of keep working instead of wearing off, or something. I have to start going to counseling this thursday, too.

thanks for your help guys!

I don't know if this will work, but you could try sewing gloves to a long sleeved shirt. You won't be able to take them off unless you take off the whole top, and that would be harder to do while sleeping, right?

I don't know if this will work, but you could try sewing gloves to a long sleeved shirt. You won't be able to take them off unless you take off the whole top, and that would be harder to do while sleeping, right?

This is so funny, yet clever, all at the same time! :)

Have you tried taking a Benadryl in lieu of a sleeping pill?
Benadryl made me stay up all night and get hallucinations. I thought everything was out to get me.

I was in 3rd grade and my aunt was giving me the adult dose. Once she cut the dose down, the insomia and hallucinations stopped. I'm SERIOUSLY scared of the stuff now though. :worried: