3 ms·
I was struck down by hell’s itch, the searing pain of the summer
- tensor415 4y agoI have very fair skin that's prone to burning. A few years ago, I got a mild burn on my shoulders. No blistering or peeling. The burn itself was hardly noticeable. Two or three days later, the itching began. It lasted 2 days. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced. It came in waves, every few minutes. There would be a bursting sensation, like something popping beneath my skin, and the itch would spread out from there. It isn't really an "itch". It's like there's acid slowly eating away at your flesh from the inside. You're scratching to rip a hole in the skin and drain this phantom liquid. When it comes, it dominates you. It's impossible to ignore. It was a pure, blinding pain. Each wave triggered this animal response in me. I would attack my shoulders until it passed. Nothing I did helped, except for extremely hot showers, or slapping the skin hard as soon as the itch began. That also hurt, but the pain of the burning water and sting of the slap was better than the itch. No one around me could understand what I was experiencing, which was infuriating at the time. I tried explaining it to my doctor, and he just calmly explained that itching is normal with a sunburn, and it would pass. Maybe take some Benadryl and try an aloe vera gel. My family honestly thought I was losing it. Eventually it just stopped and I was myself again. I am terrified of ever getting burned again. I wear sunscreen every day, long sleeve shirts and jeans in the summer. People still think I'm kind of crazy when I tell this story, or maybe a giant baby who can't handle a little itching. I can't convey how it really was. By the end of the two days, I was seriously thinking about trying to cut the skin on my shoulders with a knife, hoping the pain of that would stop the itch.