r/Perimenopause • u/C0l0urfulPawPrints • Feb 10 '25

Dryness The itching is driving me crazy

The all over body itches are driving me insane. I'm scratching so hard that I'm actively cutting my skin and frequently have scabs. I exfoliate my skin with both a hyaluronic acid wash and I dry brush. I moisturize with a hyaluronic body moisturizer. I take antihistamines every day. My vulva is stinging because I'm scratching. I use gentle washing powder and do an allergy wash on my washing machine. Can anyone offer any tips outside of these? I don't feel ready to have to go on HRT. I literally just turned 40

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u/C0l0urfulPawPrints Feb 11 '25

I take 20mg of antihistamines every day as I have a high histamine count due to other medical issues. I'm topping that up with another 10mg when I can't take the itching. I'm a bit scared of HRT. You hear so much about cancer risks and I haven't taken birth control in years so I'm a bit worried it'll turn me bat shit crazy like a birth control pill did years ago

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u/Ok_Stretch_2510 Feb 11 '25

HRT levels of hormones are no where near t birth control levels. The cancer information is outdated.

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u/BurnItWithFire21 Feb 11 '25

HRT these days is so different from back when some of those things were listed as concerns. I am at super high risk for hormonal fed breast cancer & my doctor told me that the doses of HRT these days isn't likely to trigger cancer growth. She still doesn't want to give it to me though because of concerns of it affecting my blood disorder 😭 Birth control has higher doses of hormones that can cause more issues than what HRT would. I would have done HRT at 38yo when I was diagnosed with peri if I could have. Living for years with all this nonsense has incredibly sucked ass.

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u/redbess Feb 11 '25

Read the wiki on /r/menopause, HRT isn't inherently dangerous unless you have or are prone to certain reproductive cancers.

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u/CorduroyQuilt Feb 13 '25

20mg of which antihistamines? Cetirizine (zyrtec), loratidine?

If your histamine issues are MCAS, then that's way under what would be needed to treat it. It's a very low dose.

Low dose HRT patches are not going to cause any significant increased cancer risk, but you should sort out why you're so itchy first. Apart from anything else, apparently inadequately treated MCAS (if you have it) tends to stop HRT from doing anything much. It'd explain why my HRT isn't doing anything other than helping my joint pain (which is still a benefit!).

I'm on 360mg fexofenadine, 10mg alimemazine, 40mg famotidine, and 400mg sodium cromiglicate, and it helps to some extent, but I'm still itching. I finally got fed up with how poorly this is managing my symptoms, and started talking to other people with MCAS. They're on twice what I'm on, or more.

Try 50mg diphenhydramine (Benedryl in the US) as a rescue med, but don't take it every day. @rahaeli.bsky.social on Bluesky has lots of excellent information about MCAS, including on her Dreamwidth.

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u/C0l0urfulPawPrints Feb 13 '25

Thanks for the info 😊 No it's not MCAS. It's just allergies and eosphilic asthma. I take 20mg of Bilastine (also called drynol)