Annie Lowry

And my understanding, and I'll just note that I am not a scientist, I am not a doctor, I am a lay person who knows a lot about this, unfortunately, from experience, is that when you have a lot of So basically itchy receptors, nerve fibers that accept itch and you have a lot of chemicals that engender itch like histamine and others in those sites, you'll feel itchy.

And one thing that happens to me and I know happens to other people with chronic illness who get itching is that it actually you'll feel itchy on the inside of your body. Like, you know, in your guts, right? Like part of your body that has, you know, you're not itchy on your skin and you can't get to it. So there's no way to scratch it.

And one thing that happens to me and I know happens to other people with chronic illness who get itching is that it actually you'll feel itchy on the inside of your body. Like, you know, in your guts, right? Like part of your body that has, you know, you're not itchy on your skin and you can't get to it. So there's no way to scratch it.

And one thing that happens to me and I know happens to other people with chronic illness who get itching is that it actually you'll feel itchy on the inside of your body. Like, you know, in your guts, right? Like part of your body that has, you know, you're not itchy on your skin and you can't get to it. So there's no way to scratch it.

And I remember talking with a number of dermatologists who were like, well, you don't really have the nerves for itching on the inside of your body. And, you know, I would talk to other doctors or doctors. patients, people who itched, and they'd be like, no, no, no. And I felt this way too. I was like, no, I swear that I feel it.

And I remember talking with a number of dermatologists who were like, well, you don't really have the nerves for itching on the inside of your body. And, you know, I would talk to other doctors or doctors. patients, people who itched, and they'd be like, no, no, no. And I felt this way too. I was like, no, I swear that I feel it.

And I remember talking with a number of dermatologists who were like, well, you don't really have the nerves for itching on the inside of your body. And, you know, I would talk to other doctors or doctors. patients, people who itched, and they'd be like, no, no, no. And I felt this way too. I was like, no, I swear that I feel it.

And I finally found this one neuroscientist who was like, oh, no, no, some of those fibers exist inside your body. So yeah, anywhere where you have those, there's probably a little bit of itching possible. And I felt very, very good knowing that. But yeah, so I think that your hands, your hands are just enormously sensitive, right?

And I finally found this one neuroscientist who was like, oh, no, no, some of those fibers exist inside your body. So yeah, anywhere where you have those, there's probably a little bit of itching possible. And I felt very, very good knowing that. But yeah, so I think that your hands, your hands are just enormously sensitive, right?

And I finally found this one neuroscientist who was like, oh, no, no, some of those fibers exist inside your body. So yeah, anywhere where you have those, there's probably a little bit of itching possible. And I felt very, very good knowing that. But yeah, so I think that your hands, your hands are just enormously sensitive, right?

Like so many of these touch receptors and receptors for hot and cool are on your hands. I think your feet and your scalp are also places that are just really, really sensitive in your body, whereas, you know, like, you know, the small of your back or something might be less innervated in that way.

Like so many of these touch receptors and receptors for hot and cool are on your hands. I think your feet and your scalp are also places that are just really, really sensitive in your body, whereas, you know, like, you know, the small of your back or something might be less innervated in that way.

Like so many of these touch receptors and receptors for hot and cool are on your hands. I think your feet and your scalp are also places that are just really, really sensitive in your body, whereas, you know, like, you know, the small of your back or something might be less innervated in that way.

Absolutely. I've tried to come up with a lot of metaphors for itching, and I feel like we have a lot of metaphors for pain, right? Unfortunately, all of us in human bodies experience pain and often really severe pain. And itching is basically a universal phenomenon also. But itching feels kind of qualitatively different to pain, at least to me in some ways. It can be really hard to tune out.

Absolutely. I've tried to come up with a lot of metaphors for itching, and I feel like we have a lot of metaphors for pain, right? Unfortunately, all of us in human bodies experience pain and often really severe pain. And itching is basically a universal phenomenon also. But itching feels kind of qualitatively different to pain, at least to me in some ways. It can be really hard to tune out.

Absolutely. I've tried to come up with a lot of metaphors for itching, and I feel like we have a lot of metaphors for pain, right? Unfortunately, all of us in human bodies experience pain and often really severe pain. And itching is basically a universal phenomenon also. But itching feels kind of qualitatively different to pain, at least to me in some ways. It can be really hard to tune out.

I always describe it as being like a car alarm, right? Like you can't stop thinking about it. It interrupts you somehow. It feels like being trapped inside your own body. And, you know, maybe pain has these qualities for other people. Sometimes I describe it as like a feeling of drowning. It creates in me a sense of fight or flight, but there's nothing to flee from and nothing to fight.

I always describe it as being like a car alarm, right? Like you can't stop thinking about it. It interrupts you somehow. It feels like being trapped inside your own body. And, you know, maybe pain has these qualities for other people. Sometimes I describe it as like a feeling of drowning. It creates in me a sense of fight or flight, but there's nothing to flee from and nothing to fight.

I always describe it as being like a car alarm, right? Like you can't stop thinking about it. It interrupts you somehow. It feels like being trapped inside your own body. And, you know, maybe pain has these qualities for other people. Sometimes I describe it as like a feeling of drowning. It creates in me a sense of fight or flight, but there's nothing to flee from and nothing to fight.

I guess you can scratch yourself and you're fighting your own body. It has this kind of hallucinatorially strange quality for me sometimes. You're feeling things that aren't there. And sometimes I even get that sense, I will feel things on my skin when I'm looking at the skin and there's nothing there. And it's It can be spooky in a way. And notably, there's lots of different ways to feel itchy.