We get many strange symptoms in menopause, and amongst them are itching and twitching in the strangest places, such as itchy feet and ears and twitching eyes and legs. So today I'm going to look at both, why they may happen, and what you can do to help yourself.
Odd itches
We all get odd itches from time to time. It's just one of those things. But in menopause these can become much more common. They can be ongoing, and they can happen all the time.
One of the main issues is stress. Now, you might think, "Oh, but I'm not really very stressed." But the hormonal changes are putting your body under a lot of pressure, and that in itself can be enough to cause stress. If you've then got day-to-day living stresses on top of that, it can be a question of a lot of adrenaline going around your system because of the pressure. There can also be histamine circulating. And both of these can cause itchy skin and odd itches.
It can be allergies. Your skin can become much more sensitive to everyday things such as creams that you're putting on your skin, your body washes, and even the soap powder you use for washing your clothes. So that allergic reaction to things going on the skin can cause a lot of itching.
It can be itching all over, and this is very often accompanied by dry skin and things like vaginal dryness and dry eyes.
Another form of itching is scalp itching. Your scalp can get really, really itchy. This can again be due to dry skin, histamine, and stress. But we also know that falling oestrogen can affect the hair follicles themselves, so that could be part of the problem too.
It can also be that crawling sensation - it's called formication - where it feels as if there are ants or insects crawling up the inside of your skin.
Another common one that seems a bit strange is itching inside the ears, and also itchy feet and itchy underarms.
What can help ease these odd itches?
So, what can you do with all of these ones? Here are a few things I recommend:
Obviously, loads of water to prevent dehydration. So, keep yourself and your skin well-hydrated.
If you do find that these symptoms get worse or appear when you're stressed, then look at stress remedies such as Passionflower or Valerian.
There is something called Neem Cream. Neem cream is very soothing for that sort of itchy, irritated skin if it’s being caused by the skin being very dry.
If you're getting itchy underarms and itchy feet, then look at using natural deodorants, because, did you know that using antiperspirant could be causing your itchy feet?
When you use antiperspirants, you are basically blocking any sweat from being released under the arms. But your body has to sweat from somewhere else in order to cool itself down, otherwise it will literally overheat (especially if you're getting hot flushes and sweats). And one of the other places from which you perspire a lot is your feet.
So, if your underarms are blocked with antiperspirants and you're wearing socks or tights all the time and closed shoes, then your feet are going to get sweaty, and they're going to get very itchy as well. So, surprisingly, just using natural deodorants rather than antiperspirants may put paid to the itchy feet.
Itchy ears, believe it or not, can often be caused just by a lack of oils in the body. So, this is where you can add healthy fats to your daily diet. That can be things like nuts and seeds. It can be olive oil, flaxseed oil, or even go for a Sea Buckthorn Oil supplement.
Strange twitches
For the strange twitches, we get a lot of women reporting this. We first thought, "Well, this is a really strange symptom." But it seems to be a very common one where there's not a lot of information on it.
So, in this situation, it can be eye twitches. It can be eyebrows. I’ve mentioned this before about myself. If ever I was under a lot of stress, my eyebrows just went into overdrive.
It can be anywhere in the body; so, you can get twitches in the shoulders and, a lot of the time, it can be twitching when you're in bed trying to get to sleep. It may be that you are trying to sleep and suddenly your whole body goes into a big jump or twitch. And it can also be restless legs.
So, the causes of these obviously include dehydration. It can be the stress angle and, very often, it’s linked to low magnesium because you need plenty of magnesium to help the muscle. So, if you're low in magnesium, your muscles are less likely to relax when you want them to.
Also, it can be caused by too much caffeine, which can make you really, really, twitchy. High-salt and high-sugar foods can do this as well. And obviously, lack of sleep. If you're really tired, you can be more prone to these sorts of symptoms.
The interesting thing here is that if you are twitching, if you're getting the whole-body twitch when you're in bed and you're sleeping, very often, that indicates that you haven't fallen into the dream stage of sleep. When you get into the dream stage, your body goes into a sort of semi paralysis which stops you from acting out your dreams. Could you imagine, especially when you get those really active adventure dreams where you're going all over the place, if you weren't in this state of semi-paralysis, you would be physically acting out your dreams whilst you're in bed! And obviously, it's not safe for you and certainly not safe for anyone that you may be sleeping alongside.
So, if you're doing the twitching during the night, it means that you're just not getting into that deep sleep where your body gets completely relaxed. For this twitchy one, you can look at herbs like Valerian. It's a really nice one. It helps with sleep, and it also helps with relaxation.
It is important if you find that the twitching is constant, if you find that you've tried all these things and nothing has worked for you, if it's continual twitching in one particular area of your body, then do go and get this checked out by your doctor, especially if it's going on for more than a few weeks. There are some other health conditions where twitching can be an indication that something's going on, so do get this one checked out if you are worried at all.
So, I hope you found this one helpful. As I say, we thought these were strange symptoms and they're really, really common. So, if any of you out there have experienced any of these, what did you find was helpful for you? So please share with us. We'd love to hear your stories.
And, until next time, take care.
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