General Medicine

» francisscotts - Itchy palms, feet, ankles, with rash

I had come aross some older postings regarding these symptoms because I was suffering from the same. I am in pretty good condition and did not change diet, or anything else. Itching would start usually during the evening. It would begin at different places tops of hands, palms, tops of feet, arms, legs, chest, sides etc. Usually with a light rash but REALLY itched. Sometimes small blisters, on palms, sides of feet. The more I scratched the worse it would get. I woke up one morning scratching my palms in my sleep. It would stop during the day, but sometimes during the morning as well would itch. I tried hydrocordisone with little relief, tylenol did no good. I tried benedryl with no luck. So, I took a guess and thought it might be a secondary infection associated with the root canal I had recently. My dentist had given me some amoxicillin 500mg in case there were any problems with the tooth. I called him told him my thoughts and asked if I could start taking it to see if the itching symptoms subsided. He advised to give it a try. After one day I could tell the difference. by the third day the itching was gone. What a relief. Hopefully this might help someone, it was a quick fix to a really irritating issue.

-- posted by francisscotts

» Elaine Moore - Itchy palms, feet, ankles, with rash

In response to Itchy palms, feet, ankles, with rash posted by francisscotts:
Hi Francis,

Thanks for sharing. This was really good intuition on your part. Infections can definitely cause itching and rash. However, usually a three day course of antibiotics will be enough to kill off some bacteria and reduce symptoms but not completely fix the problem.

In most cases you'll need a 7-day or 10-day course of antibiotics or the bacterial strain causing the problem will start predominating again. This give bacteria some resistance to the antibiotic too. So you might want to check with your doctor to see how long he recommends your taking the amoxicillin. Take care, Elaine