1. Diabetes
Itching can occur all over the body, but is more often confined to the perianal and external genital areas. Mostly due to neuropathy, Candida infection, dry skin, drugs.
2. Hyperthyroidism
Itchy skin is caused by increased basal metabolic rate, excessive sweating and mental tension, while hypothyroidism causes itchy skin due to dry and flaky skin after mucinous edema.
3. Liver and biliary diseases
The cause may be related to endogenous opioid peptides. Typical clinical manifestations are limited itching in the crevices of the feet and palms of the hands and then expanding to the whole body.
4.Chronic nephritis
Especially in patients who have reached the stage of uremia and have undergone hemodialysis. It can be generalized or confined to the forehead, back, or forearm.
5.Tumor
Stomach cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, etc. can also cause generalized skin itching.
6.Blood diseases
Erythroblastosis, lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, and systemic mastocytosis can cause pruritus.
7.Pregnancy and itching
It is usually intense itching of the abdomen, which can extend to the thighs, chest, arms, and buttocks . The second trimester can be combined with itchy rash, folliculitis , and the third trimester can be combined with urticaria.
8, neurogenic pruritus
Severe generalized or restricted pruritus sometimes occurs in patients with stroke, multiple sclerosis, brain tumor, and brain abscess. It is characterized by sudden onset and unilateral pruritus. Usually, sensory abnormalities are more common in this group of patients.
9. Psychogenic pruritus
Psychological factors such as anxiety, depression, and severe psychopathy can cause pruritus . Parasitic delusions, mostly seen in older women, manifest as the conviction that they are infected with lice, ants, flies, etc., scratching the skin to get rid of the pests.
Tip.
Elderly people with persistent itchy skin should go to the hospital for a systemic examination with a view to early detection of the systemic disease causing the itch.