Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Itchy Skin But No Rash

Janessa

By Janessa
in Dermatitis Herpetiformis

Recommended Posts

Janessa Rookie
Janessa
Posted

I have had very itchy skin for years that would itch so bad I would actually scratch it in my sleep and wake up with scabs. I never thought it was really related to anything until I went gluten free and it went completely away, and if I get glutened I get itchy again for about a week but I have never had a rash or bumps. Does anyone else get this? Is it DH if there is no rash?

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


sparkles Contributor
sparkles
Posted

I have literally scratched the skin off because of this itch... no bumps, just itch! I don't think it is DH. I had a skin dr check it and the biopsy came back not DH. Of course, he could only biopsy the areas that were scratched off as there were no bumps. I wonder if besides celiac disease it could be an allergy to wheat though the allergy tests on wheat came back NO ALLERGY. I do have a dairy allergy and maybe that is what causes the itch. Whatever, I just spray on cortisone to control itch and try to watch intake of dairy.

Josina Newbie
Josina
Posted

When I am really down on my water I get really itchy. Maybe you just need to drink more water?

I used to get alot of rashes, but now that I am gluten free I have no problems with rashes at all. My skin does get pretty itchy but only when I am down on my water. I have been diagnosed with celiac disease, but I have observed that this disease makes people react in different ways.

If I consume gluten by accident, I usually end up with a few small bumps here and there, but whether that is from DH I am not sure.

When I used to consume gluten, I would get this horrible rash all over my arms and back. I went to several doctors over the past ten years and they never could figure out what it was. I am now free of all that.

Best of luck figuring it out!

wowzer Community Regular
wowzer
Posted

I had itchy dry skin all of my life. I went gluten free the beginning of the year and my skin is so much better. I used to always itch after a shower, now I don't. I just wish I'd figured it out years ago. It is so nice not to itch all of the time. I will say if I get glutened, I may get a few itchy spots, but at least it isn't so intense.

  • 1 month later...
Joan (Maine) Newbie
Joan (Maine)
Posted
I have had very itchy skin for years that would itch so bad I would actually scratch it in my sleep and wake up with scabs. I never thought it was really related to anything until I went gluten free and it went completely away, and if I get glutened I get itchy again for about a week but I have never had a rash or bumps. Does anyone else get this? Is it DH if there is no rash?
Joan (Maine) Newbie
Joan (Maine)
Posted
I have had very itchy skin for years that would itch so bad I would actually scratch it in my sleep and wake up with scabs. I never thought it was really related to anything until I went gluten free and it went completely away, and if I get glutened I get itchy again for about a week but I have never had a rash or bumps. Does anyone else get this? Is it DH if there is no rash?

Yes, I itch without actually breaking out....with small amounts of gluten, dairy and/or iodine. as time goes on I react more quickly and to smaller amounts. My blisters have actually been small and mostly on my face and scalp....it took six months to get a dermatologist appt. so naturally I was clear when the appt. came around. The derm. did agree to try to see me on short notice if I accidently get ingest dairy, gluten or iodine and have an outbreak. I do itch with a small rash on my shins and upper back

  • 6 years later...
tonalynn Explorer
tonalynn
Posted

I don't know if this is related to my recent celiac diagnoses or not. But it seems like other people here have intensely itchy skin and no rash or DH.

 

I've been gluten free for about 10 weeks (I don't really feel any different yet). Every now and then (no rhyme or reason to it) I will have an itch on either my arms, legs or back that is SO itchy! Sometimes it feels like my entire body is just one big ITCH! If I try to ignore the itch and not scratch it, it becomes so painful that I've actually twitched involuntarily because of it. No matter what I do, the itch won't stop, sometimes for hours. I haven't broken skin yet, but I do break capillaries under the skin, because I will develop a rash of red spots just under the skin. Or scratch marks where the capillaries have broken in a line.

 

They occasionally wake me up, or I'll have an itch that I think is minor and scratch it and WHAM! It turns into the super painful itch. Itch relief creams, heavy duty moisturizers, cortizone, ice packs...none of them help. Once I was so itchy in the middle of the night I had to take a shower and scrub everything with a loofah just to stop the itching! I've tried taking Benedryl if I'm itchy before bed. I figure even if it doesn't stop the itch, maybe I'll just sleep through it!

 

I have no rash or telltale signs of DH. I have a bit of Keratosis Pilaris on the back of my arms I've had most of my life, but that's not always where I get itchy. I haven't ingested any gluten (that I'm aware of, as I don't seem to get the intense symptoms from it) in the last 10 weeks, but the itch is the same.

 

Could it be related to celiac? Or am I being paranoid and thinking everything that's wrong with me is celiac-related? ;-)

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


squirmingitch Veteran
squirmingitch
Posted

Tonalyn, you've posted to a thread that is from 2007, I doubt any of those ppl are still hanging around here.

 

What you describe is likely related to gluten. Celiacs get lots of rashes & skin stuff. It's possible that you have something like pre dh but you've gone gluten-free now so that itch should begin to die down sooner or later.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):



    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):



  • Recent Activity

    1. tiffanygosci
      - tiffanygosci replied to tiffanygosci's topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      1

      Celiac support is hard to find

      EDIT: I did find a monthly Zoom meeting for Celiacs through the Celiac Disease Foundation, so I'll be able to talk with some other people on January 15. And I also found a Celiac Living podcast on Spotify made by a celiac. I feel a little bit better now and I am still hoping I will find some more personal connections in my area.
    2. trents
      - trents replied to mamaof7's topic in Parents, Friends and Loved Ones of Celiacs
      1

      Help understand results

      Welcome to the celiac.com community, @mamaof7! It means for the one celiac disease antibody test that was ordered, she tested negative. However, other tests should have been ordered, especially for someone so young who would have an immature immune system where there would be a high probability of being IGA deficient. The one test that was ordered...
    3. mamaof7
      - mamaof7 posted a topic in Parents, Friends and Loved Ones of Celiacs
      1

      Help understand results

      For reference, daughter is 18 mths old. Was having painful severe constipation with pale stool and blood also bloating (tight extended belly.) Liver and gallbladder are normal. Ultrasound was normal. Dr ordered celiac blood test. We took her off gluten after blood draw. She is sleeping better, no longer bloated and stools are still off color but not painful...
    4. Dizzyma
      - Dizzyma replied to Dizzyma's topic in Post Diagnosis, Recovery & Treatment of Celiac Disease
      3

      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      Hi Trent and Cristiana, thank you so much for taking the time out to reply to me. My daughters GP requested bloods, they came back as showing a possibility of celiac disease, she advised me to continue feeding gluten as normal and wait on a hospital appointment. When we got that the doctor was quite annoyed that the gp hadn’t advised to go gluten free i...
    5. tiffanygosci
      - tiffanygosci posted a topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      1

      Celiac support is hard to find

      I have been feeling so lonely in this celiac disease journey (which I've only been on for over 4 months). I have one friend who is celiac, and she has been a great help to me. I got diagnosed at the beginning of October 2025, so I got hit with all the major food holidays. I think I navigated them well, but I did make a couple mistakes along the way regarding...
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):

  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,956
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Srowton
    Newest Member
    Srowton
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):

  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • tiffanygosci
      Celiac support is hard to find

      By tiffanygosci · Posted

      EDIT: I did find a monthly Zoom meeting for Celiacs through the Celiac Disease Foundation, so I'll be able to talk with some other people on January 15. And I also found a Celiac Living podcast on Spotify made by a celiac. I feel a little bit better now and I am still hoping I will find some more personal connections in my area.
    • trents
      Help understand results

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome to the celiac.com community, @mamaof7! It means for the one celiac disease antibody test that was ordered, she tested negative. However, other tests should have been ordered, especially for someone so young who would have an immature immune system where there would be a high probability of being IGA deficient.  The one test that was ordered was an IGA-based antibody test. It is not the only IGA antibody test for celiac disease that can be run. The most common one ordered by physicians is the TTG-IGA. Whenever IGA antibody tests are ordered, a "total IGA" test should be included to check for IGA deficiency. In the case of IGA deficiency, all other IGA tests results will be inaccurate. There is another category of celiac disease antibody tests that can be used in the case of IGA deficiency. They are known as IGG tests. I will attach an article that gives an overview of celiac disease antibody tests. All this to say, I would not trust the results of the testing you have had done and I would not rule out your daughter having celiac disease. I would seek further testing at some point but it would require your daughter to have been eating normal amounts of gluten for weeks/months in order for the testing to be valid. It is also possible she does not have celiac disease (aka, "gluten intolerance") but that she has NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, or just "gluten sensitivity" for short) which is more common. The difference is that celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that damages the lining of the small bowel whereas NCGS does not autoimmune in nature and does not damage the lining of the small bowel, though the two conditions share many of the same symptoms. We have testing to diagnose celiac disease but there are no tests for NCGS. To arrive at a diagnosis of NCGS, celiac disease must first be ruled out. A gluten free diet is the solution to both maladies.   
    • mamaof7
      Help understand results

      By mamaof7 · Posted

      For reference, daughter is 18 mths old. Was having painful severe constipation with pale stool and blood also bloating (tight extended belly.) Liver and gallbladder are normal. Ultrasound was normal. Dr ordered celiac blood test. We took her off gluten after blood draw. She is sleeping better, no longer bloated and stools are still off color but not painful.    "GLIADIN (DEAMID) AB, IGA FLU Value  0.84 Reference Range: 0.00-4.99 No further celiac disease serology testing to be performed. INTERPRETIVE INFORMATION: Deamidated Gliadin Peptide (DGP) Ab, IgA A positive deamidated gliadin (DGP) IgA antibody result is associated with celiac disease but is not to be used as an initial screening test due to its low specificity and only occasional positivity in celiac disease patients who are negative for tissue transglutaminase (tTG) IgA antibody."   Anyone know what in the world this means. She isn't scheduled to see GI until late April. 
    • Dizzyma
      Newly diagnosed mam to coeliac 11 year old

      By Dizzyma · Posted

      Hi Trent and Cristiana, thank you so much for taking the time out to reply to me.  My daughters GP requested bloods, they came back as showing a possibility of celiac disease, she advised me to continue feeding gluten as normal and wait on a hospital appointment. When we got that the doctor was quite annoyed that the gp hadn’t advised to go gluten free immediately as she explained that her numbers were so high that celiac disease was fairly evident. That doctor advised to switch to a gluten-free diet immediately which we did but she also got her bloods taken again that day as it made sense to double check considering she was maintaining a normal diet and they came back with a result of 128. The hospital doctor was so confident of celiac disease that she didn’t bother with any further testing. Cristiana, thank you for the information on the coeliac UK site however I am in the Rrpublic of Ireland so I’ll have to try to link in with supports there. I appreciate your replies I guess I’ll figure things as we go I just feel so bad for her, her skin is so sore around her mouth  and it looks bad at an age when looks are becoming important. Also her anxiety is affecting her sleep so I may have to look into some kind of therapy to help as I don’t think I am enough to help. thanks once again, it’s great to be able to reach out xx   
    • tiffanygosci
      Celiac support is hard to find

      By tiffanygosci · Posted

      I have been feeling so lonely in this celiac disease journey (which I've only been on for over 4 months). I have one friend who is celiac, and she has been a great help to me. I got diagnosed at the beginning of October 2025, so I got hit with all the major food holidays. I think I navigated them well, but I did make a couple mistakes along the way regarding CC. I have been Googling "celiac support groups" for the last couple days and there is nothing in the Northern Illinois area. I might reach out to my GI and dietician, who are through NW Medicine, to see if there are any groups near me. I cannot join any social media groups because I deleted my FB and IG last year and I have no desire to have them back (although I almost made a FB because I'm desperate to connect with more celiacs). I'm glad I have this forum. I am praying God will lead me to more people to relate to. In my opinion, celiac disease is like the only food- related autoimmune disease and it's so isolating. Thanks for walking alongside of me! I'm glad I know how to help my body but it's still not easy to deal with.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.