I've read many of the posts, and see a lot of talk regarding extra virgin coconut oil....my question is this, I'm not so concerned at this point with appearance, but, I am trying to get something to help decrease my itch. I've changed soaps, lotions, creams, used prescribed ointments...nothing has worked. The itch does not bother me at night, and and appears to be more pronounced when I'm wearing pants, as opposed to shorts. My kp is prominent on my legs and thighs...lotion on my buttocks alleviates any itching there. Will extra virgin coconut oil help, and is there anything else anybody can suggest? Thanks.

Hi my kp is not very itchy but I have noticed that when I miss a couple of days taking my omega oil suppliments my skin gets very dry and tight feeling and a lot more itchy. Your skin is made up of many layers and even the most powerful moisturiser can only reach the top few layers, which is why we have to moisturise from within. I take 2 teaspoons of flax oil and 3 teaspoons of hemp oil a day, you can take fish liver oils but I'm a vegetarian and it is also not advised for women under age of menopause to have too much oily fish or fish oil. Its worth a try, there are others on the oil pulling threads who know more about good oils etc... so you could ask them.

I have been doing the oil pulling for 5 days and I'm starting to see good results. I have also been taking more time rubbing the almond oil on after shower as are the instruction for EVCO. Before I just used to slap it on, then put my robe on and finish getting ready in the morning. Still have not bought EVCO though need to finish the almond oil first.

Hope you find something that works.

edinbumpy...thank you very much for your reply, i appreciate the information. fortunately i'm off today and will spend my afternoon looking for some of the products i see on this site. this kp came out of the blue for me, and has made me more aware of issues others run into on a daily basis. again, thanks.

As far as the itching goes, my derm has prescribed a pill called minocycline (100 mg) for 30 days. I'm a week and a half into the treatment. It's helped a lot. Then again, I was going through a particularly vicious flare up that nothing else would relieve. Doesn't do a whole lot for the appearance, though. It did reduce the size of the bumps to a less grotesque level but it's still bad. And for some reason, the itching has not stopped on my butt, only on my stomach where it was the most severe.

I think this is a last ditch relief effort. My doctor asked me if I was pregnant or had any liver disease. And it's only prescribed for a month, after which I have another appointment with him. So obviously, this isn't a daily regular maintenance drug.

I'm assuming you have to take it only when the itching has reached an intolerable level.

I think the itch is caused by dryness generally, but then when you scratch it, of course that makes it worse. Have you tried a general moisturizer for your legs? Jeans/pants can worsen the itch because the friction on the skin stimulates it.
Are you using an exfoliant? Sometimes if you use one that is too strong, the nerve endings get sort of "tickled" as you expose the more sensitive skin underneath the KP layers.
Ordinarily I'd suggest hydrocortizone cream, but over such a large area, I don't know. I wish they made a moisturizing lotion that has just a bit of hydrocortizone, so it would take care of both things.

Turquoise, thanks for the reply...things are markedly better since I've joined this site...I don't know if it's the cleanser, better eating habits, doing OP, and using moisturizer, but the itch is almost gone. Probably a combination of everything. Again, thanks, in my humble opinion, and defintely not my doctor's, the KP is doing better because of everything I've read/learned from all of you.

woofish

Hi, Turquoise

I know that I have dry body skin so I alternate between a rich moisturizer (pure, fragrance-free shea butter) and a 20% glycolic acid cream from DCL. If I don't do that, I notice that the DCL can cause too much irritation. I notice that my kp doesn't itch all the time, only during certain periods of intense flare-ups, where the bumps get 40% bigger and incredibly inflamed around the hair follicle, to the point where even going to work is a problem. I took 2 weeks off. I actually hadn't had it that bad for quite a while. When I get like this, no amount of hydration helps and, believe me, I was moisturizing constantly. Usually, my biggest concern is mainly the appearance of it. The pills have made a world of difference with the itch on my stomach. I don't get this disease. My derm suggested stress as a possible explanation but I haven't been in any more stress than usual. I noticed that the pills I've been taking gave me some relief on the very first day of use, which suggests something internal is going on (it's antibacterial, anti-infections). I'm going to read what other sufferers have posted on eating habits to see if that can help and I've decided to give oil-pulling a try. Thanks for your feedback!

Oh wow, cool ! Good for you for finding a treatment that works. I, too, have had some itch issues since the winter has hit and the dryness gets out of control. Especially since using the AHA lotion, it can get very itchy. Moisturizer helps a lot, though.

I agree, too, the KP collective knows way more about it than the doctors
do. I mean look at that ****py product "KP Duty." That is supposedly the culmination of all of that dermatologist's knowledge about how to treat this, and it is basically **** in a bottle that is useless to most people. It certainly has no value for treating KP that is moderate to severe. I think the trouble
is that there must be very few dermatologists who have even a halfway serious case of KP.

Freedom, you are the only person I've read about here at the forum who has these marked "flare ups" Your KP is so baffling !! The strange location of it and the odd symptoms... I wonder if it isn't just something that looks like KP. What if it's hives or something? Those are itchy and will come and go mysteriously. Or what if it is hives *and* KP...?
What is the hair growth like on your stomach? Do you get hairs trapped in the bumps? And if you pick at the bumps, do they appear to be made of sloughed, dead cells? It seems to me that the reason AHA 20 does not work for you would be that your bumps are actually *swellings* of the skin, not piles of skin that can be exfoliated. In that case, exfoliating in any way would not be a good idea, and would cause itching or irritation.

Are you aware of any allergies you have that cause your skin to react?
I mean, you may have KP as well (I know that's your working theory right now), but if you also have some sort of reaction happening, it would explain why no treatments work for you. With normal KP, some bumps are very dry and others are reddened and more moist, but they should not suddenly swell and get larger.

Hi Turquoise

I'm quite baffled by my skin these days. I've had this since I was at least 15 or maybe even earlier (14?) I've seen so many derms and general physicians over the years who have told me it was kp that I assumed all along that's what it was. It does have some key characteristics of kp. For example, I have the goose bump, chicken skin look. I have a raised bump at every hair follicle and the hair comes out of it straight (it's not coiled on the inside like some people and if I pick at it, nothing will come out). My body skin is very dry. And the location is not that unusual, since I've read other posts on this forum of people who also have kp on their stomachs. I also have some on my butt and a mild case on my legs and arms. But what does baffle me is that last flare up I had. Indeed, no one on this forum seems to experience times where the bumps seem markedly worse and larger and when the itch is so intense that it nearly drives you mad. And the fact that antibacterial pills cleared it up so fast is weird indeed. I haven't read of anybody else on this forum who has seen improvement that way. The bumps are still there but they're more discreet now. The most baffling symptom I've had lately is these crusty patches that first appeared on my stomach when the flare-up started and that eventually peeled off, leaving very ugly dark marks behind (hyperpigmentation). The hyperpigmentation is now worse than the bumps! At first, I thought it was a result of a glycolic peel I did. Then, I thought it was eczema, but my eczema medication didn't work on it.. Now those same crusty patches are appearing on my face (forehead and cheeks) and I have to wait for them to fall off. I'm afraid of the hyperpigmentation it's going to leave behind when it does. What the hell is going on? Could all these doctors have been wrong about my diagnosis for over 20 years? 2 or 3 derms had told me initially when I was a teenager that it was some kind of complication from my having had chicken pox but they had nothing to offer me as a cure. And then later on, everybody else I saw about this told me it was kp. Nobody has ever positively diagnosed me with any skin condition other than kp and eczema. As for allergies, I know I'm allergic to penicillin (which I never take) and that I'm lactose intolerant (I drink lactose-free milk). That's it! I'm really depressed about it because if it's not kp, nobody knows what the hell it is... What other skin conditions would mimick kp?

So much for Minocycline. Finished the bottle of pills and the itch came back, along with new bumps. It's not just ugly (as if that's not depressing enough), It's so itchy I'm losing my mind! I have to see my derm in about 2 weeks. I'm counting the days. Maybe another bottle of the stuff... I did abuse alcohol in the past few days. I know that's a no-no for inflammatory skin diseases... I wonder if it made things worse...