Grandma Henke

While I was driving today one of the people interviewed on NPR  was a specialist who deals with itching, Dr. Atul Gawande.    Some itches are caused by things you can diagnose … like the itch from the mosquito.    Others, perhaps, are “in your head”.  It just so happens that I am an easy itcher and by the time I got to my destination my back itched in places I couldn’t reach and my scalp was crawling with little buzzes.    Sometimes ugly little critters called mites can be the cause … you can’t see them but they can cause misery.    Are you itching yet?   I am.

The definition of itching is “an unpleasant sensation that provokes the desire to scratch.”      Oh gosh, I am starting to itch again already.

One story he told about in “The New Yorker” was a lady who was in so much agony from an itch on her head that one night while she was asleep she scratched through her skull right to her brain.   

He talks about the power of suggestion in itching.     We used to go to church on a reservation and one day I was holding a darling little girl from there on my lap.   She was running her fingers through my hair and loving me up so sweetly when she said, “Teacher do you have fleas in your hair?”     I said, “No, I don’t … do you?”    She said, “Yeah, but mama is going to get some shampoo for it.”      Oh man did I immediately start to feel crawly and itchy.    It took all of my composure to sit through the rest of the meeting and continue to let the sweet little children there touch and love me.     By the time I got home I was almost a basket case I itched so bad.    By the time I reached my bathroom I was stripped of my clothing and climbing into the shower.    

Dad had the “itch”,  his children have it and many of our children have it … and our grandchildren … so obviously it is hereditary.      We’ve all been to various doctors and we all have various treatments.   One thing that is universal in our doctor’s suggestion is not to take too many showers and not to soak in water.    Live in the desert and don’t take many showers and you won’t have many friends.

My brother’s doctor told him to put a cup of salt in the tub before he bathes and as soon as he gets out blot dry and put a special lotion on.  It seems to help him most of the time.

My daughter’s children are so sensitive that she has started making her own laundry detergent. 

I found the article by Dr. Gawande in The New Yorker very informative and interesting.    It should have been called “All you Ever Wanted To Know About Itching But Were Afraid to Ask”.   I found out more about itching today than I have in the years of researching and doctors.  And with that I will leave you before I find I have to take a dose of Benadryl.