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Three nights ago I noticed that after washing my hands they felt really sticky, almost like when you use the last paper towel on the roll and you get that glue residue on your hands. However, it wasn't the last paper towel so I figured maybe the liquid soap was really old and doing funky things so I rewashed with dish soap and again grabbed a paper towel. Once again, my hands got sticky as I dried them off. Thinking now that there was something wrong with these paper towels, I washed again and this time dried with a hand towel only to yet again find my hands sticky as they dried off. The stickiness only lasts 30-60 seconds, until the skin completely dries, but during that in-between time of soaking wet and totally dry they feel very tacky to the touch and my fingers will actually stick to each other.
The next day when I took a shower I noticed that the water was beading up on the skin on my arms. Sure enough, when I dried off afterwards I found that all of my skin is tacky to the thouch until it is completely air dried.
Today I shaved my legs and my skin felt almost like it had a layer of wax on it that kept catching the razor. The skin on my hands seems to be getting more sticky when they get wet. Water continues to bead on my skin when it gets wet. I asked my children if they can feel that my skin is sticky to the touch and they said yes.
This is affecting all of my skin now, including my face. I always put a moisturizer on my face after washing and it does not feel like my skin is absorbing it now, it just feels heavy and greasy since the lotion just sits there on top. I also tried putting lotion on my hands and it was not absorbed at all, just left my hands feeling very slimy and greasy so I wiped it off.
Has anyone ever experienced anything like this or have any suggestions for what might be causing it? Thanks for any held you can give.
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Hi Pat, thanks so much for your support. I look forward to seeing the Allergist to rule things out... it's a process of elimination.
September 1, 2010 - 7:11pmThis Comment
Okay. I new to this post but I do have a theory. Years ago, I had a serious problem with sticky armpits and itchy skin. I went to a dermatologist who gave me a patch test to check for allergies. Turned out I was positive for sodium benzoate. It's a preservative used in A LOT of foods and products. As soon as I started looking at food labels before consuming them, it went away. I was also told to avoid acidic foods such as vinegar and to consume lots of water. He said when you drink water, your skin is always last to get it. So, if you drink 8oz of water and the rest of your body organs us it all up before it's your skins turn, sorry Charlie. I hope this post helps at least one of you.
September 1, 2010 - 1:40amThis Comment
Hello scf500,
September 1, 2010 - 2:33pmThis information is a HUGE help for me, THANK YOU SO MUCH! My sticky skin problem began around the time that I tried a new deodorant, Secret Clinical Strength for Sensitive Skin. My armpits became extremely sticky so I switched to, Dove Deodorant for Sensitive Skin, but by that time the stickiness spread to my entire body. I'm now wondering if both of these products have similar ingredients or if they contain Sodium Benzoate. I just made an appointment for patch testing, and I'm going to have the doctor test for Mold Allergies too. Can you please tell me what deodorant, shampoo, bath soap and laundry detergent you currently use?? I'd like to buy the same products because if they're safe for your skin, they'll probably be safe for mine. I also have tiny bumps all over my skin, and for months I've delt with smelly hot water and red residue in my bathrooms in the house. I know there's also an environmental factor going on with my skin, and I'll be able to pinpoint the problem once I receive my water test results to find out if there's Mold, Serratia Marcescens, or another organism living in my hot water heater. I hope I wiped them out when we shocked the hot water heater with bleach. I'm so glad to have this sticky skin problem narrowed down!
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I've had this awful sticky skin issue for 6 months now. I also have painful urination and chronic vaginal yeast. I live in a fairly new home and there's a red residue that forms in my shower, toilet bowls, and a moldy smell in my new washing maching that always occurs no matter how often I disinfect. I don't have the answer on how to cure this problem, but what makes the most sense is from the posting on April 18th, 'Serratia Marcescens' bacteria in the hot water heater. (I want to say THANKS to the person who posted it, I feel like I'm making progress now!) I'm having the hot water heater cleaned tomorrow. Do you know of any antibiotics/ointments/supplements I can try to kill this bacteria that's covering my body?? I even have a slimy residue in my mouth... I know it's from my dishes as they're always sticky after washing them in the dishwasher, and I've injested the bacteria without knowing it while eating, yuck! I've read that this bacteria is resistant to many antibiotics. I've never been so miserable in my life. Please advise... I appreciate any help you can provide!
August 29, 2010 - 8:14pmThis Comment
Anon - Since you're in a fairly new home, I'm wondering if any of your neighbors are also experiencing the same sticky red residue. It might be worth asking. I'd also contact your local public health department - depending on where you live it may be at the city or county or province level - and asking them if they have found this problem elsewhere in your community and if they can offer any assistance. I'd also try the same thing with your water company. Let me know what you learn as it could help others. I don't immediately know of something you can use on your body but will see what I can research for you and I hope our readers will also chime in and help you too.
August 30, 2010 - 5:39pmYuck! is right, I hope you get some answers soon.
Pat
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Thank you Pat. I talked to a neighbor and they get a small amount of sticky red residue in their shower door, but have no skin problems. They live in a vacation home 6 months/year so they don't use their water heater as often. Today I had the hot water heater drained and flushed with with Germicidal Clorox Bleach. I also took a sample of the gross sediment water to a microbiologist and I'm awaiting results. It's ridiculous that we have to suffer with sticky skin and doctors are clueless. I'm on a mission to find a cure once and for all. If anyone has any other helpful info please advise. Thanks!
August 30, 2010 - 9:11pmThis Comment
I just love people on a mission!! Keep us posted and good luck!
August 31, 2010 - 5:28pmThis Comment
Hi, some things I noticed. All of our family members get the sticky tacky feeling on the hands after washing and using paper towels for either cleaning something or drying. But we dont get that any place else, and we noticed that it dosent happen all of the time. It appears only when we use paper towels to dry our hands or use them wet for cleaning something. And because we dont dry off anyplace else after a shower with paper towels, we think its related to them. I noticed that even after I wash off vegetables and dry them with a cheap paper towel the veges seem to get sticky too. We have a well hard water for years and yes I did read that hard water does not make soap lather well. But I am not using the soap we wash with to wash the vegetables, only the paper towel to dry it. I only wash and dry the veges like tomatoes with expensive paper towels now. Now someone may write in and say the vege is sticky because your hand is. But I have washed the veges off during times when I didnt have that tacky feeling on my hands but suddenly felt it when I dried off the vege with a cheap paper towel.
August 20, 2010 - 7:31amI am going to put one of those mold testers up to see if there is a mold problem. thanks and I hope we all can find answers to remedy this.
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Now, isn't that interesting? You may have something there.
First... i want to point out that after my shower, i only used a cloth towel to dry, and i STILL had stickiness, so it's definitely NOT just with paper. And i'm sure the others on here, who have had this for a long time, would know by now if it was just with paper, so i'm pretty sure it isn't that.
HOWEVER.... you may have found something else of interest. When i listed all the things i had come into contact with, i was thinking in terms of things that would carry fungus or disease. I didn't mention my shirt or the sink faucet or the paper towels. But since you brought it up, i DID wipe the first few times with paper towels. This is far-fetched, but i guess whatever is affecting us could have been in the paper towels and then released to our hands. It would be really weird, yet that is a possible pattern, since i also did first notice it just after using paper towels to wipe.
What i am trying to recall is whether i was using cheap towels at the time. We had, indeed, bought some cheap paper towels, but just ran out, and i am having a hard time remembering if i was using the end of the cheap roll, or the beginning of the Bounty roll when i discovered i had this.
No matter what, i later used cloth towels for washing my face and eye, and i still had the stickies... so it's not JUST when using a paper towel... but i guess we need to look at whether it's somehow related to paper towels. Maybe whatever you are getting from your paper towels causes the skin to be in the condition that causes stickiness...and at least that would be a help for those who are getting this from internal triggers. Again, someone needs to find out what causes skin to be sticky!!! (I have images of us turning into little spidermen and able to scale buildings with this!!! LOL In fact, i thought i recalled reading a science article where they have identified some chemicals that will do this with skin...gotta look for that)
If there is someone else who has the *topical* version of this (not internal version), and never uses paper towels, that would eliminate paper towels as a trigger. Please speak up if you are one of those.
capt flint
August 21, 2010 - 10:14amThis Comment
Maybe there's something in the way the paper towel is made, or what it's made from. Never know.
August 21, 2010 - 9:45amThis Comment