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Any help for skin that gets sticky when it gets wet?

By July 11, 2009 - 10:13pm
 
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sticky skin

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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Expert HERWriter Guide Blogger (reply to a_sticky_mess)

Thank you a_sticky_mess. I used to live in Michigan where I was highly allergic to all the trees and grasses and plants, and was on allergy shots for many years. When I moved to the desert in Arizona, and very few trees and much less grass, the allergies went away and I thought it was fantastic. Well now that I've been here a while I have an allergy to olive trees, which were definitely not on the allergy list in Michigan! It's interesting how our bodies react to and adjust to different things, and I think we have to be open to all kinds of possibilities or we won't find the answers we need to take care of ourselves.

November 24, 2010 - 5:15pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Pat Elliott)

Hello everyone. This is Diane. In a couple of weeks im going back to the dermatologist & I will let you know what he says the next step to take will be since labs proved stickiness wasn't from too much vitamin A or a thyroid disorder. Sticky mess I tried sensitive skin dove and had allergic reaction to soap. Im thankful it was contained to tingling in my mouth but nonetheless it caused me alarm! After washing my face with that soap I flossed my teeth so I'm assuming the EDTA (preservative) which was still on my hands while they were in my mouth caused the entire mouth/tongue and back of my throat to tingle. I was panicked. I immediately went back to my ivory soap. As much as i want to give up the ivory, for now im not rocking the boat. No improvements and nothing worse to report. Im passing along a website "Know the cause.com" I watch this Doug Kaufman on TV in the early morning and he talks about yeast and the negative effect it has on our bodies. He claims theres a yeast connection with cancer. He has written books on the matter and talks about taking Diflucan (a drug that is helpful when you have yeast infections). "Sticky mess" go on the website and maybe order one of his books or ask your library to order the book for the library and then just take it out on loan. Supposedly (he claims) the diflucan and another drug taken together can knock the yeast out. Im fearful of drugs since i react negatively to just about all of them and i do know the drug reactions i get are a result of the yeast in ones own body. I know someone who was worse than me and when she went on a yeast free diet for approximately 3 months she was and still is able to eat any food she wants to now. she is also able to tolerate more antibotics if she ever needs them. There definitely is a connection. I hope you trust your gyn because you could have fibroids causing your pelvic pain and unless you get an abdominal sonogram you can't rule out fibroids as a cause for your pain. If you have a bacterial infection or your PH is off in your vaginal area then you can request going on "Cleocin suppostories" 100 mg 1once day for 3 days only and it will clear it up. Please look into the matter so you can obtain relief. This is no way to live your life. You were meant to enjoy and be pain free. Keep the faith.

November 21, 2010 - 11:24am
(reply to Anonymous)

Hello! Diane - I'm so sorry to hear you had a reaction to Dove soap! :( I started using it after scf500 said it worked for her. I'm surprised that I can tollerate it as I'm allergic to everything. On a positive note, at least we are both doing well with SURE deodorant, yea! I got a bad tingling in my mouth after flossing with Clean Burst dental floss. I read somewhere (I think the allergy pamphlet from my dermatologist) that floss is coated with one of the chemicals I'm allergic too. Also, my lips feel really scorched and start burning if I use certain toothpastes. I cannot wait until I get these yeast allergies under control! It's so strange how our skin types are so different, yet we suffer from sticky skin. I wish I was able to use Ivory soap, but it seems to make my stickiness worse. A lady at Sephora recommended that I test new products on the inside of my wrist and let it sit for 24 hours to see if I get a reaction... maybe that would be helpful for you too.

The website you recommended is great, and I'm going to look into getting Doug Kaufman's books. I found another book recently at Borders called 'The Bible Cure for Candida' and it's been helpful too. THANK YOU for telling me about your friend who had success using the yeast free diet. It's been a struggle as I have a tendency to cheat sometimes. My sugar craving take over and it's hard to resist. My doctor just put me on Diflucan so we'll see how it goes. (Thanks for the website info Pat, I'm doing ok with it so far!) I had a sonogram and everything looked normal. I know my PH is off, and a stool test showed that I have no Lactobacilli Acidophilus (good bacteria) in my system from taking too many antibiotics. Hence, this has allowed the yeast to spiral out of contol so I'm starting probiotics to try to get back on track. Hopefully the Diflucan works against the type of yeast I have. A culture showed staph aureus so I know it's a combination of yeast/yeast-allergy & bacteria causing my pain. I wish I could try the Cleocin to see if it would help, but I found out it's the same thing as Clindamycin and I'm highly allergic to it, bummer! I'm praying for wisdom for my doctor to give me the right meds to make me pain free!

November 23, 2010 - 8:25pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to a_sticky_mess)

hi everyone its Diane. Thanks pat for saying what I shouldve about prescriptions drugs. Before anyone asks for a drug they should always check with their doctor because I don't claim to be a doctor; I was just sharing information with others. "StickyMess" The ivory soap does have a greasy feel yet i continue to use it. I have checked every soap packaging and all contain so many preservatives Ivory had the least of the ingredients. Im not happy with Ivory but im afraid to experiment at this point. You sure sound like you've been left no stone unturned regarding your health. You are right on top of everything. My doctor told me to regulate the PH I should take acidophilis tablets (the good bacteria we want in our bodies) that is essential. When I looked the acidophilis up on the internet one can react to acidopholous also so i didn't bother to take his advice. what i was told was not to wear pantishields on underwear (that particular body part needs to breathe). This recommendation is very helpful. Are you able to get "know the cause" on television where you live?? He's on my cable tv network at 8AM mon-fri. When he talks about fungus causing so much of our medical woes, I believe him. Corn supposely has a lot of micotoxins in it and corn is in much of everything. I know yeast free dieting is hard. You have to be really committed. Like you I crave sweets. it's my downfall. Thanks for the book you recommended. HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE. Time is passing quickly. Feels like just yesterday I was in the swimming pool blaming my neightbors pine tree needles for my sticky skin. What a journey this is turning out to be. Keep the faith everyone

November 24, 2010 - 3:10pm
Expert HERWriter Guide Blogger (reply to Anonymous)

Hi Diane - Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'd just add that anyone who may be considering any recommended course of action, especially one that involves a prescription drug, needs to be as informed as possible. Diflucan, which is a brand name for fluconazole, is contraindicated for some people and has side effects of its own. You can find more information here: http://www.drugs.com/diflucan.html Take care, Pat

November 21, 2010 - 4:53pm

Everything seems back to normal with the pages and comments! (At least for me!)
thanks Pat and whom ever fixed it ;)
Hopefully it stays that way.
I have a some thoughts i wanted to share, the first to "verycurious" who wrote a couple a pages ago, about taking Accutane.
I just wanted say that both isotretionin (accutane) and ketoconazole( an anti-fungal drug) in combination with hydrocortisone has sticky skin as a documented side effect! In case you missed that, I think some of us linked to those reports in the beginning of this thread. So for sure, thats the cause of your sticky skin. About tretionin induced sticky skin: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10190062 And ketoconazole/cotisone induce sticky skin: http://www.prostate-cancer.org/education/andeprv/Lam_HDK.html those of you who are on this types of meds should be able to get the diagnose "sticky skin syndrome, or "aquired cutaneous adherence".
Since isotretionin is a vit A-like substance, and there have been discussions about hypervitaminose A on some other sites too, I definetely think i´ts interesting some of you have doctors that has pointed this out. I was alittle bit frustrated with the limited idea that only people on THOSE meds could have sticky skin syndrome as suggested to me when i went to a dermatologist.
However, we know sticky skin has beeen documented and associated with the above mentioned medications , bur according to the dermatoligist I seen, that would be a stickyness that was very visuable and sticky skin also when the skin is completely dry. ( they had never seen anyone with it before though, so I don´t know? ) Therefore and unfortunately I did not get that diagnosis, since my sticky skin looks quite normal when dry, Just as discribed in the origial first post here on the forum.
Diane, for example, do you have sticky skin also when dry since that paper adhered to you while at the doctors office? or is it as for me if you are a little bit moist from sweat or water it adheres, as for example sitting on a towel after the shower, then standing up and the towel adheres as a bandaid to you, and you have to peel it of, but if you would sit on a towel when you were completely dry it would not adhere?
A lot of the people commenting here has said, I have the same thing, but as the comments increase in numbers, I get a little bit confused to as if they mean the same as the first comment, sticky when moist? I would think that both people who have sticky skin when moist, and people who have it also when dry has written here, and I think it´s important to point out that theres a diffenrce. It all may be the same thing in different shapes, but this sticky when moist thing is even more strange. WHY is sticky only then...Dont get me wrong i´m sticky all the time when I have sticky episodes, but only when moist,
then I can have a couple of years or months that the syndrome completely disappear, quite sudden...If you understand what i mean
I have stopped using all soaps and creams on my hands where I´m sticky this time. and the symtomes itself does not disappear anyway. I would recommend all of you who seem to get a little improvment from time to time to stop using ALL types of skinproducts, to see if the stickyness disappears.
ten years ago with my first episode of sticky skin happened, when i had it all over my body I also noticed that some products made the stickyness less apperant, my conclusion was that oily products such as natural olive oil, kind of "masked" the stickynesfor example on the lips, preventing them to stick together,s just as someone else here mentioned powder to help with relieving the symtomes I also used to put powder under armpits, trying to prevent wounds to build upp from the friction of sticky skin, the worst areas to have sticky skin is definetly under armpits, lips etc due to the friction wuonds in my opinion, and ofcourse in your mouth and eyelids, has anyone else experienced getting these wounds from friction?
More "complicated" products as deodorants , skin creams containing many ingridients, used to make the stickyness worse, maybe simply due to water content? (as in sticky when moist?) (or allergens as allredy mentioned). . So I used to mask my symtomes with oil or powder, but of course that would only help as long as the product stayed on!
I would not get any real improvment from stop using certain products on the skin during the sticky episode, thats what i wanted to point out, I think everyone should try holding up with everything for a while, a month or two, then you could be quite sure it was an allergy. if the symptomes came back again when you use products. There migth be so many things in a products causing the sticky skin change if it´s an allergy, even so-called safe products?
Just brainstorming! trying to get out what i mean but not sure Im making sense, tired;)
Please everyone, especially new commetators it would be great if everyone tried and discribe the type of stickyness you have, Visual, non visual, sticky when moist not dry, sticky also when dry, and so on...
and it wuld be helpfull to use an account here at empowher, or use a name even
if its not a real one, as some of you did, so we are easier separated and know how many we are.
and if you write, 'I have the same thing' , be sure to point out the same as who :)

Sometimes when I have been really frustrated about this i have thought about what would happen if we all got togehter and went to the same doctor, maybe things would happen a little bit faster on the help-front ,;) In the meantime it really helps knowing you all are out there!
Take care everyone!

November 7, 2010 - 11:04pm
Expert HERWriter Guide Blogger

Thanks everyone, especially for the detail. We're asking the IT folks to check into this and figure it out. You're right, the content on this thread is invaluable and it would be a shame to lose it. Pat

November 5, 2010 - 4:03pm

All of the comments from Mahnia nov 1, 2009, to Sean oct 5, 2010 are missing! After that a couple of comments are in the wrong order. Then the last 4-5 pages are showing as normal.

November 4, 2010 - 7:57pm

If all the comments, 11 pages, are still there for some of you, (not for me,) please copy, this is to valuable information to get lost!

November 4, 2010 - 7:29pm

Hi Pat!
There where 11 pages, just as you say, but it appears for some of us only 6 are showing now! There where a total of about 80-something comments, now only 53! It has been like this for a couple of days.
Frustrating...
Something has to be wrong, is there anything to do about it?

November 4, 2010 - 7:24pm
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