As I already indicated I started working on some skin publication. Why… ? Of course, I got some reason to do so. We are currently developing handmade soaps with biestmilch. Biestmilch has got a wonderful soothing effect on skin. To stress this without giving you some scientific background is definitely not good enough, therefore I plunged myself into some new science stuff, and I found very interesting publications on itching.
Everybody knows how it feels when some body parts start itching, it can be more than annoying, it can drive people into suicide. Now researchers elucidated some very new and interesting aspects of itch. Itch can be a symptom of local skin diseases as it is the case in allergies or local irritations. But they may as well be a symptom accompanying systemic diseases like tumors or infections. Some of you may also have experienced that itching can be a stress reaction. So, itch is not only caused by inflammation but also by stress. Stress stimuli, be they emotional or physical can cause itching. About the relation between stress and inflammation I shall write in a later chapter (they are also interdependent).
Therapy of itch is still unsatisfying most likely because itch has been in many ways still an enigmatic process. Now there are interesting scientific models and data appearing on the horizon. Scientists found out that the skin has got its own stress system that is structured exactly like the stress system that controls and balances our whole body. Both these systems are made up by the nervous system, the immune system and the hormones, of which the cortisol circuit seems to be the most important actor. These two stress entities are closely intertwined, and this interdependence for me is the foundation for the saying that the skin is a mirror of our soul.
A good example is our hair. The hair follicle is a very sensitive area owning its own stress system. That’s why hair loss, and sudden hair loss can be caused by immune disturbances or severe mental stress, or be a symptom for a systemic disease.
Overall, it looks like that pain and itch are like brother and sister walking along the same paths with different pacing only. It seems that the only difference are the activity patterns in the brain from the stimuli reaching the brain through nerves and mediators from the periphery. Itch and pain are emerging systemic phenomena that are caused by the cooperation or dysregulation of the three big regulatory systems: the nervous and immune system and the hormones.
