(Note: This will be in detail! i.e Graphic)
I've been incontinent for almost 3 years now, and I think I've noticed a trend with myself now.
I used to get BAD, and I mean BAD diaper rashes. At first, my scrotum would get oozy. At the same time, it would get itchy.
It would get progressively worse and so unbelievably itchy that I couldn't stop itching it if I was able to get my hand down there. I wear "onsies" which helped me resist the urge to itch. After wearing a diaper for an hour or so, the itching would go away enough to where I was not pre-occupied with the discomfort.
After I would change, the itching would come back with a vengeance, and stay for an hour. It was so bad I accidentally cut my scrotum with my fingernails just trying to get relief. I would even hyperventilate some of the time if I couldn't itch, because it was so persistent. After a couple weeks, it would then progress to the next stage, which was pain along with the itchiness.
I tried to air it out, and pull the ooziness away by wearing a penis clamp and regular underwear. The oozing was so bad that my underwear was soaked from that, not urine.
I swore I'd never let that happen again, so the next time I could feel it coming on, I started showering, a lot. Like 3 to 4 times a day. I purchased that dial antibacterial soap, and used that on a loofa (that poofy thing you put body wash on), and would clean that region with water that was painfully hot for a good 2-3 minutes. And the absence of discomfort I felt almost made me want to drop my knees in relief. As soon as I got out of the shower though, the itchiness would return.
Well after doing this for a few weeks (yes, WEEKS), I noticed it wasn't getting any better. I tried baby power but I feel like this made it worse. In fact, EVERYTHING made it worse. I got a prescription of Nystatin, and over the course of a few more weeks, it slowly went away while I performed my painful cleaning process.
A couple months ago, I felt the rash coming back, and I cleaned that area with REGULAR (non-antibacterial) soap, no loofa, normal water temperature, and whatever I had went away in a week or so with minimal, and tolerable, levels of itchiness.
So my questions:
Could the abrasive surface of the loofa been damaging the skin? Along with the hot water? And the anti-bacterial shampoo?
My girlfriend thought that maybe I had a fungal infection, and by cleaning too much I was ridding my body of good bacteria that could have been fighting it. Maybe this is why it took weeks for this "rash" to go away the first few times? Does this sound like a fungal infection? I think it was since the Nystatin helped quite a bit.
Any ideas why the itchiness would go away after having a diaper on for an hour? And why it would itch so bad after a change?
Any had a rash (or whatever it was) this bad before? I seem to get these episodes twice a year.
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