Relive the itching caused by jaundice

Hi and welcome to the Online Community, although I am sorry to see you finding us and so sorry to hear about your grandmother.

This must be a hard time for her and all the family as a cancer diagnosis can bring a lot of stress, confusion and many questions but talking with people who are on the same journey can help a lot.

Can I first direct you to these links to our very supportive Liver cancer and Pancreatic cancer groups as this will open up your concerns to a wider audience who know exactly what you are going through at the moment.

To join just click on the links I've created and then choose 'join this group' on the page that opens. You can then introduce yourself and post questions after selecting 'start a discussion' and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.

I had a skin Lymphoma so do understand this issue to a degree. One thing I found out was when my bed and bedroom was to warm my skin became more itchy....... it did not take the itch away but the cooler room helped.

Is she using good quality skin creams?..... as these can reduce the itch - it’s easy for me to say but the more she itches the worse this will get...... so when I was bad I had a tub of cream next to me all the time and when I had the urge to scratch I smothered the area in cream.

I would get in contact with her team and report this as I am sure that there are other meds/creams that can be used - it’s all about finding the best way forward for her.

We also have our ‘Ask an Expert’. section where you can post questions to our mostly Volunteer Experts but please allow 2 working days to get a reply.

Can I also highly recommend our various Macmillan Support Line Services - you can call them free on 0808 808 00 00 This service covers Emotional Support, Practical Information. Clinical Information, Financial Support and Work Guidance mostly open 8.00 to 8.00 but check the link.

I do hope she can get this under control.

Thank you so much for your reply. I've just joined the groups you've suggested, so thanks for pointing me in the right direction for those. She's doing pretty much everything you've suggested but we're in the process of trying out many different creams to find one that helps calm the itching a lot more. She can control herself scratching in the day but it's worse at night time because she wakes herself up as she's hurting herself scratching in her sleep. It's the cuts that worry us the most because of risk of infection. She's as tough as old boots but this is getting her down somewhat. She is keeping the house cool but I went in earlier (thankfully, I live next door) and she was shivering. She said, I can't win, if I wear light thin clothes, I'm freezing but not itching, but, if I wrap up a bit warmer, it sets the itching off. Hopefully, we'll find some reprieve for her soon. I did suggest cooling gel packs but she said she doesn't like the sound of those and she'll persevere for now. She's only been on medication for 2 days, it's only 10 days since we found out the news and only now the itching is getting particularly bad. We'll have more advice on Wednesday hopefully. Thanks so much for all your help. Much appreciated

Nutty

Hi again Nutty, oh I do feel for her as this was me in the first 14 years of my cancer journey so totally get how she will feel.

I was initially under a Dermatologist so we worked through every cream on the world - well it felt like that.

Has she been given any steroid based creams to see if these will help? The main skin cream I used for showers, washing etc was one prescribed by my Dermatologist called Hydromol - this has a reasonable cooling effect on the skin.

When I went to bed I would cover my skin with Hydromol and put on light weight cotton PJs, cotton socks and gloves and a light weight cover.

Oh I do hope you find a way forward for her.