I landed here after googling and found two topics related to my question, but both are closed.
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Undiagnosed-Symptoms/unexplained-scratches/show/1319831#comments_header
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Undiagnosed-Symptoms/Scratches-on-the-back-from-nowhere/show/350204
I am having the same problem, it does not happen often, but this time, it freaked me out. Usually, I'll have some scratches and can't explain where they came from, don't remember hurting myself, etc.. They are fairly small, nearly always 3, either on my back or my shoulders. I had 3 scratches last week, about 3 inches each, on the back of my shoulder. They healed fine and I didn't give it much thought. But, since Friday, I have 4 large scratches on my back, larger than I've ever seen, and definitely too large to not have noticed when it happened, but I didn't notice. First time I noticed was when my back was stinging while taking a shower, so I looked in the mirror and saw that I was pretty scratched up. One scratch goes almost all the way across my back, the other 3 are about 7 inches long.
I know for a fact that I can't have done this myself, because the one that goes across my back would require my arm to be elastic to reach all the way across. It is in such a location that I can't reach it with my hand all the way, no matter how hard I try. So, giving these scratches to myself in my sleep is not possible at all.
I don't have a cat, and I sleep alone.
I've pushed on every inch of my mattress to see if maybe a spring came loose.. nothing.
Given the size of the scratches and how they hurt, even now, 3 days later, there is no way this can have happened without me knowing about it, but it did.
Also, it is still very cold here for the time of year, so I wear a thermal shirt and a sweater in the daytime, and a thermal shirt and PJs at night. None show damage. The reason why this freaks me out is because I can't explain how this could have happened.
One thing I want to mention, to have scratches twice within two weeks is unusual for me. I also want to mention that I've been under extreme stress, and the previous time when I remember these unexplained scratches happening was last June when I was also under extreme stress. Maybe related? With extreme stress, I really mean extreme. Previous time was when I suffered loss and grief... that kind of stress.
This discussion is related to
unexplained scratches.
Not too long ago something or someone slapped my grandson in the face and made scratches on his back, too. We never found what it was - but we threw out some things he had picked up from the trash somewhere.