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5 yr old has severely itchy toes with no rash

My 5 yr old has been complaining of itchy toes, both feet, just the tips.  For the past week, she cries the itch is so severe.  There are no visible signs of Athlete's feet, rash, sores, cracking, but she hates wearing socks so I am thinking it could be fungal vs allergies.  She has no known allergies to foods, environment or medications. Benadryl has not even been helping.  She has always been mildly itchy to wearing socks or itchy clothes but never has she cried so much over an itch.  Coincidently she got the H1N1 Flumist last week the day the itching peaked to this level. She did not spike a fever, just developed sinus congestion and bloody mucus in the nose. She has never has any reaction to previous vaccines and it may be purely coincidental.
Does anyone have a child with itchy feet who refuses to wear socks?
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14823182 tn?1436746607
it might be chilblains
its when your feet are really itchy and then go soor
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Avatar universal
Soak feet in solution colloidal oatmeal by Aveeno and careful Apple cider vinegar.
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Avatar universal
Hi HurricaneFrances, My 4 year old daughter has been complaining of "itchy" feet since she was 2. There are no signs of rash, etc. Our pediatrician doesn't know what it is and has recommended we see a dermatologist, but there are no signs of anything at all on the skin.
These comments are interesting as my daughter has gotten the FluMist vaccine every year. Would this be something you talked about with your pediatrician or who diagnosed it?
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Avatar universal
My son had what started as terribly itchy, aching feet, which then progressed to swollen painful feet.  It got worse over weeks intermittently and eventually there were visible hives that went up his legs.  The hives overnight would turn to bruises.  His urine test results were positive for blood which made sense since there was clearly capillary breakage from the hives.  This went off and on for four weeks with sometimes hundreds of hives and small bruises up and down his legs but with itching and terrible pain in his feet.  He even had a hard time walking. The doctors diagnosed him with Henoch-Schonlein Purpura.   They were worried about his kidneys because it went on for so long.  There is no real treatment.  I think they may have put him on a steroid if memory serves.  ONE DAY, a coworker of my husbands, whom is in the medical fiend, asked if we had changed our detergent or if he was allergic to anything.  I had changed laundry soap so I switched back to FREE of perfumes and dyes.  He also tested positive for a several things but SOY also came back positive and he had been drinking soy milk.  After changing soap and removing soy from his diet all symptoms went away.  Hope this helps some at some point.
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Avatar universal
I am in tears as I am writing this. My 5 y/o is suffering from contineous itchy toes.  Sometimes her legs from knees all the way to toes itch (esp whens he wears pants).  Her skin by her toes are peeling off bcz she is constantly rubbing her toes against things... to help her itching. Poor kid, I thought it was just a phase, but it has gotten worse. Please let me know if you have found any relief? I will be taking her to ped soon.
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Avatar universal
My little brother had the same problem this morning . He is 5 and he wears his socks all the time. What I did was I got him straight into an oatmeal bath and let him soak in it for a good 10 to 15 minutes. I got him out and dried him off. After, I took some rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and wiped the bottom of his feet. He seems to be doing fine now.
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Avatar universal
J-
If your son is crying about his hands and feet and you don't see any visible reason for this, then yes, I think its worth a trip to your pediatrician. Try to ask your son if it is painful like little pinpricks/tingles or burning.  We used the happy face 0-5 pain chart for our daughter to describe the pain to us and that was helpful.  Her diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy (in her case associated with the sensory form of GBS) was odd as it happened at night and in the mornings, both times when she was not moving around much and the sensations became very apparent to her.  When she was moving around she could ignore it, like at school, running around. Makes sense because at those times she was getting better blood flow to the areas. At rest the body cooled down and the sensation got worse. She did go on Neurontin/Gabapentin for awhile and it was hard to tell if it helped or if the GBS just ran its course out of her system.
She is 9 years old now with no residual problems but the pediatrician says she cannot have the current flu vaccine as it still has H1N1 in it again this season.  He thinks she will be okay for the whooping cough vaccine in 2 years.  He called the infectious disease specialists for me for that answer btw.
  Good luck and please let us know how he does.

  
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Avatar universal
Hi Hurricanefrances
I have become concerned now- my son had the flu immunisation 2 weeks who, and over the past 3 days has developed itchy toes and fingers- only in the evenings so far- really your post I am convinced I should take him to he doctors tomorrow- do you agree?
Thanks
J
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Avatar universal
My son had the same problem. He was finally diagnosed with a sensitivity to gluten. This was done by testing his blood (IgG and IgE) to multiple food and environmental triggers. He had a grade 3 response to anything that had gluten in it. We removed it from his diet and after 4 months he started to improve and symptoms completely resolved after 6 months.
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Avatar universal
I never reposted regarding my daughter's mysterious "itchy" feet. It turned out to be peripheral neuropathy- a painful burning tingling sensation that would come and go but got progressively worse over a couple weeks. She was not initially describing it as pain, as a 5 year old has limited medical vocabulary. It was determined to be a mild, sensory form of Guillain Barre Syndrome caused by the H1N1 Flumist she had received. GBS can cause paralysis if it progresses to the motor nerves. Her pain progressed to her hands and she did have difficultly holding utensils for awhile but we we fortunate not to progress to any paralysis. She can no longer take any seasonal flu vaccine as H1N1 is now in the regular seasonal flu vaccine. Her symptoms finally resolved.  It took 8 weeks for the extreme pain to go away but she would have some residual symptoms for almost 2 years, mostly when her feet would fall asleep. I don't actually think that the symptoms were returning but rather that sensation of pins and needles would cause her to panic and act as if the pain had returned. Once she knew that it was just her feet falling asleep and it was not going to progress to where she was with the GBS pain, then she relaxed and we don't have any more issues.
   So the next question is, can this happen again? Will it be worse? Do we dare have any more vaccinations? Fortunately we have several years before she is required to have whooping cough for Junior high school.
  BTW- she had no rash, no swelling or discoloration.
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2 Comments
Hello there,

I'm writing to you because i am desperate for help with my son's itchy feet, and your post described word for word what my son has been experiencing. How did they diagnose the GBS? And which doctor diagnosed? I have already been to our pediatrician, and he didn't see anything wrong, but he was just looking at the skin, which there is no rash or bumps. And did your child complain about it much during the day or mostly at night? Mine seems to be whenever he is not fully stimulated by something (like you mentioned in your post), and worst at night.
My 4 year old son has been inconsolable at night, screaming and crying about his feet and begging for help and relief. Any guidance you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely, fellow concerned mom
Hello,
Our 7-year-old daughter has been complaining about "itchy" toes for over two years now and has been through sleep studies, neurologists, and we still have no real answers. There are no skin rashes or other changes, and she's seen a podiatrist as well as our GP. Our working theory at the moment is something along the lines of Restless leg syndrome (even though the sleep study did not really support this).  It is definitely when she is not 100% stimulated, and is most noticeable at night, when she's trying to fall asleep.  We are supplementing her iron (I'd like to think it helps, but I'm not sure). Otherwise, massage really helps her fall asleep.
Please let me know if you have anything to add or suggest! It's so crazy, and I feel so bad for her. If I don't help her fall asleep, she'll still be awake and crying at 2am, rubbing her toes.
4530362 tn?1355969912
My 8 year old son also has had this problem.  We have been to see the doctor twice....the first time he said it was dermatitis something or other and gave us a steroid cream.  Two days later it got so bad my son said he wished they would just cut his toes off, so he didn't have to worry about it anymore. His toes get swollen and purpley :/  I took him back that night to a different doctor, who had no idea what it was.  I told her about the Chilblains thing and she looked it up on the internet right there and said that it did sound like that.  She took pictures and said she was going to talk to some other doctors about it.
   The next day she called me and said that she talked to the first doctor and that we should just keep using the steroid cream.  She also told me to maybe keep him inside for a while. That was two weeks ago.......It did get better, but last night it flared up again (he has been grounded, so it's not from being outside)....we are trying the cold water thing right now and he says that it is helping.  Thanks glennigogs for the advise .  
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Avatar universal
My daughter just started having the same itchy problems as all the other kids listed above. My daughter will be 5 this year. Here is my solution being doctors can not diagnose this disease properly. Two nights ago, my daughter woke up at 1 am crying and screaming she can't stop here feet from itching. I sprayed a medication for athlete's foot and coated it with benadryl gel and rubbed her head til she fell back to sleep. The next day I washed her feet in a highly diluted clorox (with water). The sodium carbonate in the bleach will kill the fungus growing if its athletes foot. At night I let her play in the tub while soaking in Aveeno soothing bath treatment. Then I coat her feet with some spray and gel before bed. I may give her a small dosage of benedryl liquid to help her sleep and will block antigens if it is allergy related, but contact pharmacist for dosing.Just to give you some comfort. This remedy has shown improvement already!!!
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Avatar universal
I have recently comed with the same problem my 6 year old. Complaints of itchy toes specially at night ,we always clean the floors almost every two days and keep everything else in the house neat and clean he wears he's shoes all the time and always socks @ home , he did get the vaccine but it has been over two or three years I'm starting to worry , hope someone has some info out there.
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Avatar universal
My son is 5 and has the same problem.  He has not had the shot. But I'm desperate, I've taken him to the doctor.  They have prescribed creams and anti fungal spray. Nothing helps.  I've asked for a blood test to determine if there is something there.  Hope I get answers and my son gets relief.
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Avatar universal
My son is 6 yrs old and we also are having the same problem. But he wears socks and tennis shoes everyday. Even when we are home he wears socks. So I have no idea what this could be. There is no rash ect. We have tried everything from Benadryl to Cortizone cream to a cold wash cloth. I even went to a pharmacist and asked her what she recommended and she said Athlete's foot cream and that still hasn't helped. He cries till 3 am.
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Avatar universal
I have had this same issue, severely itchy toes, primarily on one foot, and for no apparent reason.  I have found relief simply by wiping the itchy area with rubbing alcohol.  Within minutes the itching always stops.    
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Avatar universal
I have just started with chilblains again after many years.  Maybe you should look at this.  If your child doesn't like socks and her feet get icy cold it damages the vessels and when the feet warm up again it can be excruciating and itchy.  There's not always a rash, it can be anywhere on the feet and it is common on the ends of the toes, which will feel like they are so hot and itchy that they are going to explode.  Keep feet moisturised and get a cream from the pharmacy for when the itch is bad.  Don't let the feet get too cold that they go icy as it causes more damage, but I know from experience that cool feels good in the short term, if applied just so the itch goes down.  Maybe a cold cloth followed by  a dry cloth to pat dry and gently massage soothing creme with no perfumes.
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Avatar universal
I am desperately trying to find answers as well. My 8 year old son, for about a month, has cried at night because the itch between his toes and at the ends of his toes is so severe. There is no sign of a rash or bug bites. I do not know what to do. I think a doctor would say well there is no sign of any rash... what should we do. I do not want to pay money for nothing, but I need to help relieve his pain. It is not pain, just itch. But it is pain when they cry about it and we can not help ease it! Can anyone help??? FYI: We didn't have the vaccine
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Avatar universal
My daughter also loves running around barefoot (born and raised in Hawaii for 2 years but now we're back on the mainland).  She has recently been complaining of itchy feet at night and telling me that it hurts.  No visible rash, athletes foot, cracks or anything to give me an indication of what the problem could be.  She doesn't care for socks and I recently assumed it was because her feet would sweat and it was uncomfortable for her so I didn't push it too much unless we were out and about.
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Avatar universal
Hi, my daughter has the same symptoms and she didn't get the vaccine. So I am writing this to hopefully set your mind at ease. I don't know what the problem is, if you find out please let me know. :)

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