Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Phantom Itch

Do you ever feel itchy because you are thinking about itching, or bugs crawling on you or something else like that?

I do. I have noticed that if I have an itch, and I scratch it, all of a sudden, I am now itchy somewhere else, and somewhere else. I have to make a conscious decision to stop scratching and distract myself and move on.

Now scientists are trying to explain this. The following article has a few possible explanations for phantom itching. I think I side with Giesler.


"the threshold for sensation of itch is lowered by thinking about it."
Amen Glen.

Now, I'm feeling itchy.

2 comments:

Shannon said...

Dang you Eric! While reading your post I had (I am not kidding) 3 itchy spots!

Linda G. Paulsen said...

My head is itching. Oops, there goes my leg....and let me tell you about the motel in Ohio that made it difficult to get to sleep...