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by mabub24 1536 days ago
Are they allergic to water, or what's in the water?

Actually, scratch that. Before that --- are they allergic or psychosomatically allergic to it?

2 comments

It’s called aquagenic pruritus.

It’s not an actual allergy, more like a water-induced itching, and yeah everyone you talk to assumes it’s psychosomatic, which kinda sucks.

Lol. Most humans assume everything that doesn't have a common, socially-accepted explanation is psychosomatic.

If you have any chronic condition that affects your ability to function(surprise, most of them do), 80% of people out there will just cheerfully gaslight and abuse you without batting an eye.

It's "immune mediated", meaning that there is indeed a response by the immune system. Unsurprisingly, histamines and other inflammatory markers are detected. Sometimes anti-inflammatories can help.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquagenic_pruritus

You’re absolutely correct, my friend.
I very rarely get itchy after taking a shower. It seems to be related to the level of humidity in the air wherever I am, and also time of day. It's very weird, and I can't imagine how annoying it would be to have that happen every single time you encounter water.
Yep, that's aquagenic pruritis.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160915-the-woman-who-is...

It's not psychosomatic. But they aren't really sure what causes it.