People ask me all the time if there’s a cure for dermatographia. Unfortunately it’s not such an easy answer. Everyone’s triggers and causes are so different that what reduces one person’s itchiness might do nothing for another.  This makes it super hard to know what to tell people who ask me how to lessen the severity of their dermatographia.

I have to say, if you’re looking for an easy answer regarding how to cure your condition and get rid of your dermatographia forever, then you don’t even have to read the rest of this article, because you’re not going to find that answer here (or anywhere for that matter because it just doesn’t exist).

As most of my readers know, it’s taken me years to figure out the best ways to take care of my skin.  By making sure to stay healthy and using all-natural products I’ve greatly reduced the severity of my condition.  Now I still get itchy skin, but it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be.  Also, by paying attention to my body and how I react to certain food/drink/supplements/medication, I’ve learned the best ways to treat myself.  If I had just tried to find an easy cure for my dermatographia, fighting it every step of the way, then I would never have learned so much about how to take care of myself.

Another thing I am going to try (once I find the time to properly devote to it) is an elimination diet.  There’s a reason I haven’t done this sooner… it’s not easy!  You basically have to eat a very limited amount of foods for a few weeks to cleanse your system, and then gradually add certain foods back into your diet to see which ones cause a reaction.  Many people have found that when they cut out eggs, for instance, it makes them (and their skin) feel a whole lot better.  For example, I have a friend whose psoriasis went away after he stopped eating eggs.

I suggest that if you have severe itchiness and swelling caused by dermatographia or other skin conditions, you give the elimination diet a shot and see what happens–especially those of you that have tried any number of other things and are sick of the itch.  Just google ‘elimination diet’ and find the guide that works for you.  They’re all a little different but all arrive at the same conclusion: there are some foods that are making you sick, and it’s a subtle thing that we can only detect with this kind of 1-2 month long experiment.

Picture it like this: if everyday you were ingesting a tiny, tiny bit of rat poison, eventually it would build up in your system and make you feel like total crap.  It would also weaken your immunity, so you’d become more and more sensitive to any other toxins in your environment.  Well, for some people foods like gluten, eggs, and dairy (to name a few) are the equivalent of ingesting a tiny bit of rat poison everyday.  At first it doesn’t seem to do much.  But over time your system gets weaker and can’t properly digest/eliminate the irritants.  The effect is cumulative–a little inflammation here causes something weird to happen over there, and before you know it your skin itches all the time.  If you can figure out what’s poisoning you and remove it from your diet, then your system can heal and be better equipped at dealing with the histamine and other compounds that wreak havoc on your sensitive little body.

It makes perfect sense when you think about it, doesn’t it?

I hope you decide to try this, and good luck if you do!  I made the image above with cookie cutters of a horseshoe and four leaf clover–two well known good luck charms.  Since the science surrounding skin conditions and food sensitivities is left up to us to experiment with, I feel like we all good use some good luck ; )  Also, dermatographia has become a sort of good luck charm for me over the years.  It’s taught me so much about my health and well-being, and it’s inspired me to make art and start this blog.  Now that I have the condition under control, it’s just the right amount to have fun with, cuz I can still do skin drawings, but it’s not so severe that I’m constantly uncomfortable.

Please be sure to write in the comments and let us know what you discover while doing these tests!