Techniques for Skin Sensitivity?

[GhostlyMarie]

I am wondering if anyone might have advice or techniques to try for symptoms such as skin sensitivity and itching? I have dealt with pelvic floor itch in the pudendal nerve zone for a little over a year now. I have been diagnosed with a bunch of garbage diagnoses like pelvic floor dysfunction, pudendal neuralgia and vulvodynia but have healed various symptoms over time using mind-body techniques. There are no visible identifiers of a skin condition and unfortunately the symptom has spread from one or two localized areas to it jumps around and kind of does this "whack-a-mole" thing lol one spot will itch, then it will jump to a different spot and so on. I also get itchy when clothing rubs on my skin down there, when it's warm out, and when I moving around; I've basically developed sensitive skin in the pelvic floor area. TMI, but its like if the hair down there rubs on anything, my skin gets angry and becomes itchy but there is no visible signs of rash or anything. But even THAT jumps around: the hair irritates one area then that area stops being annoyed and another begins! It's so weird! I'll be walking on the treadmill at the gym and just feeling this happen as I move. I know it is TMS because a majority of the time I feel normal and the symptoms come and go with no defining cause. Aside from when I am stressed.

I have tried PRT and Somatic Tracking/Meditation but I find the itching is difficult to track as the more focus I put on it, the more intense it becomes. I don't remember that happening when I had burning pf pain, if anything, it would go away altogether if I tried to focus on it with a sense of curiosity. Like, the symptoms would run away when I wanted to observe them and I’d be bummed because I was genuinely curious and just wanted to see what they were up to. I was seeing Dr. Les Aria for my other TMS issues and they have resolved but this last symptom is holding on pretty tight.

The itching is quite distressing when it happens. If you look at old posts you can see I had become quite fearful and desperate for this symptom to resolve. However, I have been working on losing my fear of the itching and so far so good but it still pops up from time to time randomly and typically gets worse before and during my period. I do get the same pinchy, itchy, being bitten by a bug sensation not only in my pelvic area but in other random spots too (like my scalp or my feet, then my fingers, etc) but I pay more attention to it when it's happening in my vulvar/rectal areas. Having pelvic health issues has caused me a lot of shame, guilt and trauma so I am not surprised that my subconscious brain is hyper focused on that area.

Does anyone have any somatic techniques, resources I might try to incorporate into my healing arsenal? I feel like I need some different perspectives as I might be too deep into the forest to see the trees at the moment. Even personal stories would be helpful!

 

[Cactusflower]

The idea of somatic tracking is not to have symptoms, it’s not to stop or even “treat” symptoms… it’s to create messages of safety so that your brain doesn’t freak out and feel anxious when you have the sensations. “Itch all you want! Go wild! I’m just gonna sit here and breathe and still my mind… that’s the entire exercise in a nutshell.
If that is really challenging, try some of Dan’s techniques for messages of safety. You need to train your brain from thinking that itching is “wrong” to practicing that itching is just the sensation of itching. You’ll have to learn to try not to judge it, and this can take time.If you get frustrated about it, it is doing its job. If you can’t focus on anything else.. it’s doing its job.
Start engaging in things that are highly distracting for you. Your favorite hobbies, and things you love. Become immersed in them.. let those become the focus of your attention.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dan+buglio+messages+of+safety