Articles: itch.
-
Research on placebo responses has made major progress in recent years. Placebo responses are psychobiological events, which are created by the entire therapeutic context. They can appear at any time, not only in experimental and clinical settings. ⋯ The current state of research suggests that placebo responses could be used in clinical contexts and should not be viewed as being in competition with medications but as an additive increase in efficacy of a pharmacological substance through specifically induced placebo responses. This targeted use is also possible within ethical guidelines. Important prerequisites are that the research results can be transferred from healthy participants to patients and that the placebo responses are reproducible.
-
J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. · Sep 2016
ReviewGabapentin and pregabalin for the treatment of chronic pruritus.
Chronic pruritus is a distressing symptom that is often refractory to treatment. Patients frequently fail topical therapies and oral over-the-counter antihistamines, prompting the clinician to consider alternative therapies such as neuroactive agents. ⋯ The findings from original sources published to date to evaluate the use of gabapentin and pregabalin as antipruritic agents are explored. They are found to be promising alternative treatments for the relief of several forms of chronic pruritus, particularly uremic pruritus and neuropathic or neurogenic itch, in patients who fail conservative therapies.
-
J Pain Symptom Manage · Jul 2016
The Impact of Pain and Itch on Functioning and Health-Related Quality of Life in Systemic Sclerosis: An Exploratory Study.
Pain and itch are common symptoms reported by patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc; scleroderma), which can markedly diminish function and health-related quality of life (HRQL). ⋯ Both pain and itch appear to have a detrimental impact on functioning and HRQL in patients with SSc, suggesting that more targeted approaches to symptom management are warranted.
-
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health and self-reported itch in patients with burns across a 6 month time period and to test the hypothesis that poorer mental health outcomes are associated with increased severity of itch. ⋯ These findings suggest there is a relationship between mental health and itch. Given the powerful impact itch can have on an individual's wellbeing health professionals can begin to further investigate itch from a bio-psychosocial perspective. Further research to investigate causal relationships between mental health and itch is important.
-
Itch (pruritus) is a common multidimensional complaint after burn that can persist for months to years. A questionnaire able to investigate itch and its consequences is imperative for clinical and research purposes. The current study investigated the factor structure, internal consistency and construct validity of the Burns Itch Questionnaire (BIQ), a questionnaire particularly focusing on itch in the burns population. ⋯ This was re-evaluated in a confirmatory factor analysis that yielded good fit indices after removing two items. The three subscales showed to have high internal consistency (.89) and were able to distinguish between patients with severe and less severe complaints. In conclusion, the BIQ showed to be useful in persons suffering from itch following burns.