Itching, scratching, squirming
In Dante’s Inferno falsifiers are condemned to itch for all eternity. Illustration by Gustave Doré.
Read the case of the woman who scratched an itch through her scalp all the way to her brain by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker. Thank you Boing Boing.
Itching is a most peculiar and diabolical sensation. The definition offered by the German physician Samuel Hafenreffer in 1660 has yet to be improved upon: An unpleasant sensation that provokes the desire to scratch. Itch has been ranked, by scientific and artistic observers alike, among the most distressing physical sensations one can experience. In Dante’s Inferno, falsifiers were punished by “the burning rage / of fierce itching that nothing could relieve”:
The way their nails scraped down upon the scabs
Was like a knife scraping off scales from carp. . . .
“O you there tearing at your mail of scabs
And even turning your fingers into pincers,”
My guide began addressing one of them,
“Tell us are there Italians among the souls
Down in this hole and I’ll pray that your nails
Will last you in this task eternally.”
Though scratching can provide momentary relief, it often makes the itching worse. Dermatologists call this the itch-scratch cycle. Scientists believe that itch, and the accompanying scratch reflex, evolved in order to protect us from insects and clinging plant toxins—from such dangers as malaria, yellow fever, and dengue, transmitted by mosquitoes; from tularemia, river blindness, and sleeping sickness, transmitted by flies; from typhus-bearing lice, plague-bearing fleas, and poisonous spiders. The theory goes a long way toward explaining why itch is so exquisitely tuned. You can spend all day without noticing the feel of your shirt collar on your neck, and yet a single stray thread poking out, or a louse’s fine legs brushing by, can set you scratching furiously…
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 8th, 2011 at 14:01
I had the worst allergy ever, red tiny itchy bumps on my legs. went to the derma & she said it was idiopathic urticaria.
i was literally scratching myself like a dog.it was my 1st time to xperience something like it & i didnt know what to do.
derma gave me a lotion which she said i should apply to the skin when it itches.
then she said to have my teeth checked as there may be a connection with a rotten tooth & my allergy. she also said that dentists may not agree or believe if i tell them this, but just have it checked anyway.
so i did. the dentist saw a rotten tooth which only became visible thru a tooth xray. had the tooth cleaned out and she placed a filling inside the tooth.
voila! the next day, the allergy went away. literally. i told the dentist this when i returned & dentist said, “baka coincidence lang”. also told the incident to 3 other dentists & they said the same thing, “baka coincidence lang.”
eventually, i finallly figured out the root of me having an allergy & all the other pains & aches i was feeling – e.g. the low blood count, chronic fatigue specially in the afternoon, being overweight – it was the stress i xperienced from my then bf who has been lying to me the whole time during the relationship. i didnt know & had no idea he was lying but my body did. the left part of my body was heavy – my left foott, my neck, the left part of my head, my left knee, my arm, my back -
when i cried all the pain away – i cried literally my gut & heart out & my cry was deep & guttural. & when i did, the left part of my body felt LIGHT!!! & the pain went away, as well as my TMJ.
go figure.
August 8th, 2011 at 14:03
my TMJ disorder i meant.
August 8th, 2011 at 14:21
Was scratching while reading the entire article. Amazing read! Thanks Ms. JZ!
August 8th, 2011 at 15:25
cheezmiss: Ayyy! The body knows. Millions of years of evolution have honed our systems. It’s like first impressions: Always listen to them.
August 8th, 2011 at 16:22
I cannot read these things without feeling like I might succumb to them as well. Terrifying.
August 8th, 2011 at 19:08
msjessicazafra — speaking of FIRST IMPRESSIONS, my 1st impression of my ex bf was — i remember it clearly when i said to myself — “gigolo”
but alas, I dismissed it, rationalized it away because — i had no proof, i havent even spoken with the guy & here i was judging him. & later on when we met, he was saying the right things & doing the right things.
yun pala, my first impression was spot on.
.
August 8th, 2011 at 19:35
msjessicazafra — sorry, he was not a male prostitute as accdg to the google definition of gigolo — but in the later part of the relationship, he was having a relationship w/ someone else whilst still w/ me – all for supply (emotional, physical etc.)