itch

[havinmysay]

why do we itch? i dont mean anythin medical just in general

and how long can u have an itch for without scratching it?

[RATTER15]

We scratch an itch, simply because the scratching causes a minor pain that diverts the brain from the itch, thus not feeling the itch anymore!!!

[sarnieken]

An itch is a stimuli on the nerve endings under your skin, the same ones that send pain signals to the brain.

As soon as we feel an itch, our first natural response is to scratch the spot of the itch with our fingernails. The reason for this response is simple -- we want to remove the irritant as soon as possible. Once you've scratched the area of irritation, you are likely to feel some relief. When your brain realizes that you've scratched away the irritant, the signal being sent to your brain that you have an itch is interrupted and therefore no longer recognized by the brain.

Even if you don't remove the irritant, scratching will at least cause pain and divert your attention away from the itching. The irritant that caused the itching is very small, maybe only a few microns in length, so it disturbs only a few nerve endings. When you use your fingernail to scratch the spot where the irritant is, you not only remove the irritant but you irritate a lot more nerve endings than the irritant.

[wolf63]

Some itches are psychological. Once you are convinced you have an itch it will drive you nuts until you scratch it.

[freak_unique]

Yeah i believe what wolf says... sometimes ive been itching and scratched it... then really thought about itching and if you think about itching in a certain place of your body you can guarantee you will feel itching there and not be satisfied until you have scratched it!

[RATTER15]

I usually get people itching when I talk about some of the flea jobs I had to deal with, when there were literally thousands of fleas forming masses on my legs and working their way up!!