Ohhh yes, I have to jump in here! (thanks Joe, for that yard waste bags thread LOL) SPANK that itch! LOL Okay, I'm laughing, but I'm serious. Being the tactile creature that I am, I used to have the nasty habit of scratching itches (poison oak or ivy rash, skeeter bites, wounds healed to that almost completely healed point but scab not quite ready to come off itch-at-the-edges stage, simple dry skin, whatever... you get the idea) to the point - without conscious awareness, particularly bad on auto-pilot in my sleep - of scratching things into a laceration. I had to re-train myself to spank/slap itchies or to use a cotton, well-textured cloth. I've tried all of the OTC and no small amount of Rx stuff for PI/PO... and by far, in order of what I tried OTC through the years and all effective for me, these have been the best: bleach water solution (1 part bleach, 9-10 parts H2O - same principle as what follows below) Rubbing Alcohol - used gleefully on a terrycloth washcloth that was otherwise clean/dry, rubbing it on - be sure to wash with an oil-"attacking" detergent such as Dawn with hot water and not re-use without washing. 7% Iodine Solution - Oh yes yes yes yes! Be careful though, you can usually get this some place that sells vet/livestock supplies like the co-op BUT, you will know the difference with this compared to OTC people-pharmacy iodine, you open the bottle and the fumes can make your eyes burn/water... stout/potent, but very effective. Ethyl Alcohol - oh yea baby... move over regular rubbing alcohol, this was so much better. Germ-X - and this one is more recent and sheer fluke. I canNOT stand how my hands feel when I have been in public anywhere, especially after touching things that who knows how many other people and things have come into contact with, my hands just feel NASTY - but keeping soap and water in my vehicle became a PITA because bottles got left not sealed/closed tightly, water leaked out, etc. so I tried this stuff and "fell in love" - main ingredient: ethyl alcohol, with a carrier, moisturizer, - and fragrance if you like. The primary factors with my preferred "products" are that they have some impact on drying the PI/PO oils along with one's own body oils and subsequently removing it from the area, and with "victimized"/irritated skin/tissue, these things "burn" and that sates the general urge to scratch. I've had PI/PO on my face and near my eyes before, the only one of those that I will NOT use on my face/near my eyes is the Iodine. My son that has become so sensitive, he has had really good results with a mixture of essential oils that "Grandma" mixed up for him because he keeps getting into the stuff (climbing trees, out in the woods, being a boy, ya know?) If anyone else is "into" essential oils for treatment, let me know and I'll send or post the exact EOs to mix/use and at what ratio and "dosage" (topical) Iva/y-rest, etc. have never been of any use/relief for me personally. I have also not had any noteworthy relief or countering from steroids, taken internally or applied topically. Cortisone creams help for bug bites for me but rarely PI/PO irritation. Aside from 1) attempting to avoid the stuff 2) secondary offense being washing with soap and water if there is/was a chance I was exposed [this usually happens too late for me for bad outbreaks because I'm out working, sweating, and sweat just passes the oils right along and unthought of and usually spread hours before I quit work for the day and get to the shower] and 3) the above list of OTC stuff when #1 and #2 have not prevented an "outbreak". The bleach water solution I *personally* mix stronger than that but that above is how the "recipe" was given to me. I have used straight bleach on the stuff before. But YMMV and everyone has different skin types and sensitivities. The bleach water solution, at the 1:9 and 1:10 ratio though is pretty effective for skeeter bites. All of you who are sensitive to PI/PO - you have my empathy!!!!

Coolmama, I think you should be tested for VonWillebrand's disease. This is a blood clotting deficiency that is usually, buy not always, genetic. The fact that you have other relatives with easy bruising would point to this. I was diagnosed with this at 45 and no one else in my family has it. I have a history of heavy periods, easy bruising, and excessive bleeding with surgery or minor cuts. There are MANY medicines and herbal supplements I can't take because they thin the blood and cause bleeding in me. I take birth control pills because they help increase the clotting factor of the blood. Please ask your doctor about this. Mine wasn't discovered by the surgeons who stated I had excessive bleeding during surgery, but by a concerned nurse. Ask to be tested!

Naughty poster I am, life got busy and I was never able to follow up on this... The pots with grit are indeed a pure 50:50 grit:clay mix, essentially the famed "Gritty Mix" sans bark. Other mediums are a hodge podge; some are in fresh potting mix, others in old used potting mix, fine mix, chunky bark mix, or aquarium rocks occasionally flushed with water, clay sans grit, garden soil, etc. Watering for most is via the bottom, a few minutes in a tray of aged water, then set on a grate to drain; monthly-ish or whenever the leaves start to look thin; medium at that point is nearly bone dry. No standing water; the ones in a soiless medium are flushed with water. Yes there are cats, but I've intentionally kept a group of the aloe pots out of reach to rule that out as a cause, and the spots continue to develop... So unless they're three-month delayed bruises? I've now separated the ones with spots from the ones without, as a precaution, in case is it caused by some sort of communicable pathogen, and am being extra stingy on the watering. Nothing I can find online seems similar... The closest is "rust" but I don't have the red color or open wound lesions. I'm stumped.

The only time my dog gets these is if I try to change her dog food or I change to a new treat. I'm going to guess and say that it's food allergy related. Just as an instance of how my dog reacts, here is her latest food allergy story; I bought a bag of Chicken Soup For the Dog's Soul treats. I gave her a couple a day, they are very small little heart shaped treats that you can break in half, about as big around as a quarter. She was doing well on them so I got kind of carried away and started giving her about 6 a day and noticed that she began to scratch and gnaw and she had "pimples" on her chin. I knew right away it had to be those because there was nothing else new. I stopped giving them and immediately all her scratching and pimples went away. She is very allergic to rice, the treat did not have rice but it has barley, I'm just guessing that the barley or maybe the oatmeal is her issue in this treat.