babyblog

Brachioradial Pruritis

The chronic condition that I have that makes my arm itch 24 hours a day is called Brachioradial Pruritis (or Brachioradial Pruritus).

It started around 4 years ago and it itches from just below my elbow on the top/inner of my arm and extends up to just below the shoulder. In the last few months it's also started itching on the top of my shoulder.

For 4 years I saw various Doctors and Dermatologists who told me it was 'Neuro Dermatitis'.... although the symptoms did not quite fit that, because I didn't have any of the 'changed skin' signs common to that condition. They prescribed me various creams, anti histamine creams, cortizone creams, lamisil, steroid creams, you name it. At one point I was also prescribed a very strong anti histamine to help me sleep - the common theory that all of these Doctors suggested was that if I could break the itch/scratch cycle it would go away. It never did.

I have on occasion gone a month, two, even three, without scratching it. Not because it hasn't itched, but because it hasn't itched unbearably, and because my willpower has had to become unbelieavably strong. If I do scratch it, it gets much much worse. The second I scratch, I get some 5 seconds of blissful relief that I'm doing it, followed by an immediate increase in the intensity of the itch which will last for days, weeks. When I do scratch it, the itch feels deeper than I can get to to relieve it. It's further down in my arm than the surface. It prickles, it burns, it itches.

Temperature changes aggravate the itch. I find the best solution is to wear long cotton sleeves all of the time (including at bed time). If I stand in a breeze with my arm exposed, if I stand unwittingly under an air conditioning vent, if I so much as put my arm outside of the bed covers at night, the itch is aggravated.

If the skin dries out, the itch is aggravated. I need to keep my arm very well moisturised at all times. The longest period I've gone without it being unbearable is around 2 months when I slathered it in Lubriderm cream several times per day. Vaseline is another solution if it gets really bad. These seem to add a protective layer to the skin which protect it from the elements.... so that anything touching it or blowing on it is less effective and doesn't aggravate it so much. But then if the day ends in a Y or the wind changes, sometimes they aggravate it as to make it worse!

I finally saw a Neurologist who diagnosed it as this nerve problem.. the nerve endings are damaged and causing the itch. That is why no creams work. He says that the best solution is a pill called Gabapentin / Neurontin. Unfortunately, being pregnant, I can't take it at the moment and the itch is worse than it's ever been. Last night I was in tears it was so bad. The only thing I could do was put an ice pack on it and freeze the pain away (which is a very temporary solution as it gets worse when it wears off). It has become so bad it wakes me at night (it seems worse in the evenings and at night), it itches ALL of the time, it is unescapable and unavoidable and I want to chop off my arm.

The reason I'm writing this? I came across for the first time, a blog where someone had mentioned an itch unrelated to this and some 700+ people had responded in comments because they suffer the itch that I have and were so delighted to find each other. Some people had pointed to a surve that they'd created at http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225VX8PDVAV and their hope is that information gathered will help a medical practitioner successfully diagnose and cure the problem.

I hope that this post will invite people with this problem to comment too and maybe between us we can find & share the best cure.