Nine months ago I started being woken up in the middle of the night with itching in the inside of my left elbow. It felt like a bad case of poison ivy, but there was no rash. I first went to a dermatologist and tried creams but they did nothing. He couldn't find anything related to a skin problem, and sent me to a nuerologist. After doing an MRI and all the reflex tests, we tried Lyrica. I did nothing. By now, the itching has moved to the right arm and sometimes both, but still only at night. We moved onto Amytriptyline and it worked slightly at 10mg. It was upped to 25mg in early Feb. I went on vacation in early March and had no symptoms (no stress when you are on a cruise:)
We gradually dropped it down to 10mg. I guess I should also give you background: I am a single parent with a 16 yr. old son. My wife passed away from BC in April of '03. I took care of her the last year. Ages 12 -16 has certainly had its ups and downs. I don't remember being given a guide to adolescents. The nuerologist thinks that the itching could be my body's way of releasing stress. Yes, there has been stress in my life, but every parent has to go through some of this with adolescents. Early July I had to send my son to summer school to make up a course and have a respect reality check. It was a military school summer program. Not as serious as the regular school year. My dose was upped to 50mg. I got away on vacation while he was gone and the itching continued worse during the day and I upped it to 75mg. I don't like having to take drugs. They don't make me feel high or anything. And that is good, as I am an alchoholic - clean 8 years. I have tried massages which alleviates it while I'm there. Acupunture didn't do anything. Should I try hypnosis?? Could this be the early symptoms of something else like MS? The neurologist doesn't know for sure and admits he's guessing. I just can't see continually upping the meds. What do you think?