Brachioradial Pruritus

I am in FL as well (Palm Coast, north FL south of Jacksonville). I have been w/o occurrence for almost 2 years (heaven) Unfortunately, it has returned worse than ever. The only thing that worked for me is a prescription doxepin cream (I believe it is an antidepressant cream base that penetrates to nerves). My insurance does not pay. I have had injections, all OTC topicals, PT, acupuncture, etc. this is the only thing that seems to work. I am a Mayo patient. Thinking of going back to my pain mgmt doc at Mayo to see if anything is new. I feel mine is definitely related to the stenosis in my neck. I would be Interested in any clinical trial

Has anyone found any relief from benadryll?

I was dealing with Brachioradia Pruritus for months, and my primary doctor gave me Hydroxyzine HCL to help with the itching, but the only thing it did was put me to sleep. But I'm also dealing with Spinal stenosis of lumbar region with neurogenic claudication, along with rotator cuff arthropathy of the left shoulder and impingement syndrome of right shoulder. I had to address the rotator cuff arthropathy with an Epidural injection. I read somewhere that a nerve that runs down the "Left" arm can cause this condition, so I was hoping the epidural injection that I received in my Left "Shoulder" would help. I addressed this with the PA that was giving me the shot, but she has never heard of this condition. WELL IT WORKED, as soon as I received the shot in my LEFT SHOULDER, my skin changed texture (felt like a sun rash) and the itching came back bad for about 30 minutes, and then the Itching STOPPED COMPLETELY. It has been over a year and I still have not had a problem with Brachioradial Pruritus. I have had injections in both my neck and my back, but I don't think that they could have helped with this issue, so if this problem comes back, I plan to go back and get the injection again on or in the "LEFT" SHOULDER SIDE.

I had the same symptoms, and could only sleep as long as the ice packs lasted. Since my forearms were so hot, the packs only lasted a short while. It felt as if my arm bones itched. Life very quickly became dominated by efforts to get relief in order to continue taking care of myself and my home. My husband also participated in the misery as he attempted to help. I was diagnosed with brachiaradial pruritis and told to protect my arms from all sunlight. Was also prescribed capsacin. Nothing worked very well to end the itch so I was placed on gabapentin. Magic. I was placed on 300mg x3 a day. I soon changed to 400 mg twice a day. I use uv protection fishing shirts in very large sizes when I spend time in my yard. These shirts help keep me cool also since getting hot and sweaty makes the itch return. 90 spf sunscreen is great too. Since I have had no return of symptoms for a couple of years I would like to make a change. My goal now is to reduce the gabapentin until the itch returns to find my lowest dose needed. Good luck to everyone with this dreadful affliction. The good news is that these remedies are easy to obtain and quick to help.

I have had this same forearm itching since the 1990's. I used all the creams and freezing ointments that were available. In 2019 I accidentally discovered a relief to my Brachioradial pruritus condition. Since that time I have created a simple exercise, a stretch really, that has completely stopped my itching. I have to do it daily for about 2 minutes and it keeps the itching away ever since. And if I happen to feel any itching coming on I immediately use the stretch to make it go away.
I would love to share my exercise (stretch) but I'm not sure if I'm aloud to. I read the terms and I'm just not sure if sharing would trigger my getting ejected. Can any of the moderators tell me?

@restisaweapon, you can share your stretching exercise, providing it is not linked to a commercial venture 🙂 Thanks for asking first.

If you're still unsure, write to me using this form https://connect.mayoclinic.org/contact-a-community-moderator/

Thank you @colleenyoung

The accidental discovery happened when I was using an inversion table for traction. I have occasional sciatica from a lumbar disc issue decades ago. When I get some foot pain caused by the sciatica I use the table for some traction relief. Coincidentally I was also suffering with a bout of forearm itching when I got on the table. When I finished the 15 minute session. The foot pain was almost gone but so was the arm itching. I realized they were similar issues and within a couple of days developed a simple neck traction exercise. So I added it to a daily morning stretching routine and the itching has stayed away ever since. If I occasionally feel itching coming the traction exercise takes my itching away in minutes.

The exercise is simple: While standing, I take my shoulders and roll them back and hold them down. Then I lift my head off the shoulders using my neck muscles. I hold that position and count to 30 slowly. Then I do my usual stretch of touching my toes for the same 30 seconds. I return to my first stretch of shoulders back and down while lifting my head off my shoulders and holding for 30 more seconds. I repeat this series 3 times.
Since starting this stretch a couple of years ago I've increase my stretch times to 60 seconds from 30 seconds.

This stretch has helped me but I sure there are levels of the Brachioradial pruritus condition. I hope this helps some of you.

That's a good stretch, period. I just did it and felt the benefits immediately. So helpful after staring at the computer screen for too long today. Thank you.

Great!!! I’m glad it has helped. So what I found was doing the stretch every morning 3 times (60 seconds each stretch). Has kept my condition away completely. In the beginning I would miss a few days and feel the itch coming. But doing the stretches immediately took it away within minutes. So I settled in to keeping it up everyday.
Hope you have the same successes!

Suffered on my upper arms and slept with ice packs for 4 yrs. While the Derm Dr tried all sorts of creams. Mentioned it to my Neuro. He said try the capsaicin. It worked after a few hot burning applications. I believe it is medication side effect combined with chlorine and sun reaction. Sometimes get a little spark around forearm elbow and just put on the capsaicin rollon and it stops it.