Brachioradial pruritus. (severe itching on forearms and neck, no rash).

Posted by Patrick Cotter @patrickcotter, Mar 19, 2012

Does anyone know of this. I think its rare but does exist. My neurologist does not know about this. I have compression between my c5 and c6 cervical disk and have had alot of sun damage to my skin.

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@amandaa

Hi @karynhorsy and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I am glad you can relieve it with ice, but how awful to itch constantly.
You will see that I moved your post to an ongoing discussion with over 50 pages of members talking about Brachioradial pruritus. I did this so you can connect with others who have it and have suffered like @anne12, @help22, and @dave8284

Have your doctors checked for Spinal problems that compress nerves affecting the arms that can lead to brachioradial pruritus?

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I agree but my doctor (neurologist) does believe this is a valid disease. I think he believes its psychosomatic. So, he won't look into anything regarding the spine.

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@dave8284

I agree but my doctor (neurologist) does believe this is a valid disease. I think he believes its psychosomatic. So, he won't look into anything regarding the spine.

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@dave8284 Have you considered getting a second opinion? You know your body better than anyone else. If I had physical symptoms and a physician was telling me it was all in my head... I would be interested in talking to another physician.

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@amandaa

Hi @karynhorsy and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I am glad you can relieve it with ice, but how awful to itch constantly.
You will see that I moved your post to an ongoing discussion with over 50 pages of members talking about Brachioradial pruritus. I did this so you can connect with others who have it and have suffered like @anne12, @help22, and @dave8284

Have your doctors checked for Spinal problems that compress nerves affecting the arms that can lead to brachioradial pruritus?

Jump to this post

Hi I have just been diagnosed with BRP... 😭 it has been agonizing,frustrating, itching driving me to the point of insanity!
Just starting to try different treatments. Please refer me to the mentioned group 🙏

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Hi all, I have a similar itch condition, arms and legs, no rash...on a FB Group for this condition, someone discovered that their pre-workout supplement killed the itch...she isolated it to Beta Alanine, an OTC amino acid. It kills the itch for about 90% of us on this FB Group...I buy mine on Amazon. I use the NOW Brand...but any brand that says CarnoSyn Beta Alanine in the supplement Facts section is what to look for. I take 750 MG to prevent itch, up to 1500 mg to kill a bad itch. Maybe it will work for this condition too...There is one medical paper written be a pair of Stanford Dermatologist who tried it on a patient, it worked. The NIH now lists it as a treatment for itch relief. My codition is Aquagenic Pruritus...I also has itch associated with Mastosytosis,,,Beta Alanine works for both.

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@david33

Hi everyone,
My therapist and doctors believe it's stess related and mine sometines comes out as a rash and now it hits everywhere; legs, arms and belly. The doctor gave me itching cream which does help (only use for two weeks and stop, he calls the rash chiggers....lol) after that a month later the itching starts again and not long after the rash comes. This is very nerving and only me and my daughter has this condition, my husband and friend doesn't. Any clue could help.

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I can’t tell you how many times I was told the same thing. I am sorry you are going through this. Now that I have finally been diagnosed I am trying to get treatment. Good luck to you.

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Is there an MD at Mayo-Rochester that specializes in this condition? If so, what is his/her name? Thank you.

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@screamingmeanie

I’m glad that you have found something that is giving you some relief.. that’s what we all want!

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I’m looking into the NUCCA.org, Neurological Upper Cervical Association. A gentle no shots and no cracking the spine chiropractor solution. I’ll report as I find out more details.

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My maternal grandfather and mother had it. All my siblings and I have it. For me, it disappeared a few years ago, but the scars (physical and mental) remain. I somehow recall finding postural PT for cervical spine impingement may have helped.

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@frjohn

My maternal grandfather and mother had it. All my siblings and I have it. For me, it disappeared a few years ago, but the scars (physical and mental) remain. I somehow recall finding postural PT for cervical spine impingement may have helped.

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Did you ever try gabapentin? What cream or ointment helped?

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It has been a long time but I recall my dermatologist not quite buying it. He gave me the name which, translated from Latin to English means itchy elbow, which also shows how primitive dermatology still is in the world of medicine, but he didn't prescribe anything to my knowledge. I ended up using some sort of horse liniment which I can't recall. It helped but I think it was toxic. At the time I was so miserable that toxic sounded fine to me haha. Technically, any diagnosis that simply describes the symptoms and not the causes constitutes a syndrome, not a disease. If the cause, mechanism or abnormality is known it becomes a disease. For example, acquired immune deficiency syndrome simply described the problem. Once the virus was identified the name changed to HIV. I'm currently struggling with Grover's disease. Before Dr Grover came along, it was simply an itchy back rash. He identified the cellular abnormality which allows it to be definitively diagnosed. So it's now Grover's disease, even though they don't know what causes it. In this case science doesn't know anything more than the symptoms of an itchy elbow. Because of my family history with it I am confident there is a genetic component. Some dermatologists, a Miami contingent, believe it is associated with sun damage. They think that by keeping your elbow off of the driver's side window you can avoid it. I think that's bs. But there is a study showing more cases among drivers in miami. Obviously this was before air conditioning cuz who puts their arm out the window in Miami if they can use air conditioning in their car on a hot summer day?

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