@njcarolnjn and @david33 I am convinced to two things with the stuff you struggle with. First, the only relationship to stress comes when this takes over your lives and your emotions and everything else. Second, the core of the disorder is inside your sensori-motor nerves, especially down your spines. It is not on or in your skin. It will break down your nerves, especially from your brain to your heart or lungs or pancreas if it is not stopped. Whether it is the same stuff I have I don't know, but I have a couple suggestions. They rely on you taking control of your nerves. In other words, start by doing various motions such as stretching and bending and lifting small stuff, and see if you can figure out where in the nerve train things seem to be affecting your pruritis. Then concentrate on your own movements and body controls to try to make it less powerful. I went through a period of time several years ago when everything I had itched. It lasted a couple years before I finally began to make it respond to my own body language. I tried every creme available, morphine, etc. that I and the doctors could find. Absolutely nothing worked until I tried this. It wasn't a complete cure, but it slowly helped, and it was something I could do, and inexpensive. I still itch a lot, but not nearly as bad. There are some simple signs. Foam or bubbles in the urine. Black or blue or purple spots on toes or around eyes or near syringe sites. Red eyelids. Bloody urine or stools. AFib. Tachycardia. Growing dementia. I know now it was some form of Amyloidosis, a disorder of blood, urine and protein, that gets into your nerve chains, separating the cells and shorting out the electrical circuits. It is rare, but deadly if not treated. And there is good treatment now. Have your Bindings SERUM FreeLiteChain Assay done. If your sFLC is over 1.4 mg/deciliter, or there is any other problem with your protein, plasma, urine, etc., have a strong lab check it out. It takes a special lab, such as Mayo, ARUP, Sloan Kettering, etc. And don't let your local medicos talk you out of getting the strongest lab work possible. About 8 persons each year out of each million will be diagnosed. Probably ten times as many get it and die without diagnosis.

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.