Neuropathic pruritis due to withdrawal of Valium
I’m a 58 years old female.
He of severe migraines dice 20 years
When not controlled by tramadol and stemetil I had to add Valium also initially 5 mg and then increased to 10 mg every 3rd day.
This continued for about 17 years
I stopped taking Valium at the end of October 2024
In late November I started having formication and neuropathic pruritis without a rash
It continued until February and started getting less severe in march 2025
In April 2025 I started taking Valium again because of migraines
The itching disappeared
Then I started to take lower doses of Valium but while I was tapering down the Valium the pruritis and formication started again in September 2025 until today
I have fully stopped Valium since may 2026
I’m on pregabalin 150 mg twice a day and Amitryptaline 25 mg at night since January 2026
The pruritis is on and off bad with clothing intolerance
I decided to taper down pregabalin and then off it but in just 3 days my pruritis became insane
Please anyone can help
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Or any experience of the same symptoms
Welcome @sfehmida42, I did a search of Connect and found many members discussing pruritis. I thought it might be helpful for you to scan through the related member discussions and posts to see if you find anything that helps while you wait for other members to respond. Here's the search with links to the different discussions and member posts - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/.
Have you talked with your doctor to see if they may have some suggestions to provide some relief?
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I had shingles of the face and eye a year and a half ago. The cornea was cleared up but I got postherpetic neuralgia . I have an itch on the right side of my face and scalp It burns at times I am on 600 mg of gabapentin. The neurologist recently renamed it with puritis at the end. It is a little better bit acts up at night and I scratch it causing sores on my scalp. Any suggestions for relief. I was on pregablin also. I was on 1800 Mg of gabapentin at one point but weened myself off of it
@dobie1947 Sorry to hear you haven't found much relief for itching. Have you seen this discussion?
-- Severe itching: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/severe-itching-1/
@johnbishop my dermatologist recommended hydrocortisone 4.5 then 2.5 and one percent I was using Nix Oro for my scalp, but it didn’t help. I’ve tried Benadryl. nothing seems to take away the itch from postherpetic neuralgia one neurologist told me I should meditate during the night when your scalp is itching and your Temple and eyelids are itching. You can’t meditate. They say that this condition may ease up after two years. I’m still hoping.
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1 Reaction@johnbishop I’m a doctor myself working as a general practitioner. I’ve seen the neurologist as well and I’m on medication also with no relief so far
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