PV Itching Not After Bathing

Yes I have itching again too. Worse before PV diagnosed, then it subsided and disappeared (meds? and 3 phlebotomies? in early days?). Since increase in meds dosage (Jakafi) from 10 to 20mg, I’ve had more sporadic itching and always at night; rarely keeps me awake though, after I put some cream on it.

trillium @trillium, Uncontrollable itchy Itch (also known as pruritus) As child, use to scream all night and dad walk the floors all night, most nights due to terrible allergies. Passed out during allergy test; allergy shots 2-16 years of age. My family had to itch my back before bed, itch until I bleed and many scabs. Our family used different creams and home remedies trying to stop itching and rashes. I really suffered as kid with allergies.
Now that I'm older bruising; black and blue color is more painful then itching, For years, especially when I can't breath; tinging in my faces, tinging isn't bad in my hands, arms, legs, feet (face is the worst). Love showers; I don't itch in shower (but tingling) only uncontrollable itching at night. Found nothing will help but HU takes edge off, it helps little! HU 1000 mg helps my blood pressure more! Phlebotomy helped get my numbers down but numbers are creeping up and so is the pain and fatigue!

Colleen, fatigue and itching are nasty symptoms of PV, period. I am miserable due to fatigue and itching even though I do not take any MPN specific meds.

Aveeno body wash for itchy skin and Aveeno cream are mainstays in my life.

By the way: I've been storing my Aveeno cream in the refrigerator. I imagine the cold product helps decrease itching. But "imagine" may be the operative word here.

What about phlebotomy?

Doing very well, thanks for asking, and the info. If I had to guess, itching ranks a close second to fatigue as a nasty side effect of many of the MPN medications. I had never been bothered with it until I began to switch medications, but then I quickly made up for lost time. I think Aveeno should be stamped on the forehead of every Hematologist in the world.

I find my legs itch the most unless I take a shower or bath, then it’s random. It’s miserable and makes me crabby. My regiment is chewable Benadryl and ibuprofen before a shower . I only wish I could really control this. I’m very active and drink tons of water, don’t know what else to do without taking a chemo drug and not sure if that doesn’t help one symptom and cause another problem.

A red blush could be anywhere. It's hard for our sludgy blood to move through small capillaries, so it sometimes pools in one place or another => a sort of blush. I experience it on my cheeks and ankles.

Itching can happen at any time of the day or night, water or no water. Personally, I find my ankles itch horribly starting around 7-8 PM. This itching drives me nuts all night long. I used to wake up in the mornings with my ankles all scratched up and red with blood...which is why I now have my anti-itch protocol that I wrote about elsewhere.

I THINK my itching gets much worse in the early evening from excess red blood cells pooling in my ankles/feet after me walking and then sitting all day long. The excess blood causes a histamine reaction which causes itching. I scratch (big mistake) and then the histamine reaction gets worse and I REALLY start itching terribly. This is the itch/scratch cycle.

@veryoldman, I appreciate your posting about the relief you found. I number of members have had success with Aveeno anti-itch cream. I believe it may have been @buckaroobanzai's post that tip you off here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/750783/

How are you doing today?

Just yesterday, I read somewhere on this site about using Aveeno lotion to sooth itching. I'm ET, CALR, five + years on HU, and in the process of switching to Anagrelide due to a hard-to-cure ankle ulcer. One week into the process, I developed a terrible itch where you don't want to have such. Five minutes after I smeared Aveeno all over the location, the itching STOPPED!! And has not come back. My mission when I ran across your post was to see if I could find the original post so I could thank him/her for posting.