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Is it possible that nerve 'pain' can turn to itch?

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Posted 1/21/2014 7:31 PM (GMT 0)
So it's now been 5 days of incredibly confusing pain. It started in my tailbone and spread down my legs like sciatica - which I am totally familiar with from previous MRIs and PT. Instead of pain, though, my nerves are sending the signal for itch. I know that sounds weird, but it's the only way I can describe it. It's this super deep itch that feels like it's in my nerves/bones. This weekend it stayed in my legs but today it started happening in my arms, too.

The only thing that takes it down a notch is a double dose of Lyrica, which tells me it is definitely nerve related. I saw my rheumatologist's PA (spent 15 years in pain management before joining my Rheumie) and he said he doesn't know what it is either.

Has anybody had this before? What the heck is it and how do I get rid of it? Since it started in my tailbone, should I go back to PT and assume my disc is acting up again?

Thanks so much!
Posted 1/21/2014 8:42 PM (GMT 0)
Gosh Anna,

I've had pains that turn to itching, but not quite in the same fashion, so I don't know if I'll be much help.

My non-medical opinion and pseudo-guess is this: Nerves carry a variety of signals, which can include pain and can include itching. Since "pain" is a perception of that information being travelled, I can imagine that "itch" might just as well be.

While I get it in different places, or from different origins, I can understand what you're saying. It's a very odd and confusion signal!



M.
Posted 1/21/2014 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
hey anna, not weird at all. i get the same thing and drives me absolutly bonkkers. mentioned it to the doc and got the same thing..NERVES. i think it comes and goes when it feels like it. i take nerountin and that seems to help from time to time..good luck to ya..
Posted 1/21/2014 9:20 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks guys! Ya, I'm not too alarmed I guess. It's just weird how my fibro rotates 'new' pain signals every month or so. Was allydonia then that went away a week ago and now this. At least it's not all at the same time? haha

Vickie, it's a 'pain' in that you can kind of feel the shadow of the itch and it's pain. I think it's because I am 100% familiar with how the tailbone/sciatica pain is and since it's running in that complete nerve map, my brain is latching on with it as pain....but the actual nerve is saying 'itch'. I don't know if that makes sense. The arms, I think, were just my brain going 'IM OVERWHELMED.....so here you go.' haha

Thanks again!
Posted 1/22/2014 12:25 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Anna,

The pathways carrying 'pain' and 'itch' information are very closely linked, so it's entirely possible (in general terms - I don't know if this is the case for you) for nerve problems to present as itch rather than, or as well as pain.

I hope you can get some relief soon.

Laura
Posted 1/22/2014 1:48 AM (GMT 0)
I've got itch sensation sometimes too. I have Central Pain Syndrome from crushed cord in neck. The signals get messed up at the point of injury and the brain misinterprets everything as pain, or burning or freezing, or itch ...

Funny how I can still feel touch while feeling the other sensations concurrently.

Not funny that CPS is incurable.
Posted 1/22/2014 10:58 AM (GMT 0)
Before I was dx with Fibro. my first symptom was an itch which eventually turned into a severe pain in a trigger point. The itch was on the trigger point but I never said anything to anyone till it turned to pain.
Posted 1/23/2014 5:29 PM (GMT 0)
I'm starting to think this is sciatica.....but the pain is just starting in my tailbone for some reason. I cannot STAND IT!!! I made my PM doctor appt about a week sooner (tomorrow) and I pray that she has some good advice. Nothing I do seems to help - stretching, heat, pain meds. NADA. And it's happening sooner and sooner in the day. It's actually starting to make me nauseous, its that bad.

:(
Posted 1/23/2014 5:44 PM (GMT 0)
Anna,

Please let us know how things go with your PMD tomorrow!

When I was mentioning my "itch" thing and it being different, it was because I had severe nerve damage in two places (my lumbar spine, and then I took a good fall and wacked my shin on the peroneal nerve), so the "damage" was in 2 places.

Before my surgery, I couldn't feel my left leg from the knee down. Then (as many months passed) it became very painful and itchy as odd sensations were getting transmitted.

So that's why I was wondering about the nerves being capable of sending mixed signals that we interpret differently. Since our nerves send and receive all the signals for any type of "sensation" (among other things), it would seem logical this could be relevent.

I'm eager to hear how you make out tomorrow. I know what it's like to have pain (or other sensations) so severe than you're nauseous. I'm so sorry you're going through this!

((big hugs))



M.
Posted 1/23/2014 11:11 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks :) I appreciate that. I mean, we ALL have pain. Isn't it funny how when we don't have the other particular persons pain at the moment we go 'oh , that sucks' and when we get it, we think to ourselves 'how does anybody LIVE with this?' like ours has got to be so much worse than anybody else has experienced _______ type of pain? So funny. Maybe it's just me. This particular ailment had made me very humble. Two short days from work will do it for me!

I hope everybody's pain eases today and you all have some peace. :)
Posted 1/23/2014 11:13 PM (GMT 0)
Ps Teddlove - why do we keep it to ourselves? Hope that it goes away?
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