Originally Posted by Mariel

Burning and itchy all over...that's me the last days. It kept me awake for several nights, but the last two I have slept through, just exhausted by it all. I see the pcp on Friday. Nothing is helping much...lots of creams and lotions, of course. Zyrtec at night. Needless to say, covering up with Solumbra cloth clothing and not getting a lot of sun.
We are way too dry here (drought) so I have a humidifier going all day now, instead of just at night, but it probably is inadequate for a 1600 sq. ft. house.
This is supposed to be a symptom of Polycythemia Vera...if so, it's not just a chronic disease, it's a real cancer condition and it isn't going to get better. It's "non-malignant" cancer, proliferation of cells. No one seems to know what causes the itching. I wonder what? Another medical mystery.
Maybe it is parasthesia. Nerve endings rioting?
I've really lost the thread as to what this is all about and I have not heard any doctor say they know. I know I can't take Lyrica, it interfered with breathing, but I WAS taking it after Shingles infection 5 l/2 years ago, so I was taking demerol too....and that may have been a no-nol No careful medical supervision, I'm afraid, at that time. It was a bad bad time. My husband was dying too, and died within two months of that Lyrica no-breath episode.
Guess what, sick of suffering like so many here.