Post Op Mid-Night Crazy Itching?

[amae28]

I had my surgery June 30 and am now about 5 1/2 weeks post-op from my kyphoscoliosis surgery. I have been feeling substantially better and am off all of my pain meds except tylenol during the day. The thing is, I have been falling asleep OK as long as my legs aren't going crazy (restless legs syndrome, which I had before, but is a little worse now) but I haven been waking up a couple of hours after I fall asleep with insane ITCHING! It's mostly my back but even my arms and chest and head itch when it's really bad. I usually cannot fall back to sleep when this is happening. After a few nights of almost no sleep I have been taking benadryl before I go to bed and that usually takes care of it. Bad thing is that i wake up sleepy and groggy in the morning.

Did anyone else experience this post op? I really don't itch that much during the day it's just in the middle of the night. Is it just my nerve endings healing? If so, how long does this last!? I just think it's odd that it's only during the night that it's really bad. HELP! LOL.

[Geish]

My crazy itching lasted until about 4 months post op. I do think it is the nerves healing. I found if I used the liquid soap spongey thing on my back it seemed to stimulate it more, but I also found that it seemed to make the "healing" happen faster. Maybe it was just me, but that is my perception. I didn't rub hard, just enough the nerves seemed stimulated. I will say the itching was terrible at times and you may try to scratch yourself raw, so be aware of that before you try and stimulate the nerves. Good luck! It does pass with time.

[briarrose]

I haven't had the itching yet, but whenever I do itch from other things, I put ice on the spot that itches. This numbs the nerves and works almost instantly. I hope it stops for you soon.

Shell

[mmw]

Man oh man did I ever ITCH! Holy moly it was horrible, and I spent many restless nights with it, dh rubbing anti itch creams and/or lotions on me. Praying it woulds top, THEN the doctor said it was all due to the combos of medicines and how i was taking them. VOILA! I swear once I stopped one of the meds (the pain patch) and tweaked the schedule I have NOT itched a second since THAT night. It was amazing, and oh itching when you cannot really feel THAT SUCKS! makes your skin feel like its on fire and that is worse than the itchiness!

Good luck!

[Sharshe]

You might want to try benedryl for the itching.

[PNUTTRO]

amae28

You said that you are only taking the tylenol, but are you taking any other drugs? I only ask because the itching seems systemic and not localized to you incision site. Itching from narcotics is quite common. Other drugs can also have the same side effect. Check with your doctor to see what they suggest.

Consider if you have introduced anything new into your diet. . .


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