An itch to scratch

You know what pain pills are good for? Pain. You know what they're not good for? Itching. Although, in a way, itching is its own kind of pain. Especially when it's everywhere and no amount of scratching does anything to relieve it. Like so much about fibromyalgia, there's not really any rhyme nor reason to the itching. Your body just decides it's going to itch and there's not really anything you can do about it.

Sometimes, it's one little spot that will decide to itch. Usually, this spot is centered somewhere that scratching is completely ineffective under the best of circumstances, like the edge of your thumb or the bottom of your foot. I mean, really, is there anything more annoying than an itch on the bottom of your foot? Talk about impossible to scratch! I have yet to determine if that isolated perpetually itching spot is more or less annoying than the roving, complete body itch.

Right now, I'm leaning toward the roving, complete body itch being the more irritating and frustrating to deal with. Largely because that's what I've been dealing with for the past few hours. My legs, my arms, a spot on the lower right side of my back, my right palm near my ring finger, the left side of my neck, the top of my head...they all itch right now. And no amount of scratching brings any relief.

The first time this happened, a few months before I was diagnosed, I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something. I'd been working with cart loads of books so I figured either the dust was just getting to me or that there was something on one of them I was reacting to. It was so bad that I left work and went home to shower, dose myself with Benadryl, and rub Eucerine Skin calming lotion all over myself. I kept waiting for a rash or hives to develop but they never did. I've since discovered that it's just another symptom of fibromyalgia. Because, you know, all over pain and fatigue isn't enough.

I had a routine dental exam and cleaning today so naturally I'm wondering if that's what triggered today's pain flare and this evening's itching. Because other than the usual morning stiffness when I first got up today, things had been going pretty well. It wasn't until I was back home and a few hours had passed that I started having issues. At one point, my arms ached so bad I could hardly lift them, accompanied by stabbing pains in both wrists. Luckily, I have Fridays off so I at least didn't have to worry about the pain interfering with work. You've got to find the silver lining in the cloud, after all!
Now, I think I'll see if I have any of those Benadryl left and take a couple and call it a night. After all, as Scarlett would say, tomorrow is another day.