After suffering with this itchy rash on my legs all summer, I finally saw the doctor. Well, he diagnosed me as having "caregiver's rash". As long as I am under stress watching my dh go downhill, I can expect this. This is how my body reacts. It may go away but will probably keep returning.
I couldn't find anything on the web about it; but, I developed a small patch on my back of very tiny clear bumps. Went to the Dermatologist and she said it wasn't shingles (thank goodness), but didn't know what it is. Gave me Topicort for the itching. Works sometime, but most times not. Showed it to the PCP and he didn't know either, but said to just use cortizone 1%. Works sometimes, but then it always come back - itching like crazy. PCP did tell me it is probably stress. Who? Me? It just keeps coming back and I scratch and itch - and it's been about 2 years now.
What you are saying is entirely possible 22 years ago my wife got her dream job as nursing director of the Emergency Department a major LA area university trauma center. She was doing well until her boss demanded that she become political and effectively act unethically. She wanted to do things correctly and above board but her boss was not. Her dream job turned into a stress pit. She developed a serious rash on both her arms. "contact dermatitis" was the Dx. NOTHING relieved it!! Nothing until she quit and returned to her first love basic bedside Emergency nursing. Then the rash went away and has never returned. Of course nothing stresses her today, giving stress has become her specialty. . . . .
But now that you mention it my upper arms have been itching too . . . . . Oh shucks!!
When I had a rash like you all are talking about it probably was stress too. My dr. told me to only take 3 showers a week and to just pat myself dry because my skin was very dry and it just made the rash worse. No...real hot water either.
I've been reading "Unbroken" - the true story of Louis Zamperini. When his plane went down during the war, his mother developed a rash on her hands that lasted for years, until the day her son returned - at which point it immediately disappeared.
Everything that is wrong with me, I blame on stress. That includes but is not limited to bitchiness! (thinning hair, overweight, headaches, heartburn, and even occasional itching (and bitching).
I have small bumps on me, too, on my chest and now on my neck. Dermatologist says I've inherited the tendency, and that's why I'm getting them. But, in reading all of your posts, I'm sure wondering if I am getting them in response to the stress I'm under being a caregiver to an FTD dh.