Hello MN,
Thought I'd drop in with something useful - last year my SB had a long and painful bout of chickenpox, made worse by his ongoing eczema and the winter cold drying out his skin.
I also suffer (for want of a better word at 2am) from maddeningly-b*stard-itchy hives, brought on by dogs, certain spices, stress and feather duvets... Currently suffering with the worst bout I can ever remember and having tried every over the counter remedy and discarding with a howl of rage and painful itching (piriton, hydrocortisone, steroid cream, clotrimazole, ibuprofen, witch hazel and calamine to name a few) I've ended up making my own... Based on what I did for SB when he had the dreaded pox. So thought I'd pop it here as someone else might find it useful...
Oats - smoosh up in a blender until fine. Can also smoosh up ibuprofen tablets with them if you have a decent blender, it will help with the inflammation and redness but wouldn't recommend this for kids. Mix into a paste with coconut oil or olive oil, stir in a little powdered turmeric, and paste onto the Bstrd Itches. Cover so you don't muck up your bedding. Snooze well. Repeat as required - it's all natural, you can't OD on oats and spices...
This is literally the only thing giving me a few hours sleep at a time at the moment. I'm not normally into hokey homeopathic heebie-jeebies but I threw together some good stuff and it's blissfully soothing so I'm sharing in the hope it's useful to someone else.
Love and hello again,
Jack
PS can we keep this thread about itches and cures and not let it descend into gender politics? I'm trying to be helpful and I've talked about little else for a fortnight. I feel insane and very unwell. Cheers.