SUCCESS STORY
I've gotten hell's itch twice in the past.
The second time, it came on at like 1am at night which was super inconvenient cause it was time to sleep. 10/10 pain. It was definitely triggered by shower which I figured out quickly. Tried bunch of creams and aloe and obviously that all made it worse. What worked for me is laying down prone and laying ice packs all over my back and which numbed it to the point i could not feel the skin at all even when touching it, and that gave me a solid 30 mins of lasting relief after taking them off. By 4am after doing that repeatedly, I ended up going out for an 8 mile run and that actually worked. I'd say a really intense workout or run helps to overstimulate yourself and it was good enough to distract me from the pain. When I was done with that it seemed to last and i then just laid down on the floor all sweaty and got at least 3 good hrs of sleep. Kept doing these 2 things next day and that got me thru it.
NOW, 3rd time. Got sun burn Saturday afternoon. I was proactive and did no showers at all, no creams at all, drank a bunch of c4 drinks (beta alanine), and took bunch of ibuprofen, and now I'm at Tuesday afternoon and I've seemed to make it thru with the exception of some minor tingling last night.
So the lessons that worked for me:
If it's already happening, ice packs on burns for extended time till it's completely 100% numbed and that'll give you at least 30 mins of last relief, or super intense and long run or workout to overstimulate myself is what gave me most lasting relief. Hot shower works but pain comes back immediately.
Best thing is if you can be proactive before it starts. No showers, staying completely dry, no creams/aloe, and drink a bunch of c4 for 3 days has gotton me thru it!