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Five years ago, Dr. Cory Stewart had just returned from a Caribbean honeymoon when a simple sunburn on his back suddenly exploded into a sensation the likes of which he had never experienced.

“It was this deep itch you couldn’t do anything about,” he said. The itch came in fiery un-scratchable waves that consumed him with panic, pulsating his entire body with each heartbeat.

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The young medical student knew of no diagnosis that could explain what was happening or recommend treatment. He smeared his back in aloe and lotion, and tried rolling around on the floor for relief, but nothing worked.

“You feel like you’re going crazy and nobody believes you,” said Dr. Stewart, now an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Chicago.

When his wife came home to find her new husband tortured by something as simple as a sunburn, her disbelief only made the ordeal worse.

“She thought it was completely ludicrous,” said Dr. Stewart. “Nobody can understand or believe you unless you’ve gone through it.”