Third night shift this week and my arms started itching again around 2am, so instead of scratching I doodled in my sketchpad for about 15 minutes on break. Weirdly it actually helped!
Did the same the next two nights, though it always comes back by 5am. One of the younger guys noticed and asked what I was drawing, so I just said I was killing time.
2 months off the cream now. Might just be me, but keeping my hands busy helps a little.