Protopic advice

I have been having moderate to severe flares of my eyelid eczema since November. Initially I just thought my eyelids were getting so dry but eventually they became red, flaky, and very itchy. I consulted my derm and he prescribed my tacrolimus (protopic) 0.1% 2x a day. I've read that it stings and burns (my derm also told me that it will sting), so does anyone have any advice how to get around this? I do not want to touch topical steroids ever, and my derm doesn't want it near my eyelids too so this is the better route. I'm desperate to get this sorted because it gets really dry, it looks very weird and ugly, and itches very much at night.

To those who have used this, how long does it burn/itch/sting? Any method that helped? Zyrtec? Ice? And how long before you've seen results?

P.S. To those who will just discourage me and tell me to stay away from Protopic due to withdrawal - it being worse than eczema, or worse than TSW - I am a scientist as well and I've been looking for scientific evidence regarding topical tacrolimus withdrawal and I haven't encountered strong evidence on such. I respect your experiences, but anecdotes are not scientific evidence, so please respect my choice and derm's as well. Thank you very much in advance!

EDIT: I just applied Protopic for the first time tonight The good news: No burning or stinging The bad news: HOLYYY FFFFF IT. IS. SO. ITCHY. I have to sit on my hands or have my hands hold something the 100% of the time to keep myself from scratching!!