Burning skin - does anyone have something similar?

[CFS_for_19_years]

In warm weather, my forearms will start to burn, but it feels like my arms are trying to sweat and cool off at the same time. This doesn't happen 100% of the time. I also have fibromyalgia and I chalked it up to this. I mentioned it to my rheumatologist and he recommended "Sarna" lotion, but I never tried it so I can't tell you if it works or not.

I also have erythromelalgia in my feet, due to an injury. The best way to distinguish erythromelalgia from other "burning" disorders is that erythromelalgia (EM) is very sensitive to temperature and will be set off nearly 100% of the time by being in that ambient temperature. EM patients will tell you that their condition becomes much worse once a certain ambient temperature is reached, for instance, 78 degrees F. A good website for reading up on EM is http://www.erythromelalgia.org. EM can be genetic or acquired.

For me, the EM in my feet has meant that I go barefoot most of the time when inside because shoes and socks make the burning pain much worse. I do put on shoes and socks when I'm outside though, and promptly kick them off once I'm inside. Best meds for this have been venlafaxine XR (Effexor XR), pregabalin (Lyrica) and opioids such as morphine and Vicodin.

 

[osisposis]

red burning palms of hands, this is mild, they can get beet red and very very painful

 

[osisposis]

also soles of feet can and yep, heat sensitive, barefoot alot

 

[Lacey]

I get patches of "burnt" feeling skin as well, flaring up now hugely which is why I googled the symptom and found this thread.

It's not caused by contact with anything, as most of the areas flaring up right now weren't under any items of clothing (on parts of my arms, and on the palm of one hand in different spots too right now). The areas of "burnt" skin seem to be increasing (and are also moving around). This is really weird, though I have had smaller areas of the exact same sensation in the past.

Also it's just a sensation - I can see no rash at all.

Other things are also hitting me right now which are far worse than this, I just got up from a weird kind of headache and also have a sore throat and so on, so this is just a minor annoyance (if that). Just thought I'd post in this thread anyway with my experiences of this burning skin sensation thing, in case someone else out there can relate (in that this isn't caused by direct contact with anything like cloth, and has no rash).

 

[*GG*]

Yes, had this big time when I had a major flare in 2009, ended up going to a hospital and having lidocaine infused in my bloodstream. Knocked my pain down 2 to 3 notches, I could sleep again after that, and probably new sleep meds!

GG

 

[Denise]

The flares of burning mentioned in this thread reminded me of the memoir "Girl in the Dark" by (pseudonym) Anna Lyndsey. She lives in the the UK and has a horribly severe form of photosensitivity.
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/anna-lyndsey-girl-in-the-dark/
http://www.biographile.com/girl-in-the-dark-anna-lyndsey-on-her-rare-form-of-photosensitivity/40405/

She mentions being friends with some UK patients with ME.
(Apologies if others have already mentioned her and/or her book.)

 

[rosie26]

Mine goes away if I take every day a Acetyl-L-cartinine with Ala everyday in the morning. As soon as I stop the supplement, it does come back but is completely gone if I take this supplement

@lnester7 what dosage do you take for Acetyl-cartinine and Ala? Great to hear it helps you. Thanks.

 

[Deltrus]

A possibility is that it is because of DNA damage from radiation in the surroundings. Certain diseases, such as lupus, cannot handle even a bit of radiation. A deficiency in b vitamins would also result in poor DNA repair and replication. I personally started getting heat induced hives just 2 years before getting sick.

 

[rosie26]

A possibility is that it is because of DNA damage from radiation in the surroundings. Certain diseases, such as lupus, cannot handle even a bit of radiation. A deficiency in b vitamins would also result in poor DNA repair and replication. I personally started getting heat induced hives just 2 years before getting sick.

Would that radiation include having a laptop on one's lap @Deltrus or is that a different kind of radiation?

 

[rosie26]

I should have mentioned that I get burning as well. I am now experiencing burning skin on my back like sunburn which was so intense that I have had to cool it with wet towels - so bizarre. I get internal heat as well. I don't get as much heat in my head like I used to. But the heat in my chest/abdomen area has increased in the last year.

 

[Deltrus]

Laptop would give very low frequency radiation in the form of heat.

Your question spurred me to read further on burns. Apparently the main mechanism for burns is due to cells not being able to maintain a stable 3d structure and wall. In lupus, the body cannot properly removed these broken cells, and inflammation occurs. The body gets an immune response to waste products.

Thus, there are two types of burns, and it is important to make a distinction. One is due to malformed, damaged cells. The other is due to immune response to malformed, damaged cells.


Cells tend to operate worse at higher temp. For example, Uhthoff's phenomenon is in MS, and it is the phenomenon that causes unmylelinated nerves to stop working at higher temperate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_burn#Beta_burns

The dose is influenced by relatively low penetration of beta emissions through materials. The cornified keratine layer of epidermis has enough stopping power to absorb beta radiation with energies lower than 70 keV.

Keratine is made out of biotin and niacin. Supplementing b2 (to activate niacin I believe), b3 and b9 might be a good idea. More keratine might provide more protection. How is the quality of your hair? Maybe your skin and hair are related.


Also anything that will improve cellular integrity should help with your burns. I suggest a multivitamin that has trace minerals, and a b vitamin regime. First try out b2, b3, b9. Then go on and do the b vitamin regimes that people generally recommend, taking b12 for week then b9 etc.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn

At temperatures greater than 44 °C (111 °F), proteins begin losing their three-dimensional shape and start breaking down.[37]This results in cell and tissue damage.[3] Many of the direct health effects of a burn are secondary to disruption in the normal functioning of the skin.[3] They include disruption of the skin's sensation, ability to prevent water loss through evaporation, and ability to control body temperature.[3] Disruption of cell membranes causes cells to lose potassium to the spaces outside the cell and to take up water and sodium.

I know some viruses cause ions to flow where they shouldn't. For example coxsackie b lowers intracellular potassium and increase intracellular calcium in heart muscle cells. It has been theorized that this ion imbalance is the cause of muscle pain in fibromyalgia.

Viruses such as HHV6, HHV5 etc that cause rashes, they should also have some effect on either cellular integrity or ion balance. This is probably the mechanism for why they cause rashes, rather than an immune response. It's possible that a virus is causing your cells to be unstable. This paragraph is just conjecture.

At any rate I think that experimenting with vitamins / minerals would be a good start. A deficiency would be a simple and easily fixable way that cell could be a bit unstable.

The other potential reasons for unstable cells could be some sort of metabolic problem, genetics, viruses, who knows what else.

In the mean time try to keep cool, these burning sensations probably aren't benign, but of course no need to panic. Make sure to stay away from triggers if you have any. For example, a certain type of food.

Edit: there are probably lots of other reasons for burning and burning sensations. I just did a small amount of research and conjecture.. Also b vitamins would help with dna transcription/repair and that would be another mechanism they might help with.

 

[rosie26]

@Deltrus thanks for taking a deeper look and laying it out like that for me. I have been so sick the last year and had no idea where to start in helping myself and it's so hard to think when symptoms are so loud. I need a plan to follow and do it. I have had a gut feeling I needed to start taking a mulitvitamin and B and was in the process of looking into it.

Can you recommend a good multivitamin and the B one as well? I would like a good quality one.

I will spend more time to read your post this afternoon and get back to you again. Really great, Deltrus.

 

[Deltrus]

This is my stack atm
http://www.vitacost.com/MyAccount/PublicList.aspx?CustomerListID=2602759


I am trying out high doses of b1(thiamine), b2(riboflavin), b7(biotin), and the two forms of b12. Alternatively you can buy a multivitamin if you want to save money and get pretty much everything I listed in one pill, for like $15 instead of $80. I used vitacost's multi before and it was ok. However I'm still experimenting with the b vitamins alone.

Strangely b1, b2 and b12 give me tinnitus and some energy, while jarrow b-right gives me no effect. My multivitamin also gives me tinnitus. It has twice the b1, b2, and half as much b12 as my b complex. I've read that b2 needs to be supplemented alone for some people, because its stores are rapidly depleted by the other b vitamins. I don't know the exact mechanism or source for that tho. Anyways I'm still experimenting.

Also the magnesium content in most multivitamins is terrible. I love magnesium malate. The malate form seems to really help with muscle pain.

 

[Deltrus]

In my above post I said to supplement b9 and I meant b7. Biotin is used in keratine, which theoretically would help with burns from radiation. Of course all the b vitamins are good, just b7 was what I meant in the context.

 

[rosie26]

A relative has just given me their bottle of multivitamin and a bottle of B complex that they aren't using so I have taken a half of a tablet of each to start with and will increase to a whole tablet if I do ok with a half. I will get the better quality one of these when I have finished them. I will record how I do on these.

 

[rosie26]

@Deltrus Your mention of radiation has had me thinking about my own thoughts over the years. I have often felt that my symptoms at times have felt like my immune system is putting me through some kind of radiation treatment. I have episodes where I get heat/feverishness and then deep chills. I am usually very sick and extremely weak when this happens. And I retch with for about 10 minutes at a time. I have no desire to eat even though my stomach rumbles and is hungry. I also get loose stools with it.

I have often thought it feels like I am going through some kind of radiation treatment because there is a toxic feel to it. I wonder what causes this, I will be very interested to find out what this is all about one day.

 

[Seven7]

@lnester7 what dosage do you take for Acetyl-cartinine and Ala? Great to hear it helps you. Thanks.

It comes together in a capsule ALC 500mg and ala 200mg

 

[rosie26]

I had two very small and unusual skin eruptions in the month that my lungs blew up. I had never had them before that I can remember. One appeared on the side of my left upper thigh and the other on my lower right forearm. They had the feeling of hardness as the 'quick' you get at the side of a fingernail and it hurt to touch just the same as when you have one those quicks. I feel sure it was connected to the major flare up of my lungs and disturbances that caused the lungs to flare. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Teddybear92]

I get that burning a lot on my scalp. Sometimes I can trigger it by pushing on my scalp. I have felt burning elsewhere.

 

[Teddybear92]

I wonder if it's nerve related. I feel the burning and tingling and stinging at random times. Right now I'm feeling stinging quite bad at the base of my back. Ironically that's where I had my spinal tap. I think they did injure my spine a bit when I had it because I moved. I have felt new paint in my back since they did it weeks ago. I'm convinced my burning/stinging is nerve related. I think some of it could be overuse on my iPad.