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Different color arms

Heartl

Senior Member
Messages
160
I have a strange symptom- when I look down and hold my arms out in front of me my right arm is my normal color but my left arm is flushed and red under the skin
Also my veins are very bright colored everywhere
Last time I was really sick like this (CFS & Chronic EBV) this happened also.
When I got a little healthier, not as bed bound this symptom went away. Now it’s back
 

Diwi9

Administrator
Messages
1,780
Location
USA
Have you been checked out for POTS? Seems like this might be explained by some form of dysautonomia, where vasoconstriction is happening on one side, but not the other. I can easily get this effect, but only by putting one arm up up and the other down. The up arm turns pale and the down arm gets a purplish hue...in fact, I sometimes do this when a nurse is looking for a vein to stick.
 

Heartl

Senior Member
Messages
160
Yes, I have been tested and do have pots. When standing my blood pools to my legs but not every time. This is just my arms that I’ve noticed. I hold them out evenly and this happens. Now that I think of it maybe it only happens when I’m standing, maybe my heart is pumping harder so my left arm gets more blood to it (who knows). Super weird though. I mentioned to my doctor, says I have a lot of strange symptoms that he can’t explain.
 

Diwi9

Administrator
Messages
1,780
Location
USA
Yes, I have been tested and do have pots. When standing my blood pools to my legs but not every time. This is just my arms that I’ve noticed. I hold them out evenly and this happens. Now that I think of it maybe it only happens when I’m standing, maybe my heart is pumping harder so my left arm gets more blood to it (who knows). Super weird though. I mentioned to my doctor, says I have a lot of strange symptoms that he can’t explain.
When people have dysautonomia, autonomic nervous system signals can have unilateral patterns from what I gather based on results from QSART tests whereby one body part can sweat and others do not. Sometimes the results are patchy and not evenly distributed...I wonder fi this can happen with vasodilation as well.
 

Heartl

Senior Member
Messages
160
Oooh, good question! I’m going to try that tomorrow. Sometimes my arms are the same color and sometimes the left one is redder and sometimes the right one is. I’m wondering why just my arms?
My veins are really weird too- super big and really bright colored, especially by the end of the day. In the morning they aren’t as bright and smaller. I am unable to do too much throughout the day so it’s not because of exercise