Fingerprints?

[CJB]

Thanks, Tammie, for bumping this up. I had intended to post here, but couldn't find the thread. It was cleverly hidden under the title, "Fingerprints". Pure evil.

Kim, thanks for the fingerprint field test instructions. I looked and was convinced I didn't have any prints. Turns out I can't see very well. They're there.

 

[creekfeet]

In a fictional medical mystery it could turn out to be the key to understanding the illness.

 

[creekfeet]

This article: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=97348 descriibes a study on fingerprint texture function that concludes by theorizing that fingerprints are important to processing information about the physical environment. Could some of our awkwardness and difficulties with processing information be caused by our smoothing fingerprints? Conversely, could this be an adaptation to the disease: could there be some way that, when we experience sensory overload, our bodies purposefully smooth out our fingerprints to minimize sensory input? Having a little fun with whys and wherefores.

 

[Hip]

Loss of Fingerprints Caused by Elastase?

I wonder if this loss of fingerprints is caused by the high elastase levels found in CFS?

Elastase is an enzyme that destroys the elastin scaffolding (called the extracellular matrix) that gives the skin strength and elasticity.

Although I still have my fingerprints, my CFS resulted in fine-textured wrinkling of the skin all over my body. I believe this fine skin wrinkling may be due to loss of elastin fibers in the skin, as a result of high levels of elastase. (A picture of my fine-textured skin wrinkling is here).

(Alternatively, or in addition, it may be that high levels of MMP-9 cause this skin wrinkling / fingerprint loss. Like elastase, the enzyme MMP-9 can also destroy elastin. MMP-9 is often high in CFS and in enteroviral infections).

 

[sleepy237]

Wow!! This thread is highly interesting. My fingertips are certainly not "normal" and although I don't have an inkpad to test, I can actually see differences in my fingertips that were never there before like faint wrinkles, the type you get if you have been submerged in water for a while. Also mentioned here is Ehler Danlos, and although I wasn't told that I had it I was given a diagnosis for Hypermobility Syndrome a few years ago, which I am sure I read somewhere has a connection of its own. I know the Rheumy measured my total arms span and things testing probably for type IV Ehler Danlos which I don't have but not sure if the other forms can just arise and coexist. Sitting here rubbing my very smooth fingertips. Thanks for this thread.

 

[sleepy237]

Just something random I picked up on google but I have no idea what it means thought I would post it here however found on yahoo answers :mutations of the gene gene KRT14. The most striking feature is the absence

or subtlety of fingerprint lines on the fingers.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090401170641AAdIDEf

 

[Hip]

Loss of Fingerprints

I was just watching a DVD of Dr Paul Cheney talking at the Invest in ME - International ME/CFS Conference 2010.

Here is a slide of CFS loss of fingerprints, taken from Dr Cheney's talk at the conference.



Dr Cheney's theory is that this loss of fingerprints may be caused by the extremely high levels of oxidative stress found in CFS patients, and/or the constant immune activation. In fact, immune activation can be a source of elastase and MMP-9.

 

[bigmama2]

fingerprints

Hip (and everyone)

wow! thanks Hip for posting that link to a dr cheney visual on this. i gasped when i saw it. because that is almost exactly what my fingerprints look like. (professionally done.) i have all the weird horizontal lines too. (i am 40yrs old. had cfs for maaaaaaaaaaany years now.)

i did also in the past have my elastase tested and it was abnormally high.

hip- my hands do not have the wrinkled/fine lines skin on top like yours do. (???)

bigmama2

 

[Hip]

Wrinkled Hands

I have not read any literature or medical reports of anyone with CFS developing skin wrinkles on their body. So I have speculated that the virus I caught may be a new one. This skin-wrinkling, CFS-causing virus is the subject of my blog. My virus causes skin wrinkling even in people that have not developed full CFS.

The strange think is that my virus appears to create a very mild version of CFS in EVERYONE that catches it (most of my social circle eventually caught my virus: family members and friends).

I wonder how may people with CFS (due to other viruses) have have noticed that their family and friends have caught the same virus, and displayed a very mild version of CFS, or other virally caused diseases?

This something I would like to know: my virus seems to create very mild CS in everybody, and proper full CFS just occasionally in unfortunate individuals like myself. Is it a common thing, to see such a spectrum of symptom intensity?

 

[camas]

Hip -- The photo of your skin condition looks quite similar to mine. I saw two dermatologists and neither could diagnose it, but a rheumatologist told me it was tinea versicolor.

It's caused by a yeast that grows normally on most skin, but because my immune system has difficulty controlling yeast, it takes over. It starts as red scaly spots that turn brown and then eventually leave white scars that don't tan. It's mostly limited to my arms and the overlapping scars leave the skin thin and papery. The red spots heal while I'm on Diflucan, but start in again as soon as I stop the drug.

Anyway, just thought I'd pass that along in case you want to look into it.

Edited to add: Google images make it look quite frightful. Mine is more like the image at this site.

 

[Hip]

Thanks for that suggestion, camas. It is always good to get some "leads" or clues on these things.

But in my case, I don't think it is tinea versicolor, which looks like this on Google images.

My skin looks similar to mid-dermal elastolysis: it has these very fine, parchment-paper like wrinkles.

Also, many of the people who caught my respiratory virus, both family and friends, also developed this strange fine wrinkling. So it would seem to be caused by the virus I caught, which I suspect is a new enterovirus, or a new strain of this virus.

 

[Cheryl M]

Sorry for necromancy, wasn't sure whether to start a new thread. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get my finger pads to grip the piano keys in time for Grade 7? My fingers are like marble and simply slide off the black keys.

So far my only brilliant plans have been to lick my fingers (this has some slight effect) and to rub them with lipbalm. (OK, I know that sounds stupid... but this particular lipbalm is really sticky!)

 

[Pyrrhus]

Related discussions:

Difficulties with fingerprints anyone?
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/difficulties-with-fingerprints-anyone.34406/

Why wrinkled fingers and toes?
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/why-wrinkled-fingers-and-toes.6832/

Note that finger wrinkling is a normal autonomic response to submerging your fingers in warm water.

If it happens intermittently when your fingers are not submerged in warm water, then that is a sign of dysautonomia.

Related discussion:

Finger wrinkling is controlled by the autonomic nervous system
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...reening-test-before-tilt-table-testing.77607/