Weird goose bumps?

[bspg]

From time to time I get these strange sensations on my skin, like the feeling of goose bumps spreading over my leg.

Last year, it happened one morning and I looked down at my thigh and saw goose bumps in a really irregular, spiraling, branched pattern. Like a whimsical tree.

I told my neurologist about it (and drew her a picture to help explain) but she had never heard of anything like it and seemed skeptical that I had actually seen what I described.

Many months passed without it occurring again but two days ago, I got a strong buzzing feeling on my thigh and looked down to see the strange goose bumps. Fortunately I had my phone in my hand this time and I was able to get a picture.

These ones were confined to a smaller area than before and without branching, but still in an unusual pattern. They disappeared within 1-2 minutes and I took a second picture after they were gone to show what my leg normally looks like.

Has anyone ever seen/heard of/experienced something like this? Google searches show that other people have experienced it but no one seems to know anything about it or what might be causing it.

(P.S. That scar on my leg is from an investigational muscle biopsy I had done last year.)

 

[Research 1st]

From time to time I get these strange sensations on my skin, like the feeling of goose bumps spreading over my leg.

Last year, it happened one morning and I looked down at my thigh and saw goose bumps in a really irregular, spiraling, branched pattern. Like a whimsical tree.

I told my neurologist about it (and drew her a picture to help explain) but she had never heard of anything like it and seemed skeptical that I had actually seen what I described.

Many months passed without it occurring again but two days ago, I got a strong buzzing feeling on my thigh and looked down to see the strange goose bumps. Fortunately I had my phone in my hand this time and I was able to get a picture.

These ones were confined to a smaller area than before and without branching, but still in an unusual pattern. They disappeared within 1-2 minutes and I took a second picture after they were gone to show what my leg normally looks like.

Has anyone ever seen/heard of/experienced something like this? Google searches show that other people have experienced it but no one seems to know anything about it or what might be causing it.

(P.S. That scar on my leg is from an investigational muscle biopsy I had done last year.)

1) RE: Rapid onset bumps that dissipate with minutes:
Here's the only thing I can propose with a vague idea of confidence, having said that your photos don't look like my legs at all, mine are far more wide spread like 'plucked chicken skin', yours look much more limited. Still, IF these bumps are associated to a trigger, I would suggest they may be a phenomena known as Pilo Erection, a hilarious name that means your hair is standing on end.

IF you have Dysautonomia, you can randomly get this for no reason, with a virus, or more commonly when thinking of something emotional, or when needing to go to the bathroom (full bladder), you can also get anxiety before needing to pee too with Dysautonomia, due to the sympathetic nerves/and parasympathic going bonkers. Your CNS causes it. In me I get this on my arms and stomach, in the UK they call it 'goose flesh'. Healthy people get it when cold or also if you have a fright, so someone hiding around a corner and you walk in the room and they go 'Boo!'. That'll cause pilo erection in some. So in terms of speed of onset and how it vanishes, I can't think of any other immune based problem it can be, if it was allergy it wouldn't vanish either and initially that's what it looked like from the photo to me, but clearly it isn't.

2) RE: Sensations.
If your muscle biopsy was normal, ask for a skin biopsy for small fiber neuropathy which in comparison to your war wound, is a tiny little nick under a local anesthetic which it patched up correctly afterwards won't really have a visible scar. If you have peripheral neuropathy undiagnosed, maybe this explains your weird sensations?

So I'm as puzzled as your doctor. Hopefully someone will come up with a better alternative than myself, but see if you get the others things I mentioned, I'm guessing you don't though. Sorry if I didn't help.

 

[bspg]

@Research 1st thanks for your input. I strongly suspect dysautonomia, as I have other symptoms that fit the diagnosis. I do have some symptoms of SFN though...

My ME/CFS doctor wants me to have a skin biopsy and more testing for dysautonomia so hopefully something will be revealed. I sent the pictures to the neurologist who was skeptical of me before and she was baffled. I think she believes me now

It doesn't seem to be "triggered" by anything that I am aware of. I'll just get a tingling or buzzing feeling suddenly and look down and see them. Then they disappear over the course of 30 - 60 seconds. It's quite bizarre.

 

[Vojta]

I get random goose bumps in some areas of body. It started after I got damaged by atbx and consequently much worse with all neuro symptoms. So I have many other symptoms now.
It is always on strictly on one side of the body and lingers on the same areas over time. First it was on left side of head (scalp), sometimes smaller area at the top and back of the head. Now I get the one area of arm and also on right side around hip and side of the body. I can basically trigger it with all other symptoms by doing any cognitive activity. I suspect there si mitochondrial problem and acumulation of some metabolite which makes some neuropathies worse.

 

[bspg]

@Vojta that sounds awful. Were the antibiotics fluoroquinolones?

 

[Vojta]

@Vojta that sounds awful. Were the antibiotics fluoroquinolones?

Most damge was done by minocycline and azithromycine. But I was on fluoroquinolones before and they caused me peripheral neuropathy. However it was mostly reversible.

After exhausting myself last two days browsing on computer I got these goose bumbps in patches again with all other symptoms. Did you notice that those symptoms come after any cognitive activity like watching tv etc? I think I almost don'T have it in stable periods when I don't do anything but when I get worse it apears some time after it.

I guess it's one of those mystery symptoms. I don't even bother to tell any normal doctors this because they don't care or believe me too.

 

[bspg]

@Vojta I didn't know that those antibiotics could cause damage. That's scary! Were you on high doses or taking them for a long time?

My goose bumps seem to happen a lot for a few days and then disappear entirely. I'm not sure why. It doesn't really matter what I'm doing at the time.

 

[Gondwanaland]

The new book by dr. D. Lonesdale addresses piloerection on the page 44 which unfortunately isn't available (at least to me) in the google preview.