Stinging, sensitive, tender skin

[Doug97 19]

Does anyone else have sore skin? I have these painful patches all over my body that hurt, especially if I press or pinch them. The pain is just under the skin. It's worst on my legs but the skin is tender and painful on my lower back, upper arms, chest and neck. It's most painful on my calves and the muscles there are constantly twitching. 

I also get random stings, like being stung by a wasp. Can happen anywhere on my body, from my legs to my head. 

When I Google these weird painful sensations I keep finding arachnoiditis, which sounds like a horrendous disease that's sending my anxiety through the roof. 

It's steadily getting worse, 2 months ago I didn't have any of this. I don't want to spend my life in constant agony! 

[Ihadcancer 321]

Have you strained or injured your back? 

I have tactile (mechanical) allodynia from central nervous system damage from chemo and gentle touches HURT my skin. A slap wouldn't hurt me. My legs from my thighs to my ankles hurt so much and loose, soft clothing hurts more than leggings. 

[Doug97 19]

I'm sorry to hear about your pain, that must be awful. Will it get any better over time? 

I did think about spinal involvement, I injured my lower back in a motorcycle accident in 2016 that fractured one of the little spurs that stick out the side of lumbar vertebrae. But my GP doesn't think that was serious enough, there was no spinal cord involvement at the time as I was able to pick the bike up and keep going (I was riding through the Himalayas at the time), and I had no back pain or leg symptoms then. 

I'm inclined to agree with him, because the pain is often above the level of that vertebrae, in my arms and even sometimes in my face. 

The wasp/bee sting/zap sensations seem to be quite common, I've searched this site and others and there seems to be plenty of anxiety sufferers who have had the exact same thing. Even Gilly herself has an old post where she describes stings and random sore/tender spots. Also this feeling of cold/wetness (as if the clothes I'm wearing are wet) and water splashing on the skin. Unfortunately if you Google the wet feeling the first thing that comes up is arachnoiditis! 

What I want to believe is that it's all just anxiety, but I have this awful sense of dread and impending doom that's making me think that there's something very wrong with me. 

My GP asked me to send videos of my twitching calves for him to forward on to a neurologist, so we'll see what comes back from that. She's already said that if there isn't any weakness or back pain then there's nothing to worry about (which I knew already), so I doubt they'll want to take any further action. I might investigate paying for a brain MRI.

This all started with the twitching and fears of ALS, I feel like if I hadn't spent a whole month mortally terrified out of my mind I might not be in this mess. 

[Doug97 19]

Also I have flu at the moment, and Reddit is full of people asking "why does my skin hurt when I have the flu?", although this pain started well before I got sick. 

[Doug97 19]

Here are the reasons the rational part of my brain has for thinking that it simply cannot be arachnoiditis:

1. It's incredibly rare. Like, rarer even than ALS. 

2. As far as I can tell from the research, it's caused by spinal injury or spinal procedures like surgery, epidurals, contrast MRI etc. I've never had any of those things. 

3. It almost always only affects the part of the body below the level of the spinal injury. I have symptoms everywhere. In very rare cases, it can affect the whole body, but those are due to things like severe meningitis that caused inflammation of the lining of the brain. I've never had meningitis (and I'm sure I'd know if the lining of my brain had ever been affected as I'd have been hospitalised!). 

4. In very rare cases there seems to be a hereditary link, but there's no history of anything like it in my family. 

 

So if I have it, it would have to be idiopathic, and I'd be in an incredibly rare subset of an incredibly rare subset of an incredibly rare subset. It's just not credible! 

So then the irrational part of my brain replies: "Alright smartass, so what is it then??"

[Doug97 19]

Could it be fibromyalgia? 

[PennyPanic 276]

Hi Doug,

I have this too...in fact going through a bout of it now. If you look around here you'll see lots of people commenting on "burning skin." 

I have something similar to this:

23 hours ago, Ihadcancer said:

 A slap wouldn't hurt me.... loose, soft clothing hurts more than leggings. 

I've had it come and go for decades. It is scary, no doubt, but for me (thankfully) it does pass AND it migrates. It can be anywhere.
Last Sat night, we went out to dinner with friends and afterwards they invited us to their house for coffee...as I walked in, I felt like I had been stung on the calf...it was so painful. Nothing was there. Like I kept checking my calf only to see perfectly normal skin. For me each "episode" generally lasts 3 days before migrating to another location but I've also had them last for much much much longer than that.

I hope I've helped.


 

[Doug97 19]

Thanks for your reply Penny. Yes my pain migrates too, it can move to somewhere else in the space of minutes. And for example, today it wasn't too bad in the morning, then after lunch it erupted, like switching on a light. 

It's good to know others have this! Did you ever speak to a doctor about it? 

[PennyPanic 276]

I did....about 2 decades ago....and he looked at me funny.

He never pursued it and I didn't pursue it either.

Honestly, when it has "gone away" it's been gone for a long long long time...like years...so I forget about it.

Then it comes back...and then it goes ...and then...you get the picture.

I suppose I should have followed up on it but I had "other bigger anxiety fish to fry" that were taking my full attention.

L

PS One more thing...for what it's worth...I think I get the "flare ups" when I'm particulary upset or stressed (which I am right now) which explains my current flare up. 

[Doug97 19]

Have you noticed any painkillers or other medication that helps? I've tried acetaminophen (paracetamol), ibuprofen, naproxen, codeine and the doc has given me pregabalin, but none of them seem to make any difference. Another reason to think it's not normal pain but is all being generated by my brain, I suppose. 

[PennyPanic 276]

On 9/18/2021 at 6:45 AM, Doug97 said:

Have you noticed any painkillers or other medication that helps? I've tried acetaminophen (paracetamol), ibuprofen, naproxen, codeine and the doc has given me pregabalin, but none of them seem to make any difference. Another reason to think it's not normal pain but is all being generated by my brain, I suppose. 

I haven't found any painkillers that help. The only thing that helps is time...Generally each area lasts 3 days...then it migrates. Of course some last shorter, others longer..I have a new area of burning skin just today...not too bad but noticeable. Skin looks normal. Sigh...but I'm in a very anxious state lately. I try to ignore it....and then one day I realize "wow I haven't had that skin pain in a while." It's so weird, I know. I wish I had actual answers for you. All I can say is, "you're not alone." ...and if you search this board you'll see zillions of others of us have had it as well.

[Doug97 19]

But you've already given me answers. It seems clear to me now that it's psychosomatic symptoms being generated by my anxious brain. After reading your previous reply I woke up yesterday with zero pain. This proves it isn't the terrible disease I feared. OK I'm a bit sore tonight but I've still got the flu, and the prospect of giving a lecture to 100 university students tomorrow morning! 

[PennyPanic 276]

I'm so glad I was helpful. It's so weird how it comes and goes. I always think of it as my body trying to tell me something such as "Hey, you need to relax." LOL!

[Doug97 19]

Something else that's helped me way more than I thought it would is an app called Curable. Someone on here or another site recommended it and it's really working. Within a few days it's completely rearranged how I think about pain. Never before did I even conceive of the possibility that you can simultaneously be in pain and enjoy life! 

There's a lot more to the app than that, but I no longer fear my pain nearly as much. It's a hard concept to get your head around, but I'm telling you, if you can separate the pain from the fear it causes, and cancel the fear (which is possible because the pain is a false alarm - there's nothing actually wrong with your skin!), the pain just becomes a harmless bodily sensation like any other.*

Like I said, there's a lot more to the idea than my rather breathless summary; it's about rewiring the neural pathways in the brain, which really is possible (and no it's not pseudoscience or a scam, it's based on the latest scientific research**). 

*admittedly my pain was a 6/10 at most, those in genuine agony may scoff with justification. 

**like, actual scientific research, published in peer-reviewed journals, not Dr Oz "based on scientific research***" 

***not actually based on scientific research 

[Doug97 19]

Too many asterisks? 

[Kindra 87]

I get this on my arms, currently have it in my right armpit, for about 6 weeks, sometimes goes down to my bicep and forearm. It’s uncomfortable! I honestly don’t know what causes it, but I’ve had it come and go over the years and honestly, I think I have a pinched or trapped nerve somewhere. Hope you are feeling better soon!

[PennyPanic 276]

20 hours ago, Doug97 said:

Something else that's helped me way more than I thought it would is an app called Curable. Someone on here or another site recommended it and it's really working. Within a few days it's completely rearranged how I think about pain. Never before did I even conceive of the possibility that you can simultaneously be in pain and enjoy life! 

There's a lot more to the app than that, but I no longer fear my pain nearly as much. It's a hard concept to get your head around, but I'm telling you, if you can separate the pain from the fear it causes, and cancel the fear (which is possible because the pain is a false alarm - there's nothing actually wrong with your skin!), the pain just becomes a harmless bodily sensation like any other.*

Like I said, there's a lot more to the idea than my rather breathless summary; it's about rewiring the neural pathways in the brain, which really is possible (and no it's not pseudoscience or a scam, it's based on the latest scientific research**). 

*admittedly my pain was a 6/10 at most, those in genuine agony may scoff with justification. 

**like, actual scientific research, published in peer-reviewed journals, not Dr Oz "based on scientific research***" 

***not actually based on scientific research 

Thank you for sharing this. I will absolutely check it out.

BTW *** Asterisks rock! *** 

[Doug97 19]

Just an update on this. 

When I fully accepted that all of my skin pain and weird sensations were 100% due to anxiety ... they stopped! I have not had them for 3 days now!

The same goes for my muscle twitching, except for my calves. They are still constantly twitching, but the twitching everywhere else has stopped!

So I'm left with one single symptom, when before I had about 10! 

I can't believe how powerful the brain is at generating symptoms! I mean, it literally was making my skin burn and my muscles twitch! 

[Doug97 19]

PS since I STILL have no weakness in my legs, in fact on the leg press at the gym I have been steadily going up in weight lifted, I no longer believe I have ALS. 

[PennyPanic 276]

Excellent news and well done!