Erythromelalgia is a infrequent uncomfortable condition that is difficult to deal with and largely has an effect on the feet as well as the hands. It is characterized by the symptoms of redness, increased temperature along with burning pain. The episodes for this condition are periodic and last anywhere from a few minutes to days. Episodes will usually get started with a simple itchiness, but after that moves on to intense pain and a burning sensation. The feet or hands will become hotter, sensitive and bloated as well as take on a red tone. The attacks are extremely debilitating and can have a significant effect on the person with an affect on the quality of living as well as the ability to perform many of the common activities of daily life.
There are 2 types of erythromelalgia. One is the primary kind which is likely to have an impact on younger people and it is almost certainly due to a inherited genetic mutation that will make nerve cells more excitable. The secondary type usually affect older persons and it is because of an underpinning medical problem such as all forms of diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, some blood conditions as well as a side affect to particular drug treatments. There are a number of problems which resemble erythromelalgia and physicians will have to differentiate it from them included in the investigation. Included in this are problems like chronic pain disorders, chilblains and also burning feet disorder.
Treating erythromelalgia is complex as there is no one treatment that appears to assist every person along with the response to medication is rather variable between people. The primary method is usually to prevent conditions which set off an attack such as a hot bath, environmental triggers or certain foods. Most people with erythromelalgia do find relief from cooling down with the use of air conditioning along with cooling gels. A few do make use of immersion of the arm or leg into cool water however, this is just not advised as this can bring about maceration in the skin and even chilblains and they may very well have a secondary infection.
With the second kind of erythromelalgia, management is usually directed at therapy for the underpinning medical condition, which can often be beneficial. For the primary variety of erythromelalgia the management of the pain is commonly a great deal more challenging with the response to various drugs being different between individuals. Often anti-inflammatory drugs are tried, but they are frequently unhelpful. Drugs that block the channels in the nerve cells which will make the nerve impulses over active are often experimented with and these do tend to help some. The anticonvulsant medicines such as gabapentin could help a few. Usually there are some topical drugs that a few find useful which include capsaicin. With the most severe cases sympathetic block or a sympathectomy which does involve surgery on the back might be carried out. Nonetheless, the outcomes of surgery are mixed. As the pain is intense and the disorder is difficult to deal with and it has such an affect on the day to day life of those that have got erythromelalgia it's a good idea that all those with erythromelalgia get a assessment with a pain treatment specialist and clinical psychologists to assist them to handle the symptoms and discover the strategies which are good for coping with it.