Erythromelalgia is a rare distressing condition this is not easy to treat and primarily impacts the feet and also hands. This condition is characterised by the triad of redness, warmness along with burning discomfort. The attacks of this disorder are periodic and range from a few minutes to days. Episodes will usually commence with a mild itching, but after that moves on to severe pain and the burning sensation. The foot or hand will end up warmer, tender as well as bloated along with look a red colour. The attacks are certainly disabling and might have a considerable impact on the person with an affect on the standard of living and the capability to undertake many of the normal things to do of day to day life.
There's two different types of erythromelalgia. One is the primary variety that tends to have an affect on younger individuals and it is in all probability due to a inherited genetic trait that make nerves more active. The secondary kind has a tendency to have an affect on older individuals and is due to an underlying problem which include diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, some blood problems as well as a side affect to some medicines. There are a variety of problems that resemble erythromelalgia and physicians will likely need to distinguish it from them included in the analysis. Included in this are disorders such as chronic pain syndromes, chilblains and also burning foot disease.
The management of erythromelalgia is difficult as there is hardly any one therapy that seems to help everybody along with the response to treatment is very variable between people. The initial approach is usually to prevent circumstances which trigger an attack for instance a warm bath, environment triggers or certain foods. Most people with it will find relief from cooling with the aid of an air conditioner in addition to cooling skin gels. Some do make use of immersion of the feet or hands in icy water but this is just not advisable as this may bring about moisture accumulation of the skin and maybe chilblains plus they may perhaps develop a secondary infection.
For the second kind of erythromelalgia, treatment will likely be aimed at management of the underlying medical problem, and this can often be very useful. With the primary type of erythromelalgia the management of the pain sensation is often much more difficult with the response to different medicines being diverse among individuals. Often anti-inflammatory medicines are tried, but are frequently not helpful. Medicine which obstruct the channels in the nerves that make the nerves overactive are sometimes tested out and these do often assist some. The anticonvulsant medicines such as gabapentin will help a few. There are some topical cream medicines that many find helpful for example capsaicin. With the most severe circumstances sympathetic nerve injections or surgery on the back nerves which does involve surgical treatment on the back can be performed. Nevertheless, the final results of these are varying. When the discomfort is intense and the problem is difficult to deal with and has such an impact on the everyday life of those who have got erythromelalgia it's a good idea that all individuals with it have a appointment with a pain management expert and clinical psychologists to help them cope with the symptoms and learn the techniques which might be helpful for coping.
