Medical question - what could cause this?

[poohandwendy]

oops, wrong thread...don't mind me...

 

[helenabear]

how is she immune to chicken pox?

some people have a natural immunity as well. No one in my family has ever gotten them. When tested, I will show antibodies for that virus. My body just naturally will fight that virus off w/o any problems. Happens a LOT MORE often than you think.

Wishing Lauri all the best. Anything I can think of would be pure speculation. And a couple are usually caused by viruses under the skin. Good luck to her though, and I do hope that she is feeling a bit better soon. Good luck to you to get her to call and change the appt to sooner

 

[LBAK]

I"m going to go with peripheral neuropathy too. I experience these burning sensations due to the PN. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and Sjogrens Syndrome and my rheumy warned me years ago that I could develop PN due to these diseases. Wish Lauri a pain-free day.

 

[golfgal]

Immiunity to chicken pox aside, if she has never had chicken pox, she can't get shingles. The shingles virus lives in your nerve endings and are 'left' there after chicken pox.

Hopefully you find some answers. The only thing I can think of is something to do with the arthritis. Another possibility with the skin thing might be a Scleroderma but I don't know if the burning sensation fits that.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Sounds to me like it *could* be peripheral neuropathy...which definitely could be a result of her auto-immune disorder problems. I know someone who has Lupus and had similar problems. I have no idea how this was treated, though. I have not seen her in years. But I remember it was a neurological problem due to the Lupus. Definitely something to bring up at the next doctors visit, for sure.

Sheesh, like Lauri hasn't had enough to deal with. I hope she is feeling better soon.

(btw, as a totally off the wall side question, does Lauri have issues with anesthesia/pain killers not working correctly? I ask because I have done some research into this after reading about a study showing that some red heads do not have the same reactions to anesthesia as other people. I had a cardiac ablation where the drugs they gave me did not do a thing for me and a few of my red headed relatives have had similar experiences with pain meds/anesthesia. just wondering if Lauri has every experienced something like that?)

Hey Wendy

Lauri's never been under anesthesia but her doctor did tell her what you said - that when the day comes since she will be going through joint replacements in her future, she may need more anesthesia than other people because of this "redhead syndrome".

Not sure about whether she has problems with pain killers. Lauri has this freaky thing she has developed where if you can give her 15 seconds, she can talk her brain out of sensing pain. She does it when she goes through painful tests or cortisone shots. Her doctor is amazed that she can have needles stuck straight into her knee and not even see one tiny sign of flinching on her face.

I don't know how she does it, but she also can talk her brain out of being ticklish which works to my disadvantage since I start laughing at the thought of being tickled.

Unfortunately this mind trick she does can't block out the chronic pain, but I do believe she is withstanding a LOT more pain on a daily basis than she is letting on to. There is several times a week that she literally cannot walk but she pretends that it is not a big deal.

So you know (sorry for the rambling) maybe she does have issues with the morphine and hydrocodone not working as well as it should for her but she'd be the last to admit it. I do know that Prednisone has ZERO effect on her.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

Oh, and on the shingles thing. Even if she did have chickenpox in a really mild case some point as a child and it went undetected, I had the shingles about 4 yrs ago. We had no idea what it was and Lauri was poking at the rash on my side going "ewww.. what is it?" long before it was diagnosed and still.. she came out of the deal without the tiniest problem. Can't say I fared as well.

 

[Disney Doll]

Neuropathy???MS??? The elevated CPKs means something, as they are indicative of muscle damage.

 

[poohandwendy]

Hey Wendy

Lauri's never been under anesthesia but her doctor did tell her what you said - that when the day comes since she will be going through joint replacements in her future, she may need more anesthesia than other people because of this "redhead syndrome".

Not sure about whether she has problems with pain killers. Lauri has this freaky thing she has developed where if you can give her 15 seconds, she can talk her brain out of sensing pain. She does it when she goes through painful tests or cortisone shots. Her doctor is amazed that she can have needles stuck straight into her knee and not even see one tiny sign of flinching on her face.

I don't know how she does it, but she also can talk her brain out of being ticklish which works to my disadvantage since I start laughing at the thought of being tickled.

Unfortunately this mind trick she does can't block out the chronic pain, but I do believe she is withstanding a LOT more pain on a daily basis than she is letting on to. There is several times a week that she literally cannot walk but she pretends that it is not a big deal.

So you know (sorry for the rambling) maybe she does have issues with the morphine and hydrocodone not working as well as it should for her but she'd be the last to admit it. I do know that Prednisone has ZERO effect on her.

Interesting. LOL, sounds like she has some great mind-over-body will power. I can imagine there is no way she could use that 24/7, so for chronic pain...she is out of luck. But, really cool that she can block it temporarily. I can do something similar, but it takes absolute concentration and I am easily distracted so it doesn't always help. Glad to hear her doctor is ahead of the game that way.

Well, tell her I hope she is feeling better soon. It's got to be really weird to feel like she is getting randomly burned. What an odd sensation!

 

[PeterPanette]

Another thing that makes me think it may be some form of neuropathy is the fact that the pain meds don't touch it. From what I've researched, pain meds are ineffective on neuropathy.

Does applying pressure to the area relieve the pain? Like massaging? That's the only thing that would give me relief until I found the homeopathic remedy I'm taking.

 

[Shugardrawers]

Well I certainly haven't the vaguest idea but it sounds like there are some possible culprits posted here to get her started. I just wanted to say we hope she feels better very soon because Petey is just DYING to go to Three Dog Bakery with Riley when Lauri feels up to it

 

[Microcell]

I had something similar, in my mid section, where it was burning and hot and itchy beyond belief, it turned out to be a Staph infection and I was otherwise healthy. My doc said she couldn't believe it would be that but treated with antibiotics just to be safe while they tested the blood. When she called back she told me that it was Staph, and could be serious if left untreated, so I should call if it ever happens again and get an antibiotic called in immediately. I can take alot of pain (like I am sure ML deal with too) and this was excrutiating to me. I would rather give birth without painkillers!

It happened again and I called the practice late Friday afternoon immediately upon onset and the other doc said I was 29 and healthy so he wanted to see me on Monday. I got rather upset so he called in the antibiotic. It cleared up quickly.

Rosie O Donnell had it after a surgery and talked about it on her show that she almost died.

Just another idea. If it sounds like it I would call her doc today.

 

[2sweetangels]

has anybody in her past ever do that to her? I mean if she can explaine what kind of burning feeling it is such as a cigarette being put out on her and a hot curling iron, maybe it was done to her in the past otherwise how would she know what those burns feel like? I would check into it.

 

[kaylajr]

Thanks Cool-Beans. She knows she should call. She's a hard headed redhead though and she practically has to be screaming in pain before she'll call her Rheumy. I'll work on her though. Maybe I'll threaten to rat her out.

Okay still reading the thread so I am not all caught up yet

but tellher if she doesn't call I will call every doctor inthe phone book down there till I find the right one and rat her out

and if she thinks about it she knows I will do it

 

[kaylajr]

Okay now I read the whole thing

tell her I am Worried and I want her to PLEASE call her doctor ( or I will)

 

[lewdyan1]

I hate hearing news like this! Please let Lauri know I am thinking about her! I have only one piece of advice, tell her to get off her tush and call the doctor! Now!

 

[grinningghost]

I have MS and have those sensations quite often. Usually on my legs. It's described as nerve pain, to put it in it's most basic term. I hope Lauri feels better soon.

 

[luvwinnie]

I actually had this when my autoimmune disease first developed. It went away once I got treatment, but I don't know what caused it really. Please give her my best.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

has anybody in her past ever do that to her? I mean if she can explaine what kind of burning feeling it is such as a cigarette being put out on her and a hot curling iron, maybe it was done to her in the past otherwise how would she know what those burns feel like? I would check into it.

I thought this was kind of an odd question because I never thought of how she would know how that feels. I just assumed she was comparing it to the closest thing she could think of.

But, being the investigative husband I am, I asked her.

She said (and I quote) "Duh, what woman that was a teenager in the 80's DOESN'T know what it feels like to have a hot curling iron touch your skin with those crazy hair-dos" and about the cigarette thing, she reminded me of an incident at WDW when we were on a Friendship boat that was really crowded and we were standing out on the back deck. We were going as fast as those boats will go, and there was this jerk a couple of people ahead of us smoking. He flicked the cigarette towards the water but the wind caught it and blew it right into her arm and the force of the wind and the speed of the boat kept it there for a second or two until she could shake it off. So, yeah, she's been burnt by a cigarette before.

She said she picked those references because the areas that feel like they are burning are small. Otherwise she would have used the "gunpowder exploding in your hand" or "2nd degree grease burns on your hands and under your fingernails" comparison because she said she has experience in those too.

I'm beginning to think my wife is accident prone.

Anyway, her doctor is on vacation so she wasn't able to talk to him. He is back on Tuesday but she's claiming that the burning sensations went away. Uhhuh, I think it's more of a stop nagging me ploy.

Thanks, everyone, for your input and wishes

 

[Cool-Beans]

Oh, yes, I went from age 10-20 in the 80s! I know very well how a curling iron burn feels. And how it feels to lose hair that got stuck in the curling brush!

I got right away what she meant about the cigarette, using it for size and sensation. Another fun part of the 80s was hearing about all the poor souls who got cigarettes put out on them. Abused people and nuclear war were the hot topics. Oh, and incest. That was big then (to talk about), too.

I really hope she's better. If she's faking and needs a good butt-whipping to get her to the doctor, let us know. We'll come marching!