Since the time my symptoms began (almost a year ago), I’ve occasionally experienced what I can only describe as phantom itches. I go to scratch the itch, and it doesn’t seem to be the place that actually itches! About 2 weeks ago, I’ve started having extreme, intense, painful itches all over my body. Its mostly on the top of my feet, my face, my legs, and back. Nothing will make it stop. I feel like I have mosquito bites everywhere, the kind of itch where you scratch until you bleed! Its very bizarre. Its at all different times of the day, it isn’t caused by my meds or food that I eat. There are no rashes or bug bites.
I also just started getting burning sensations around my body, in a similar way as the itches. I get a rush of heat feeling. Its hard to describe.
I called my NL finally today, and they’re going to get me in in a few days. Does anyone else have this? I know that its neuropathic in nature. I do have some stenosis, ddd, and herniated discs, as well as fibro. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks!
Thanks Beeba. I did some research on this and the shingles did come up a few times. All of my senses are on overdrive. My brain seems to misfire signals all the time. Last night after hours of intense itching, it suddenly stopped. Then the whole right side of my head was burning and painful. My ear, cheek, and neck were flushed. A half hour later, the back of my head got very tingly, pins and needles, with dull pain. I never experienced that before, so it scared me a little. This morning, my head pressure is very intense. Major pains in the back of my head, neck, an upper back. I can hear the whooshing sounds in my ears, and I’m having bouts of feeling faint. I defiantly overdid it yesterday by doing yardwork. It sure did a number on me!
I would get random spots of phantom itching on occasion before surgery but more often I got the random spots of burning. It would feel like someone was putting a match against my skin. I feel that they are chiari related because they are very rare for me post-op.
I have had shingles more than once and while they can itch it's more of a burning sensation. It won't be all over your body either and will be on one side only. It follows nerve pathways. It starts with your skin feeling very sensitive in one spot (I always break out on the left side of my waist). If your clothes even lightly brush you it's excruciating. Then the rash and tiny blisters appear a day or two later. It's very painful and you'll feel all around awful until it passes.
The itching, burning, pins and needles, and tingling isn’t happening every day. I experience it completely randomly, it seems. No new meds, different times of day, on both sides of my body, I’ve been paying close attention to anything that could have started an allergic reaction. From whati have read, this could be from spinal cord pressure. I’m seeing my neurologist this morning. Hopefully he can give me some insight on this. My headaches and pressure in my head have been significantly worse lately too. I’m starting to get really frustrated with the ever-growing list of symptoms! Thanks!
I saw my NL today and told him about my new symptoms. He looked over my radiology reports (1 out of 3 brain MRI’S says that there are no findings. The same radiologist found 7 mm Chiari on cervical spine MRI. Go figure). He started hemming and hawing around the Chiari thing. Told me I should never have surgery unless it becomes a life threatening situation. Then he said that my “situation” is a combination of real pain issues and stress induced symptoms. He said that there are no lesions on my brain scan, so no MS. He said that Chiari causes all kinds of weird symptoms. He ordered some bloodwork and wrote me a rx for prednisone. He also started the long, painful process of getting approval from my insurance company for botox injections for the headaches. Every little bit helps!