Hi everyone,
I’m not sure if I’m using this post correctly since I’ve never been apart of an online support group–so bare with me!
But I have questions and for whatever reason I can’t seem to get answers from different doctors that I’ve seen. Background: I’ve lived my entire life in Arizona. My body has always been used to extremely hot weather. If anything, I thought if the weather was below 85 degrees, then it was time to put a jacket on. I recently just moved to South Dakota and am experiencing for the first time ever what it means to see snow and experience weather in the negatives. I still haven’t adjusted and my body has responded strangely.
Recently I found my body temp fluctuating. I was getting dizzy more often and was experiencing shortness of breath. My feet were relatively itchy for a while, but it didn’t become scary until my feet felt as though they were on fire and it woke me up from my sleep. My foot was beat red, swollen and hot to the touch. This has gone on almost every day in the evening, or after I work out.
I’ve been an anxious mess and I guess I need to know if there’s a chance this is temporary. I’ve never experienced anything like this and every doctor I’ve met can’t give me any answers. Can this be just my body responding to cold weather and trying to adjust? Or should I anticipate a future of experiencing this pain?
I feel for you and your struggles because I have been there and am still there. The anxiety has impacted my life to the point that I just raised my dosage to 100 mg a day for the anti-anxiety med (sertraline) I started taking recently after seeking help. Please seek out a Psychiatrist who can help you if it’s as bad as mine got. Or you could try cognitive behavior with a psychologist. Is your anxiety from having no answers or from the anxiety of being around others with this condition (which was mine). I have started to do things to really build up my confidence and I have started working out which has given me more confidence and helped channel out negative thoughts. I live in Colorado where it hits the 90’s in the summer and right now it’s winter and freezing. What I have noticed is my hands are like a more purplish red color in the cold and the tomato red color when the high temps bother me. The big temperature change and the shortness of breath etc. could be your bodies immediate reaction to adjustment. Your feet are probably struggling with the temp. change of the high temp working out going into the cold temp. Have you been diagnosed officially by a doc in AZ? If you have, bring all the paperwork you have and find a rheumatologist in your area. Bring a printout that explains what EM is if they don’t know what it is. You want to make sure you have been tested for everything. There are different meds others on this forum have tried and had different rates of success with for the pain. Are you having your blood checked every 6 months as routinely recommended for those with EM? I can tell you anxiety WILL increase the flares. My hands felt like they were on fire when I was very anxious so I would go to a cooler temp room/close my eyes with my hands above my head and focus on my breath. This really helps. I know my condition is worsening and thats why I am so adamant you get the right help to because there could be another underlying condition causing your EM that could be very serious. I do blood tests every 6 months so I can catch anything that may be possibly cancerous (used to hate blood tests but not anymore). Seek out docs around S.D, my local doctors are terrible so I have driven 6 hrs to seek better docs and even went to the Mayo Clinic in Minn. in March. I am here to support you in any way I can.