How do I know if I have it? One doc thought it was but he’s left state, replacement knows nothing about EM. My pictures don’t look like those I see on this site. I get red very swollen toes with burning pain mostly at night. Using voltaren gel topically helps so I can sleep. Cold seems more of a trigger than heat, along with being on feet a lot. Oh, and I also have Reynauds.
Raynaud’s can cause reactive hyperemia that mimics EM. Cold is the trigger for Raynaud’s. If your symptoms are elicited by heat and alleviated by cold and/or elevation that would be consistent with EM.
Thanks, Carter, for your response. If it is a reaction to Reynauds, I assume it would happen after my toes get reduced blood flow due to cold and then I warm them. I also assume it wouldn’t last more than a few minutes. The swelling I get lasts a while and is helped by elevation, but only over a period of time.
The defining feature of erythromelalgia is erythema elicited by heat. If you can consistently provoke erythema in your toes by placing them in front of a heater that’s blowing heat on them, there is a good chance you have erythromelalgia. Erythema provoked by heat is a prerequisite for an erythromelalgia diagnosis.