Just curious, does anyone notice that if you fall asleep while flaring then if you get woken up and scared out of your sleep it makes the flare worse? I’m guessing it happens because our nerves jump so it causes the sodium channels to act up therefore causes us to flare more.?
Stress or strong emotions can make my ears trigger or my face flush, but doesn't seem to affect my feet or hands. It could have to do with change in BP, heartrate or mast cell activation in my case, but I don't know what mechanisms are involved,
Yes, this happens to me as well. It activates my “fight or flight” response which involves the sympathetic nervous system. My adrenal glands release adrenaline (epinephrine) and other hormones that increase breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. I notice when I am in a very stressful situation, my hands automatically turn bright red and then it goes away once the stressful event is over. This is on top of causing a foot flare which takes longer to go away.
I haven't noticed this making my flares worse, but my toes are usually flaring when I lay down to go to sleep, and I do (somewhat frequently) startle out of my sleep shortly after dozing for no apparent reason - sometimes I awaken to a loud sound - a crash or bang or loud voice... but then realize that there was no sound, that it was some kind of dream. I've been fighting anxiety disorder (possibly PTSD) since about 2 years before I developed EM, so I would certainly not count out stress levels and the "fight or flight" response as triggers or related conditions to EM.
YES!!!! Any strong emotion triggers a flare for me. ears, face, neck, chest and most recently my upper back. Even watching a movie on TV can trigger it if something in the story is sad or upsetting for me. I have never been a shy person, but now when i speak in front of people i feel self conscious and it triggers a burning hot and very red flare up on my entire upper body.
Yes when I’m really anxious or upset I get worse flaring almost immediately, I guess the body releases a lot of stress chemicals when in a bad emotional state and these can set of the EM.
If something has me upset {often when talking to my ex} I flare. Lightning scared me..startled me into waking up the other night and I felt like my foot was resting in a red ant hill. So yes emotions, stress etc will set me off. I do not recall flares of joy though.
Cindy R
Oh I know for sure stress is a flare starter but I’m talking about does the feeling of tight nerves when being startled trigger a flare?
What do you mean by tight nerves? A startled feeling? If so, my answer is yes, this starts a flare for me. It may not be that way for others with EM, but I have an anxiety disorder.
You know like when your nerves tighten up when you get scared, like you jump up?
I've had an anxiety disorder since I was a teen and it got worse around 2006. Since 2007 I've been treated with different anxiety and depression meds(also been diagnosed with PTSD before but it seems to go on and off my mental diagnosis depending on what doctor I have at that time). In 2009 I started noticing the burning in my feet. This past month has been very stressful for me and I've certainly noticed a huge increase in my burning pain and swelling and overall aching of my hands and feet. Also this past month I've noticed my ears and especially my face being extremly hot and insensitive to cold. I think I want to get off all my meds and just start clean. I've been on neurontin since 2008 for anxiety in increasingly higher doses for the EM when it started and it's done nothing for me as far as I can tell. But I can't even tell anymore.
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Hi Danny, sorry to hear about your psychical issues. I'm sure it has much more to do with EM than people would ever expect. My EM started winter 2008/09 after years of extremely cold feet/hands and after horrible and very stressful autumn so I'm sure it is related. I believe most of ilnesses and diseases in this world are caused by stress. Btw I'm surprised bout the meds you on, tbh I don't think neurontin could be successful in anxiety treatment. ( just read the indication). For me and my anxiety and depression SSRI were always very helpful. I also started to use them again after EM has appeared, I can't tell for sure but I believe it helped.
NiceGuyDanny said:
I've had an anxiety disorder since I was a teen and it got worse around 2006. Since 2007 I've been treated with different anxiety and depression meds(also been diagnosed with PTSD before but it seems to go on and off my mental diagnosis depending on what doctor I have at that time). In 2009 I started noticing the burning in my feet. This past month has been very stressful for me and I've certainly noticed a huge increase in my burning pain and swelling and overall aching of my hands and feet. Also this past month I've noticed my ears and especially my face being extremly hot and insensitive to cold. I think I want to get off all my meds and just start clean. I've been on neurontin since 2008 for anxiety in increasingly higher doses for the EM when it started and it's done nothing for me as far as I can tell. But I can't even tell anymore.