What does the medical term erythromelalgia mean?
Medical Definition of erythromelalgia : a state of excessive dilation of the superficial blood vessels of the feet or more rarely the hands accompanied by hyperemia, increased skin temperature, and burning pain.
What is secondary erythromelalgia?
Abstract. Erythromelalgia is a rare neurovascular pain syndrome characterized by a triad of redness, increased temperature, and burning pain primarily in the extremities.
Is erythromelalgia a disability?
Symptoms are episodic and can result in severe disability. Triggers, such as exposure to warmth, pressure or exercise, become apparent to those afflicted with this condition; however, triggers may be unavoidable during the course of daily living. There are no diagnostic tests for EM.
Is erythromelalgia a blood disorder?
Erythromelalgia (ur-i-thruh-muh-lal-jah) is a rare condition in which excess blood flow causes periodic symptom flares. It’s a chronic condition, meaning that it stays with you for life.
What is erythromelalgia associated with?
Erythromelalgia in thrombocythemia occurs in association with essential thrombocytosis and polycythemia vera.
How do you calm erythromelalgia?
Erythromelalgia treatment includes avoiding exposure to heat, resting, elevating the legs or arms, and applying cold packs to the legs or arms or immersing them in cold water. These measures sometimes relieve symptoms or prevent attacks.
Can erythromelalgia affect the ears?
Erythromelalgia is a rare condition that causes episodes of burning pain and redness in the feet, and sometimes the hands, arms, legs, ears and face. Symptoms of erythromelalgia can begin at any age. Some people may have had it from early childhood, while some are only affected as adults.
Can you have Raynaud’s and erythromelalgia?
Although the 2 conditions may appear to be opposites in symptomatology and clinical presentation, there are very rare reports of their coexistence. A case of coexistent erythromelalgia and Raynaud’s phenomenon is presented.
Can erythromelalgia affect the eyes?
In general, the most common symptoms of erythromelalgia are swelling, tenderness, a deep painful aching of soft tissue (radiating or shooting sensation), and painful burning sensations in the hands and feet. The feet are more often affected, but symptoms can also affect the hands, face, and eyes.
Is erythromelalgia a rare disease?
Erythromelalgia is a rare disorder that can affect your feet, hands and other areas. Symptoms may come and go.
Can erythromelalgia affect ears?
Abstract. Erythromelalgia is characterized by episodes of erythematous, warm, burning acral skin, which is exacerbated by heat and relieved by cold. Erythromelalgia usually affects the feet and/or hands but, although rare, erythromelalgia may affect the ears.
What causes erythromelalgia flare ups?
The condition primarily affects your feet, legs, arms, and hands. Erythromelalgia flare-ups are triggered by exposure to rising temperatures, like when you exercise or are in very warm climates. The condition can occur on its own or be caused by another condition.
Does erythromelalgia cause death?
We provide the first available data on the natural history of disease and quality-of-life measures in these patients and demonstrate that erythromelalgia is a clinical syndrome associated with significant mortality and morbidity.
Does erythromelalgia cause fatigue?
Its early symptoms include severe burning pain in the hands and feet and sometimes in the arms and legs. These episodes may last only a few minutes or days, and are sometimes associated with exercise, fatigue, and/or fever.
Is erythromelalgia autoimmune?
These findings suggest an underlying autoimmune component to the development of erythermalgia. Erythermalgia is a rare condition comprising a triad of symptoms including red, hot, painful distal extremities in the setting of a trigger, such as exercise or warmth.
What is the erythromelalgia gene?
As one of the human heritable pain disorders, primary erythromelalgia (PE) is characterized by the triad of recurrent burning pain, warmth and redness of the extremities. The causative gene for PE, SCN9A, encodes a voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) subtype Nav1.
Do people with erythromelalgia commit suicide?
In addition, however, the symptoms of erythromelalgia can be so severe as to cause significant despair and depression leading to suicide. The incidence rate is one to two cases per 100,000 people per year.
Can antihistamines help with erythromelalgia?
A survey of the members of The Erythromelalgia Association reported marked improvement in 40% of patients with antihistamine, but not in 60%. This includes use of desloratadine, chlorpheniramine, and diphenhydramine.
Is there a blood test for erythromelalgia?
There’s no specific test for diagnosing erythromelalgia.
What kind of doctor do you see for erythromelalgia?
Doctor’s Response Sometimes the diagnosis can be difficult and may only become apparent over time. Neurologists can often provide diagnoses for these symptoms. A reasonable alternative would be a rheumatologist.
Does gabapentin help erythromelalgia?
Gabapentin, an anticonvulsant, has been reported to be effective in managing a variety of chronic pain states. [19,20] We report two patients for whom several previously described treatments for the pain of erythromelalgia were ineffective and whose symptoms resolved after the institution of therapy with gabapentin.
What is the etymology of the word erythromelalgia?
Etymology: Gk, erythros + melos, limb, algos, pain. a rare disorder characterized by a paroxysmal dilation of the peripheral blood vessels. It occurs bilaterally, usually in the extremities, and is associated with burning, redness of the skin, and pain. erythromelalgic, adj.
What are the symptoms of erythromelalgia?
General Discussion. Erythromelalgia is a rare condition that primarily affects the feet and, less commonly, the hands (extremities). It is characterized by intense, burning pain of affected extremities, severe redness (erythema), and increased skin temperature that may be episodic or almost continuous in nature.
What are the classifications of primary erythromelalgia?
Primary erythromelalgia may be classified as either familial or sporadic, with the familial form inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Both of these may be further classified as either juvenile or adult onset.
What are the treatments for erythromelalgia?
Although aspirin has been thought to reduce symptoms of erythromelalgia, it is rare to find evidence that this is effective. Mechanical cooling of the limbs by elevating them can help or managing the ambient environment frequently is often necessary constantly as flares occur due to sympathetic autonomic dysfunction of the capillaries.