Please help me figure this out. I'm a 19 year old female
This has been going on for a few years I expect. I never really had a problem with it til recently. My hands turn red at random intervals (I haven't been able to figure out a solid pattern no matter how much I try). They get a mottled, hot red color. This happens mainly on my entire palm area and around my knuckles. It just gets unbearably hot, almost like a strong blushing you'd get in your face on normal circumstances, although it behaves more like a rash with a mind of it's own. There is no pain, itching, spots or anything but redness. There MIGHT be slight swelling involved, but not usually. I don't have any indents upon pressure or stuff like that.
Sometimes the redness won't be consistent and it will end up on one hand, and not the other, or it will happen on one portion of my skin and the other part be extremely cold (not cold like Raynauds or anything).
It used to only be limited to my hands, but now it's doing it to my feet sometimes too. And my other joints. (elbows knees) Which brings me to believe this is some sort of arthritis or something.
Most of the time I'm ice cold, but then something happens that makes my extremities go out of whack and they'll start to do the red, hot thing. It's painless, except for the occasional throbbing. I can understand this maybe my nerves or something, because lately I've been feeling short tiny bursts of pain in random areas around where this happens. The pain is really minor.
The questionable pattern I've only recently noticed was that mostly this will happen after I've been feeling cold in my arms and feet and stuff. Then the heat will suddenly flood back into me like it forgot to before and is trying to make up for it by giving me a lot in the places most susceptible to frost bite, but overheating them uncomfortably (not painfully). Then it will spread to certain areas and leave others cold and then disappear again for a period of time, before coming back.
It happens multiple times a day and it's not preventing me from life, it's just horribly annoying, and with this nerve pain I'm experiencing lately I don't really want this to turn into anything serious. It's like my body doesn't know the effective way to regulate heat anymore. It has undoubtedly gotten worse over the years. The heat sometimes is triggered by contact with things. That could mean allergies, but I'm not buying it. My allergy medicine works, but it doesn't prevent this. :been allergy tested:
Another thing is the cold. It's annoying. My normal temperature is 95.7° F and I'm freezing most of the time I'm not experiencing the intense heat in my hands. (and yes our heating bill is paid =P) I don't like cold, but I'm not comfortable in warm environments because of the hand thing. But I can live with the cold, because that can be easily remedied with lots of socks and blankets. I just want my hands to stop blushing... It's annoying!
My doctor says he can't do anything unless he sees what it does because he doesn't know what to think about it. It's driving me insane!
