Strange Skin Problem On Hands.

[fikct]

Hi, Im creating this post because I am very confuse about what is going on with me. To brief you a little, Im 20 yo and a couple years ago I started having back pain along with abdominal bloating. At first I tried to not pay attention but it did not seem to get better. I started experimenting with food but wasn't able to pinpoint anything.

I started doing lots of tests, multiple blood/urine samples, colonoscopy,gastroscopy,CAT scan, and everything came back normal. They did test for celiac wich was negative. I tried a strict gluten free diet for 2 months but had no improvments at all.Tried probiotics too. I then started to read about salycilate and other chemical sensivity but even things considered safe everywhere seems to be a problem. This is just a little a brief history of what I tried.. because I tried a lot of things.. To get back on topic, I started having weird red skin on hands about 1 year and half ago.

Here is a picture (both hands are the same,sometimes it will crack and "burn(feels hot)" the red is really like a straight cut) :

Every professionnal I saw about my problems were seeing this for the first time. I'm pretty sure this have something to do with my bloating and food but doctors says it has nothing to do (tired of getting this answer).

I too suffer from low energy and have eye floaters that get really annoying some days. The only wrong thing that poped in the last blood test ive done (got results today) was that I had low vitamin D (51 nmol, normal are 75-150) but I doubt all my problems are related to only this. I'll stop here for this post but I have so many informations that I have accumulated throught time so if you have question just ask. My question is did you ever had/know someone how had similar problems ? What did help ?

Thanks for your help, im seriously running out of idea about what to try now.

Other infos : I exercise daily, eat only organic and food prepared by me (no additive,etc,you name it..),do yoga daily to relax..

[ravenwoodglass]

Welcome to the board. I hope I don't overwhelm you with all these questions but here goes.

Are your hands sensitive to cold? Have you seen a dermatologist? Do you work with any chemicals or in someplace like a bakery? Do you use any lotions?

When you went gluten free did you go with whole unprocessed foods and not add any specialty gluten free products? Have you had any C-reactive protein blood work done? I think that checks for inflammation. Do you have a lacey purple pattern to the rest of your skin especially when cold? I see some hints of that in your hand and wrist and it is called livedo reticularis. If you do a search you can see photos of that. I had that until I had been gluten free for a few months but it has resolved now. I think it was caused by the full body inflammation I had. Most doctors just shrugged their shoulders and said they didn't know what it was.

[fikct]

Welcome to the board. I hope I don't overwhelm you with all these questions but here goes.

Are your hands sensitive to cold? Have you seen a dermatologist? Do you work with any chemicals or in someplace like a bakery? Do you use any lotions?

When you went gluten free did you go with whole unprocessed foods and not add any specialty gluten free products? Have you had any C-reactive protein blood work done? I think that checks for inflammation. Do you have a lacey purple pattern to the rest of your skin especially when cold? I see some hints of that in your hand and wrist and it is called livedo reticularis. If you do a search you can see photos of that. I had that until I had been gluten free for a few months but it has resolved now. I think it was caused by the full body inflammation I had. Most doctors just shrugged their shoulders and said they didn't know what it was.

Hi, thanks for your questions,

cold sensitivity : not really but the red will turn more dark/blue when it is really cold.

chemicals : No at all, currently studying at university. The only lotion I tried was a moisturising but that didn't help.

I have not seen a dermatologist about it cause a lot of time I will feel a burning sensation after or while eating (anything).

C-reactive : from the results I had today(blood sample last week) : CReactive Protein(mg/L) < 3 (0-8)

For the rest of the skin everything looks okay, it is really only the part red on the picture.I will try searching on livedo reticularis.

For the gluten free, I ate nothing prepared gluten free. For grains, I only ate buckwheat, amaranth, millet but even those seems to bother me so I didn't eat a lot.

edit : just searched on livedo reticularis and found a picture where my hand actually look like this when cold :

[ravenwoodglass]

My advice to you would be to see a derm. Your nail moons are very white and the skin under your nails very dark. I think that would provide some clues to a dermatologist as to what is going on.

Also have you had any vitamin panels done? If you are deficient in some vitamins that can affect the skin and nails.

Hopefully some other folks here will be on soon that might be of more help. If you don't get too many replies you might try reposting in the prediagnosis or related disorders and research section as they get a bit more 'traffic' sometimes.

edit I just saw the picture you added. Yup that is what my whole body looked like. LOL

When you tried the diet did you make sure you were cooking in a 'gluten clean' kitchen? New strainer, toaster, no scratched non-stick cookware and got new butter, nut butters etc?

[JNBunnie1]

My first thought was that you may be dealing with a severe candida or other yeast/fungal overgrowth. It may what's causing your skin and intestinal symptoms. Do you get filmy white stuff on your tongue and corners of your lips in the morning? Have you ever had a genital yeast infection or bad case of foot fungus? Are your hands painful?

[eatmeat4good]

I had the livedo reticularis all over my whole body too. Ravenwood helped me when I first came here so I would know that it "could" be caused by gluten. Of course there are other causes too. I was very concerned about this symptom. It took several months to go away, but it DID completely go away. Could NOT get a Dr. to be concerned about it at all. Ravenwood was my only hope that this condition could be related to gluten. For me the livedo reticularis appeared very suddenly and obviously...and it lasted 7 years until I stopped gluten due to other symptoms. I was very, very relieved that it went away on the gluten free diet. Now it is one of my ways of knowing that I have gotten gluten....my legs look like red lace for a few days. It is pretty obvious to me that mine was all caused by gluten.

You might try strict gluten free and see if it clears your skin. Seems that a whole lot of skin issued are caused by gluten, not only the biggie of DH (Dermatitis Herpetiformis)the skin form of Celiac.

[fikct]

Hi, thanks for your replies.

My first thought was that you may be dealing with a severe candida or other yeast/fungal overgrowth. It may what's causing your skin and intestinal symptoms. Do you get filmy white stuff on your tongue and corners of your lips in the morning? Have you ever had a genital yeast infection or bad case of foot fungus? Are your hands painful?

My tongue is sometimes a little white but I think it's a normal color. It's nowhere near thrush picture you can see online. I didn't had any genital infection or foot fungus. For my hand it is not painful but I can feel it when it's red.

I really feel it is caused by something I eat, I dropped the nuts beaucase when I hate say cashew butter, I could feel them turn red shortly after.

@eatmeat4good

What is ravenwood?

[Lfrost]

What is ravenwood?

Ravenwood is another member on this forum.

I would be very interested to hear if you find out any information on the red burning skin on the backs of your hands. My oldest daughter used to get this often, usually in the wintertime. Her doctor just dismissed it as eczema, but I never really bought that. After a few years, she started getting a similar rash on her neck along with her hands.

The only thing that she said helped was the spray on Eucerin cream.

[Emilee Whitesell]

I really hope you see this! I had this SAME problem for a long time, all these different tests and blood samples urine samples, and so on, and so on. What about your toes? When you have a flare up, do your toes vary in temperature and color (pink, blue, red, white, purple)? This is a vascular version of Reynaud's Phenom. In addition, the dry and cracking skin IS an intestinal or absorption issue, not enough oils being absorbed into your blood stream. Also, I finally got the diagnosis of Lupus last year. Voltaren gel reallllyy helps this issue, and there are other medications that can help with the blood flow to your fingers. Hope this helps!!!

Hi, Im creating this post because I am very confuse about what is going on with me. To brief you a little, Im 20 yo and a couple years ago I started having back pain along with abdominal bloating. At first I tried to not pay attention but it did not seem to get better. I started experimenting with food but wasn't able to pinpoint anything.

I started doing lots of tests, multiple blood/urine samples, colonoscopy,gastroscopy,CAT scan, and everything came back normal. They did test for celiac wich was negative. I tried a strict gluten free diet for 2 months but had no improvments at all.Tried probiotics too. I then started to read about salycilate and other chemical sensivity but even things considered safe everywhere seems to be a problem. This is just a little a brief history of what I tried.. because I tried a lot of things.. To get back on topic, I started having weird red skin on hands about 1 year and half ago.

Here is a picture (both hands are the same,sometimes it will crack and "burn(feels hot)" the red is really like a straight cut) :

Every professionnal I saw about my problems were seeing this for the first time. I'm pretty sure this have something to do with my bloating and food but doctors says it has nothing to do (tired of getting this answer).

I too suffer from low energy and have eye floaters that get really annoying some days. The only wrong thing that poped in the last blood test ive done (got results today) was that I had low vitamin D (51 nmol, normal are 75-150) but I doubt all my problems are related to only this. I'll stop here for this post but I have so many informations that I have accumulated throught time so if you have question just ask. My question is did you ever had/know someone how had similar problems ? What did help ?

Thanks for your help, im seriously running out of idea about what to try now.

Other infos : I exercise daily, eat only organic and food prepared by me (no additive,etc,you name it..),do yoga daily to relax..

[LavenderNight]

I noticed this post is from more than 5 years ago but I would like to give some insight I haven't seen listed above. I have this exact same blotchy splotches on my hand as you do. I only started to put a big puzzle piece together a few years ago. Nerves have a big effect on skin / muscles. Do your hands/feet get cold easily? Do you have / get spasm often? Do the blotches flare up when you're more stressed? Does your eye lid spasm & do you not get deep sleep, feeling very fatigue shortly after waking up? Do you get headaches / migraines often? 

I use to get a tingly feeling on my face, almost a complete cool numbness that started below my nostrils usually the right nostril. It first started as a cobwed feeling on my face, this happened when I was working in a 120℉ green house when I was 17 years old. At 11 yo I had a major heat flash that caused me to black out & it was mid December & it was 32℉ & I was wearing a T-shirt / jeans & swearing like crazy. At age 14 I had double vision for 2 weeks straight & tunnel vision for 3 months. My doctors didn't seem too stressed so I ignored all of these things. Around 15 years old, I started to take risperidone(for bipolar disorder) (this med is important, read to the bottom) . Around this time my sleeping became disruptive & I still have insomnia today. My height do insomnia was at 17. Only after I started to have urinary problems, intense migraines, sleep deprivation & horrific spasms at 19 years old did I look to see a neurological doctor. After a few tests I came back with a Demyelinating Disease as an answer. The doctor didn't take me seriously when I stated all my problems & told me multiple times I was only being tested for this cause my mother has MS(34 years). I am female & women with MS have a 25% of their daughters getting it too. The doctors however said my gray matter is perfect, which is actually a bit of an alarm. I lied about my cannabis use & thru studies it's been shown that high cannabis users have a higher % of gray matter. risperidone has been linked with demyelinating disease as well, in case you've ever taken it. If you haven't checked out a neurologist I highly recommend it. I am 21 years old now & I've noticed these blotches get more intense when I am stressed. They turn a darker color in the cold, like a purple hue. I am not trying to scare you, as I am no doctor, Birgit's something to check into. I don't know what causes these blotches on my hand, I am just connecting dots with why I get flare ups when I am me stressed / over heated. 

[Victoria1234]

I used to get the splotchy look on my hands and thighs all the time. Haven't had it happen in years. Maybe going gluten-free made it stop, but I have no idea. Never saw a doc about it. Never was worried about it either. Just thought it was yet another weird thing that happens with super fair skin.

[Pegleg84]

sorry to keep this very old thread going, but I was about the start a post on the very same subject.

Just the other day I was looking at my palms and noticed very mottled red/white/slightly yellow spots, redder around the edges of my palms and my fingers. Don't know if this is a new thing or if I just didn't notice it before. In any case, it's kind of concerning. It doesn't seem to be constant, but shows up more when my hands are lower than my heart.

In any case, I don't think there's any gluten involved (if there was, I'd be having all kinds of other problems), but I was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, so am on a SSRNI to help with the pain (which is helping), and since I can't take ibuprophen anymore (useless!) I've been taking more Acetaminophen. I don't know if I'm just developing another symptom, or if it's a drug side effect, or what. From the bit of research I've done it looks like the photo in the post above, so could be this livedo reticularis thing. I normally have quite cold hands, but when the mottled skin is visible they feel warm. Also quite tingly. I know Fibro affects the nerves, so it could be that, or bad circulation? Not sure. I just hope it's not a sign of something worse going. So weird. I see my doctor next week so if it's still bothering me, I'll mention it. Right now I'm putting it down to "new weirdo fibro thing"

Anyway, if anyone thinks it would be better to start a new thread on this subject, we can do that instead.

Otherwise, any ideas?

 

[Victoria1234]

2 hours ago, Pegleg84 said:

sorry to keep this very old thread going, but I was about the start a post on the very same subject.

Just the other day I was looking at my palms and noticed very mottled red/white/slightly yellow spots, redder around the edges of my palms and my fingers. Don't know if this is a new thing or if I just didn't notice it before. In any case, it's kind of concerning. It doesn't seem to be constant, but shows up more when my hands are lower than my heart.

In any case, I don't think there's any gluten involved (if there was, I'd be having all kinds of other problems), but I was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, so am on a SSRNI to help with the pain (which is helping), and since I can't take ibuprophen anymore (useless!) I've been taking more Acetaminophen. I don't know if I'm just developing another symptom, or if it's a drug side effect, or what. From the bit of research I've done it looks like the photo in the post above, so could be this livedo reticularis thing. I normally have quite cold hands, but when the mottled skin is visible they feel warm. Also quite tingly. I know Fibro affects the nerves, so it could be that, or bad circulation? Not sure. I just hope it's not a sign of something worse going. So weird. I see my doctor next week so if it's still bothering me, I'll mention it. Right now I'm putting it down to "new weirdo fibro thing"

Anyway, if anyone thinks it would be better to start a new thread on this subject, we can do that instead.

Otherwise, any ideas?

 

Please be very careful with Tylenol. It can cause liver damage and even death.

Most experts and health officials agree that when taken as recommended, Tylenol and other medications containing acetaminophen are relatively risk-free. However, as the new report points out, taking twice or sometimes even just a little bit more than the daily Open Original Shared Link of Tylenol over the course of a few days can result in severe illness and even death.

Open Original Shared Link

 

[knitty kitty]

Demylination diseases and Reynaud's syndrome are often related to low vitamin D, low omega 3 and omega 6 fats, and B12 deficiency.  Celiacs often have problems absorbing healthy fats and fatty vitamins, and often have low B12.   

Open Original Shared Link

The section called "Demyelination/remyelination and nutrients"  explains how nutritional deficiencies contribute to these syndromes.  

Hope this helps.

[Pegleg84]

Pretty sure my vitamin levels are fine (have been supplementing daily, everything looked good at my last test), though it might be time to check again. I often wonder if the medication I'm on isn't leeching some nutrients.

I have been concerned about Tylenol. I don't take it every day, and always a low dose. (I am taking with methocarbamol to help with muscle pain, which doesn't do much but it's something. I might talk to my doctor about getting some without the acetaminophen). But yeah, when I first noticed this I thought it might be a liver issue. Might get my count checked anyway.

I asked the same question in the Fibromyalgia forum I'm on, and the consensus there was that it's probably livedo reticularis, which is another weirdo Fibro thing. I guess it's a common symptom for people with Lupus, and since fibro also causes problems with connective tissue, that makes sense.
So, right now I'm not worrying about it (it's not painful, so not a problem) unless it spreads or gets noticeably worse.

Thanks!