Dear Sophie,

You mentioned burning skin. That very well may be Small Fiber Neuropathy, which happens when the nerves of your skin are damaged.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Pain in Small Fiber Neuropathy

I take Gabapentin for my small fiber neuropathy. Without it my skin a a cage of pain and itching.

But of course the burning skin may be something else entirely.

The Pneumovax challenge is a simple injection of 23 strains of pneumonia, the infection given to people to protect them from these strains of pneumonia. I had it on my own in 2006 because I was going to be traveling out of the country and I was 64.

After the injection, about a month later, you are tested (again a simple blood test) to see how many of the 23 strains of pneumonia you are immune to from the first injection. I had full immunity to ONE, and very low but adequate immunity to FIVE more. So I failed to achieve adequate immunity to enough of the 23 strains. This was one more qualification to label me with CVID.

The basics:

1. Two deficiencies in Antibodies. Mine are IgG and IgM
2. History of chronic/critical illnesses, often including fungal, as well as
bacterial and viral.
3. Failure to mount enough immunities from the Pneumovax injection.

Best wishes, Hugs ElaineD