[Littlepaw]

Hello all,

I am curious if anyone shares this symptom. For a long time it made me question if I had erythromelalgia which has some symptom overlap with CRPS. If I walk on too a warm day, overheat, leave my foot down too long, drink ANY wine or beer (bummer) or eat spicey food (second bummer)...I get a red all over (looks like sunburn) foot with veins that pop out like Bic pens. Then it really starts to hurt. It tends to happen most at the end of the day unless I go walk in the sun on a toasty afternoon.

For lack of another term I call it a "vascular" flare. I can watch it and feel it start with red patchy areas or red at the ankle and toes that eventually fills in. Elevating my foot will turn it normal color and placing it in cool water immediately relieves symptoms. Kinda weird and has baffled my doctors...sometimes I feel if I could get this one thing controlled I could deal with the rest. Ugh! and summer is coming in Texas. My foot is scared.

Thanks in advance,
Littlepaw

[Always_Believe]

Originally Posted by Littlepaw

Hello all,

I am curious if anyone shares this symptom. For a long time it made me question if I had erythromelalgia which has some symptom overlap with CRPS. If I walk on too a warm day, overheat, leave my foot down too long, drink ANY wine or beer (bummer) or eat spicey food (second bummer)...I get a red all over (looks like sunburn) foot with veins that pop out like Bic pens. Then it really starts to hurt. It tends to happen most at the end of the day unless I go walk in the sun on a toasty afternoon.

For lack of another term I call it a "vascular" flare. I can watch it and feel it start with red patchy areas or red at the ankle and toes that eventually fills in. Elevating my foot will turn it normal color and placing it in cool water immediately relieves symptoms. Kinda weird and has baffled my doctors...sometimes I feel if I could get this one thing controlled I could deal with the rest. Ugh! and summer is coming in Texas. My foot is scared.

Thanks in advance,
Littlepaw

One of the first 'major' things that happened (after the nerve palsy) was June last year, 5 weeks after my meniscectomy, we went on a cruise for my youngest daughter's HS graduation. Two days into the 7 day trip, my leg started swelling. I rested on the top deck one morning for about an hour before we disembarked for Puerto Rico. I ended up with a VERY swollen leg that looked like it was sunburned. I went to medical the next day & they treated me for DVT (even though all the tests were negative). It was horrible. Not sure how one leg could have gotten THAT much more sun than the other, but it's still darker than the right and I still swell big time when I've been on my feet too long (on any kind of day). I don't drink or care much for spicy food, so I don't know about that.
You are most definitely not the only one.

[Littlepaw]

Thanks, mine tends to stay a bit darker too, varying from ankle to sometimes mid-calf or even a bit higher if it's really bad. Looks totally normal when I wake up in the morning. Like it figures out the neurovascular thing in the night. It's kind of funny on the wine and spicey food. As a foodie person I was accustomed to the occasional small glass of wine with dinner but can't tolerate even a couple of sips anymore. It sets it off every time. When people learn this they are horrified. But what really gets them is the spicey food part. Living in Austin, home to many a salsa festival, the general reaction to being completely unable to eat spicey is food is "MY GOD!!! That's terrible!" As if the whole can't walk all day or stand for long periods like I used to thing is not so bad. Hilarious.

I miss queso and hatch chilies. I miss Thai food too...
LP

[Enna70]

Sorry but I think I can relate...I get the patchy redness in the palm of my hands. Mine is usually just before a flare....I also get the veins on the foot to pop up, and red foot usually after walking...I try and rest but it takes a long while to go away...interested in seeing what others have to say and what they do for this...thanks for the post....feel better and keep up the fight.....

[Littlepaw]

Thanks Enna, I find this very interesting. So far the three of us have surgery in common. I wonder if it happens to people who got CRPS after a sprain or something....

I forgot to mention that when I flare my foot is palpably hot, like sizzling practically. You could cook an egg on it. The red is not mottled like when it's cold out. Just all over red. My non-injured foot gets a red hot sole after walking but it normalizes very quickly. I remember both my feet doing this pre-injury and surgery. It is just that now it's super exaggerated in the injured foot and resolves slowly. My hands get hot when I walk too, have for a long time. And my son gets bright red ears that are hot to the touch when he runs around or exercises outside on a hot day. He is always putting water on them. We are just kind of goofy in a vascular way. I had Raynaud's for many years before CRPS too.

Does yours get better with elevation or cool water immersion? I can get mine to settle down if I cool it quickly. I have to catch it fast enough though. Doesn't take very long either. Less and less time the further out from surgery I get.

Littlepaw

[Enna70]

No, elevation just makes my leg go stiff; it's hard to start walking again...when my ankle was broken, and I couldn't have a regular cast, the swelling wouldn't go down neither. I guess it has to run it's course.

[velkyn]

The veins in my affected foot are always plumped up full and I too get pink/red foot ankle after walking. I have wondered how the apparent increased blood in that foot increases the pain too. Hmm it must be related since we have the same experience.

It's so weird on the normal foot the veins are never full and plump. I've thought about this a lot because it is so noticable. I haven't figured out which comes first, the increased blood or the pain. My veins in that foot are almost always full, except when I first get up in the morning.