Desperate With Burning Skin

[Larry]

I am getting a little desperate. I have everyday periods of time when my skin is burning mostly my face and upper body. I am extremely heat intolerant. I have an irritable/sore throat and soreness under both arms. This has been going on for 3 1/2 months. The drs. here (I live in the Netherlands) cannot tell me what is wrong. I was diagnosed with IBS 12 years ago. I never had nor do I have a problem with diarrhea. I am occasionally constipated and frequently have gas and bloating.

The drs here can't tell me what is wrong. The ideas so far are: Its a nervous condition, I have a food allergy, I have leaky gut syndrome but no one is offering tests or solutions.

Have any of you had burning skin and heat intolerance as a symptom of your gluten intolerance.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Larry

[Ursa Major]

Hi Larry and welcome to this board. Well, I've had burning skin, but it wasn't only from the celiac disease, I have other food intolerances, too.

You don't have to have diarrhea to have celiac disease, though. IBS is one of those garbage diagnosis the doctor gives you when he doesn't have a clue what's wrong with you, and is too lazy to figure it out. There is a reason for your bowel to be irritated. Leaky gut syndrome is also caused by something, and celiac disease always results in leaky gut!

Why don't you try going gluten-free and see if it helps? It could very well help your intestinal problems. But you might have other intolerances as well.

I would start with eliminating the gluten and dairy, and then go from there.

With me, the salicylates were the culprit when it came to the burning skin, and the sore throat was caused by lectins (gluten is one of them). The soreness under your arms could be swollen lymph nodes (which I had as well).

Follow the links in my signature to find out more.

[mamaw]

Rosacea can also cause a burning , scalded look & feel to the skin.I know before going gluten-free my rosacea felt & looked like I had been scalded.And anything could stir this demon up for me! Having just a normal conversation one minute , then bang my upper torso was on fire......

mamaw

[Rachel--24]

I get burning on my face, shoulders, and upper back. I dont know if I get it from gluten ingestion....for me its mainly from MSG and Sulfites. It also causes IBS symptoms, tissue swelling in my upper body and a bunch of other symptoms. Alot of aching in my shoulders and my whole upper body. The burning happens on my tongue too. Not fun at all. Oh yeah...I get the aching under my arms too....its swollen lymph nodes.

[Larry]

Thanks to everyone for your input. Ursula, thanks for the info and the links. It is 29 degrees C here (84 F) and I am so heat intolerant. I feel as if I am burning up. Does anyone also have such extreme heat intolerance as a result of gluten or other intolerances? In the past I have always loved summer and enjoyed the heat.

Larry

[jnifred]

I used to be more heat intolerant like that. It seems better for me now though. High humidity and heat still get to me, but moving from Houston helped with the humidity issues.

When I was pregnant with my last baby I developed a rash similar to the one you are describing. It covered my ear, side of my face, neck, shoulders and upper arm. I couldn't stand to have anything touching it and this was in the late fall in Wisconsin. I was wearing a strappy tank top and no coat at 5-6 months pregnant because it hurt so badly to have anything touch.

Derm and my rhuem couldn't figure it out. It eventually went away after spending aboout $100 on various creams and ointments. None of whihc helped all that much. Ice packs proabably helped more, except then it was soooooo dry. I used a spray on cream (Eucerin) and kept myself slathered up with that.

Sorry i can't help anymore than that. Mine only lasted about 4 weeks. Good luck, I hope it goes away soon

[Albion]

I am getting a little desperate. I have everyday periods of time when my skin is burning mostly my face and upper body. I am extremely heat intolerant. I have an irritable/sore throat and soreness under both arms. This has been going on for 3 1/2 months. The drs. here (I live in the Netherlands) cannot tell me what is wrong. I was diagnosed with IBS 12 years ago. I never had nor do I have a problem with diarrhea. I am occasionally constipated and frequently have gas and bloating.

The drs here can't tell me what is wrong. The ideas so far are: Its a nervous condition, I have a food allergy, I have leaky gut syndrome but no one is offering tests or solutions.

Have any of you had burning skin and heat intolerance as a symptom of your gluten intolerance.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Larry

Hi Larry,

The skin burning was my primary symptom of Celiacs! It burned for me, just as for you, on my head, face and scalp mostly. The pain was unbearable. I once went to the emergency room for the agony (my first and only trip) because I knew that type of pain meant something very serious. I think presenting with burning rather than itching skin is why diagnosis took so long. Had I presented with hives or itching that might have been more in line with a traditional food allergy. My GP offered only to give me anti-depressants and did not express any curiosity about why my hair was falling out and my whole body sometimes felt like it was on fire, why I had so many gastric symptoms and why, at the time, I was bleeding rectally. Even when I scratched an itch, my skin felt like it was sunburned.

I have been gluten/casein/dairy/soy free for a few days now and the symptoms are moderating. With my naturopath's permission, I am taking an allergen free supplement to help heal my intestines and give my hair some vitamins!

Please keep heart! I am so glad you reached out! I believe my symptoms will slowly subside once my healing has some real traction.

[Sandra Lee]

I have had burning skin for over a year now. It started out on my feet and progressed to my legs and then all over. I have discoid lupus so the doctor thought it turned systemic in my skin. I have red cheeks as well. I started to notice when i would eat i would burn. So,now i have cut out the gluten, for three weeks. It feels a little better, but still there.

I can't tolerate heat or the sun either.I think it may be a combo of my lupus and celiac. I go back to the doc on the 5th of Dec.

Can they test you for celiac?

When he first did my blood work, my glycoprotien was elevated. If you look that up they talk about the gluten and celiac.

I am sick of feeling this way!!

[AVR1962]

I had an incident like you are describing with burning skin from using an herbal supplement with kelp.

[lizzy59]

Hi, Larry...sorry you're having so many problems.

I can't help with the skin burning part of your question, as I've never experienced that, but the heat intolerance could be a sign of Grave's disease, which is an over-active thyroid. (It's an autoimmune disease like celiac, rheumatoid arthritis, MS, asthma, and many others.) It can be detected by a blood test, so maybe you'd want to do that to rule it out.

Regardless, I hope you find some help!