Struggled with redness and burning for years and just learned about EM. Thoughts?
As the title says, I’ve struggled with random redness, burning, swelling, and rashes for as long as I can remember. In 2019 I saw a rheumatologist for redness, swelling, and pain mainly in my hands and arms but also in my toes (and knees, infrequently). I definitely had severe facial flushing back then too but did not connect that to my other symptoms. I remember the doctor looking totally thrown off when I showed her a photo of a flare up in my knees. She took X-rays and did lab work but nothing was definitive enough for a solid diagnosis.
The pain in my hands and feet subsided enough that I didn’t feel the need to pursue a diagnosis, but the redness in my face and flare ups in other areas of my body have only gotten worse over time. Over the past few months I’ve had flare ups every day, usually multiple times a day. All of the attached pictures are from this week.
Triggers seem to be literally anything. Increased body temperature, thinking about something emotional, stress, toweling off after a shower, or nothing at all. The burning discomfort is worst in my face/ears/neck/chest. I usually sit down when I have a flare up in my knees and it subsides within half an hour unless I stand back up. I haven’t had much trouble with my toes this time around but I remember that pain being bad enough to keep me up at night.
Anyway, I learned that EM is a thing when I reverse image searched a photo of my knees and I was sorta shocked that my symptoms line up near perfectly. I would say the only difference is that I don’t typically get intense redness covering a large portion of my hands and feet, generally speaking. I’m curious to know if this does sound like EM, and what type of doctor I should start with. Thanks!!