Erythromelalgia - Diagnosis

Diagnosis

Erythromelalgia is a difficult condition to diagnose as there are no specific tests available. To get a diagnosis can take many months and the patient will often have seen 6 or 7 specialists before finding out what is wrong with them. Once it has been established that it is not secondary erythromelalgia — see below — then a programme of management can be put in place. Some diseases present with symptoms similar to erythromelalgia. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), for instance, presents with severe burning pain and redness except these symptoms are often unilateral (versus symmetric) and may be proximal instead of purely or primarily distal. Furthermore, attacks triggered by heat and resolved by cooling are less common with CRPS.

Erythromelalgia is sometimes caused by other disorders. A partial list of diseases known to precipitate erythromelalgia is below.

• Myeloproliferative disease
• Hypercholesterolemia
• Autoimmune disorder
• Small fiber peripheral neuropathy
• Fabry's disease
• Mercury poisoning
• Mushroom poisoning
• Sciatica
• Some medications, such as bromocriptine, pergolide, verapamil, and ticlopidine