FOR THE PAST WEEK I HAVE A FLAT RASH AND VARIOUS LOCATIONS ON MY BODY. I'VE BEEN TAKING BENADRYL. AND ZYRTEC. WELL NOW LAST NIGHT AND TODAY MY CHEST AND EARS ARE BURNING UP. AND THEY ARE REALLY RED. NO ITCHING, JUST BURNING. I HAVE AN APPT. WITH MY DR BUT I WAS WONDERING IS SOME TYPE OF HOT FLASH? WHAT NEXT?

OR THYROID?

sounds like a hot flash to me

BUT IT DOESN'T REALLY "FLASH". IT STAYS. COULD IT STILL BE?

Dear'shelby'
This could be some kind of allergic reaction to a medication or food.Of course it could also be another nasty Menopausal symptom.
Hang in there.All will be well.
Please let us know what the Doctor says

Warm Wishes
Elizabeth

WELL, THE DR SAYS ITS SOME SORT OF ALLERGIC REACTION. PRETTY OBSERVANT. HE GAVE ME A SHOT OF A STEROID AND WROTE ME A PRESCRIPTION FOR PREDNISONE. TODAY MY CHEST FEELS A LITTLE HEAVY BUT THE REDNESS IS BETTER. I ORIGINALLY WASN'T GOING TO GET THE PRESCRIPTION, BECAUSE I'M AFRAID THE PREDNISONE WILL TEAR UP MY ALREADY ULCER RIDDEN STOMACH, BUT I MAY HAVE TO. I FEEL "ASTHMA LIKE" WITH A TIGHT CHEST. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING WRONG. IM JUST SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED. SO OF COURSE, WITH MY HYPOCHONDRIA, I THINK I'M HAVING HEART PROBLEMS, A BIG MASS IN MY CHEST, OR SOMETHING LIFE THREATENING. ITS A BEAUTIFUL DAY AND I JUST WANT TO ENJOY MY WEEKEND WITHOUT HEALTH PROBLEMS OR ANXIETY.....PLEASE PRAY FOR ME.

I can totally understand your fear especially about the chest thing. I have had issues with my chest since being ill with a respiratory illness 7 weeks ago and I made the fateful mistake last night of googling 'Pleurisy' to see if that might be what I have (but I doubt it cos I'm sure Pleurisy is very painful, mine is not) and of course it says Pleurisy can be from Lupus so what have I thought all night, you got it, that I now have Lupus. Why is it we do this to ourselves, all this worry over the what ifs just makes us worse and gives us new symptoms to worry about just from the stress of it all but we still do it. I'm just so tired of all this health anxiety but I can't seem to stop my mind from going there and now I'm even too afraid to go to the doctor as they will just think 'Oh gawd here she is again with another weird symptom'. The problem with me is I am also too scared to have some tests done to rule out these major nasties that keep lingering in my mind for fear of actually having one of them then I would be in a right state forever worrying about the outcome. And besides we don't get tests done here just to alleviate our health anxiety so I think I'm going to have to even push to get a simple chest x-ray to rule out any nasties there. I had to sob my heart out just to get a referal to see the gyny about my pap smear result and on the letter he put 'routine but due to anxiety an early appointment would be in the best interests' so now I feel like a right idiot

The chest tightness is probably due to the anxiety and tension as is probably mine but what can we do to be rid of it when it's hard to think logically while in distress. Do you suffer with GERD at all since you have ulcers in your stomach? The reason I ask is I think my ongoing chest issues maybe from GERD since this has acted up since being sick (I have a hiatal hernia which I'm sure is reacting from all the coughing I did contributing to the GERD also)

I hope you are having a better weekend than I am

YES I ACTUALLY DO HAVE GERD, BUT THIS FEELS MORE LIKE A COLD OR SOMETHING DEVELOPING. WHO KNOWS, I COULD THINK OF A MILLION THINGS IT COULD BE, BUT I'M TRYING NOT TO GO THERE ALL OF THE TIME. I FEEL THE SAME WAY U DO ABOUT SEEING DRS. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE NO ONE TO TALK TO, BECAUSE EVERYONE IS TIRED OF HEARING IT.

I feel the same and I feel very very alone. I have no support at home as my hubby just seems to think I need a positive attitude and it will all go away, yeah right if it was that easy. I just keep it to myself for the most part now and vent on this site to get it off my chest. Mine also feels like a chest cold at times and I found some info on a legit NZ website about GERD and it's symptoms and it can affect the airways by causing a kind of bronchio constriction feeling. I also get the flutters in my sternum area and my throat which feel like mini palps (possibly esophageal spasms) and are quite disturbing. I've had this for about a month now and I'm darn sick of it. I have changed my diet drastically, started aloe vera juice and probiotics but nothing seems to be making it go away. Maybe I am just impatient but I'm sick of feeling unwell in one way or another. I can't take PPIs or anythng like that (been there done that with worse problems arising) so I'm stuck to suffer it out I suppose. Doing things the natural way takes longer for effectiveness so I have to keep reminding myself of this.

I think I may go back to the doctor this week and demand a chest x-ray at least to rule out any problems there and if that comes back okay then I will just have to wait it out till it comes right, I don't have any other options it seems

THIS IS MY VENTING PLACE ALSO. GOOD LUCK. I KEEP THINKING "THIS TOO WILL PASS"

I've been experiencing this on and off just recently and totally sympathise. Today (touchwood at 15.29 p,m.) I am sitting here on the laptop thinking will the heat & redness re-appear at any moment as it has done for the past few days? Hoping it doesn't. So far so good.

The more I think about it the more it seems to appear.

I seem to get a "ping" in my body which travels down to my toes which feel as though they are being electrocuted.


Just try to remember today is the tomorrow you were worrying abut yesterday.............................