u/mandri2233

(Kind of a vent plus questions, my questions are marked at the end if anyone wants to skip the rest, but I appreciate anyone who reads the full post. Thanks!)

My TLDR is I was diagnosed after an injury in my right foot 10 years ago. The worst of it went away after a year or so, and I tried to ignore my CRPS for many years -- I feel blessed that I could ignore it for so long, but I've come to realize that wasn't healthy coping at all. For a while it was kind of like I "didn't have it at all". Because, to me, CRPS meant... burning pain. Inability to walk. Glossy skin. And those things went away. So for maybe 7 years I ignored my CRPS and didn't attribute anything in my life to it.

Recently, in the past 2-3 years as I've tried to ignore my CRPS less, I've randomly had little eureka moments. Like wait, that probably isn't normal, is that actually because of my CRPS? Allodynia on my arms, legs, back, chest. My foot is often stiff when I stand after sitting for a long time. Sometimes that dull pain returns. It's been refreshing to not just shrug away moments of pain as "mysteries I should ignore" (bad habit of mine, in all areas of my life) and actually try to think about the source, and land on an answer. I haven't been back to a doctor specifically to speak about CRPS since I was first diagnosed (for reasons I don't want to get into, but I do want to start seeing a doctor again when I'm able), so I'm not actually sure if those symptoms above are due to my CRPS or not, but they seem pretty standard. Basically I've started to look at a lot of health issues through a CRPS lens when I hit a dead end, and it's been helping my stress a lot.

Anyways, the main reason for this post is for the past few months or so my lower arms have been kind of... reddish. It's hard to describe, it's not so red it's "RED", but there's a bit of soft blotchiness that isn't present on other parts of my body. I've always been a person that turns into a tomato when I get even a little warm, and I've moved to a country known for its insane humidity, so I kind of passed it off as "heat-related issues" and didn't think much. But the more I've been staring at my arms (fun pastime) I'm kind of like "huh, that's pretty reddish." It's not even purely when I feel warm, it's kind of *most of the time*.

The worst part is they've been pretty itchy lately too. It's not soo bad, but generally my lower arms always feel like they need a good scratch. Very fun when combined with allodynia -- "touch me, but also don't you dare!" I can ignore it most of the time but it's getting to a point. I had bad eczema when I was a kid, but it never manifested like this. I try to use lotion but it doesn't help. This isn't flaky or "dry", it's just... kind of blotchy and itchy. Like a heat rash, I guess, but not as intense and not bumpy at all. I'm trying some methods to help relieve the redness and itchiness, but I'm still clueless on the source.

So recently I had another eureka moment. Is this also related to my CRPS, or am I falling into a bad habit of overgeneralizing any health issue I have and attributing it all to CRPS?

My questions:

First, has anyone else had these symptoms (blotchy/itchy skin)?
I know skin changes are like symptom number one, but I don't know, the itchiness and it being so far from my foot (the "origin site") is making me think it might be something else. It feels like too wide of an area to be "phantom itch", and would a "phantom itch" come with blotchy skin too? But I don't get "the rules" with this stuff, so perhaps.
I know nobody can actually give me a solid answer, but I'd love to hear if anyone has had this experience so I can know if it's even a possibility for it to be due to CRPS, and then I can jump off from there.

Second, how do you discern what's CRPS and what's "something else"?

I'm kind of a hypochondriac and it's weird what my brain will sort into "must be CRPS, nothing I can do, bliss..." and "must be something HORRIBLE, panic...!" categories, without my input (=_=)...
How do you guys deal with knowing if you need to investigate something further, or if it's just another CRPS symptom? I feel like so many people on here speak with such confidence that something is "due to their CRPS". I'm envious of that confidence -- maybe it's just due to my inexperience in investigating and listening to my own body, or because I haven't returned to a doctor about it, but I feel like I never truly know.
Do I just have to decide it is CRPS and go from there? But then I feel like I might be ignoring something important. Cue the stress spiral.

I feel like my health is an eternal guessing game and I'm always the fool in the end. It's either "you should have checked that out sooner, wtf" or "why are you worrying so much, it's nothing". So here's my latest query, my itchy arms.
I feel like the obvious answer is "go to a doctor" and I agree, but I'm also asking on a day to day basis, how do you deal with something as mysterious as CRPS?

Thanks for reading. I'm always a bit too long-winded on these posts, but I appreciate anyone with any insight! :)

I'm 24. I only just recently got serious about my oral hygiene 5 months ago. I was very much in the "brush twice a day rarely, usually just in the morning, never floss" crowd. Gross! I was told I had mild gingivitis/gum recession that couldn't be reversed but at least could not worsen if I started flossing and brushing more carefully. Since then I've been a bit of a clean freak with my mouth -- not skipping a single night of flossing (getting through that bloody period was so tough), I've got 3 toothbrushes (electric, tongue scraper, and one manual since my dentist recommended using it for molars), and have been conscious about brushing lightly. I think there's been a lot of positive changes in my mouth since I've started taking it seriously! But there's been some issues, too.

First is I gleek CONSTANTLY. That thing where saliva shoots out from under your tongue... If I yawn or open my mouth too wide, there's a 70% chance I spray. This never used to happen before. It's constant.

Another thing, related to that area of my mouth. I don't know how to describe it other than.. tightness? Underneath the tongue, the "frenum"(?) -- on a "good" day, I'm able to comfortably stretch/lift my tongue and feel my back molars, or feel around the roof of my mouth. But there are some days when I wake up and it's like I have a different tongue. It's so incredibly tight, I can barely reach my tongue up or back into my mouth. If I *try* to stretch it, it feels like it's going to tear and hurts badly, so I don't push it. I'm pretty frequently feel around my mouth so I dunno if that's a bad habit that's hurting my tongue and I only feel it the next day, or what. But this is a NEW thing, so I dunno. It feels totally random when it happens, when I wake up it's like a dice has been rolled and my frenum is either tight or not. Looking at it, visually, I don't see a difference. I feel like this may be related to the gleeking, but I really can't find anything when googling "help! gleek too much!" so please, help!

One last thing that might be harder to answer without pictures, but I'll throw in. So my gum inflammation, I assume, has gotten better with the flossing. Feels and looks a lot better, in my unprofessional opinion. Due to this, I assume my gums have gotten smaller? To me, it does look like they have. And now, I feel like underneath my gum line, especially on the very bottom of my mouth (like between the lips and lowest gum point), it has felt a lot dryer. Or while I'm chewing, food will find its way in there more easily. Is it that the shape of my mouth has changed and I just need to get used to it? I'm really feeling the dryness in those areas under the gums, so I just wonder if it's related. It's been like 5 months since I started flossing so I just thought I'd get used to it by now. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

Is it just that now that my gums aren't as puffy, it simply feels different? Or is it not so drastic of a change and I shouldn't feel any difference, meaning it's something else? I'm a big water drinker so I don't think it's anything about dehydration, but I could be wrong.

Thanks for any advice! For reasons, I can't go back to the dentist who gave me the inflammation tip (not until next winter), so in the meantime I'd love thoughts.