Skin painful to touch but nothing visible

I assure you, if it continues I will book her an appointment with a dermatologist- we have private health cover, so no problems there. Also we live near Oxford, so tend to use the Oxford teaching hospitals.

Thanks Marina. She has had it for several days now and we have noticed that it doesn’t hurt in the morning but gets gradually worse over the day so that by the evening she is very uncomfortable and cannot stand to be touched on this small area on her upper back.  She describes it as an itching / burning feleling. The itching makes her want to scratch but it really hurts when touched. There is absolutely nothing visible. The skin looks totally normal. It seems like a nerve thing to me where the nerves are hyperactive and hypersensitive and are registering touch as pain. At night the nerves get a bit of rest and feel better but over the day they are aggravated by movement. I had vulvodynia (vulva pain) and this seems very similar to that, but on the back.

oh, yes, she hasn’t had any injury or trauma to that area. However, when it started there appeared to be two tiny puncture wounds on her back in that area, just tiny blood spots but no swelling or redness. Those have gone now.

HELLO!

Did you ever figure out what it was? My 9 year old daughter has been complaining about a pain on her leg for the past 2 days, at the end of the day only, and now it is starting on her elbow. It hurts and it's hot, she says. But there is absolutely no sign of a rash or burn, nor insect bite.

Is there anything you can let me know that could help?

A dermatology consultant diagnosed notalgia paresthetica which is caused by a kink in a nerve running to the shoulder, causing pain and itching exactly where she has it. It kind of fits except the primary symptom is itching and she doesn't really have itching, just pain on touch. However, someone suggested to me another possible cause that could apply to your daughter - small fibre sensory neuropathy, but this usually starts in the feet.If there is nothing visible it is probably neurological. You might want to get her referred to a neurologist. I was going to do this with my daughter but the pain went away in the summer hols only to return once she started school again (now carrying an even heavier bag of folders in 6th form).

We got some lanacane yesterday and I applied it but it didn’t seem to make much difference. Also my applying hurt her. I have done some online research and it seems like she has got a mechanical (tactile) Allodynia: 

Static mechanical allodynia – pain in response when touched

Dynamic mechanical allodynia – pain in response to stroking lightly

I think it is the dynamic one because it doesn’t hurt when I touch the area but it hurts when I stroke it, even lightly.

We have no idea what caused this. She has had no trauma to that area of skin, or repeated rubbing.

The Drs said my daughter had singles and the rash would appear in a few days. It never did. Then they said she had a trapped nerve and gave me ibuprofen gel to rub in. I’ve had trapped nerves and they don’t feel like that. Rubbing or stroking the skin is the exact thing that causes her the pain (touch without horizontal movement is fine). Basically the drs don’t know. They are stumbling in the dark. I know quite a bit about neuroceptive pain (pain due to nerve malfunction rather than injury, disease or infection) due to having vulvodynia. She still has it but has been having acupuncture which is helping. After each a weekly acupuncture session she feels very relaxed and is no longer is pain, but the pain gradually returns over the week. However, the treatments are having a cumulative effect and she was getting better but is now in the midst of mick exams and the hours of sustained, tense hunching plus stress has not helped. We are hoping once the exams are over acupuncture treatment will cure it for good.

Hi there any more progress on this? I have the same issue with a patch of skin sensitive to light stroking on the lower part of my leg! 

She is having acupuncture which is helping. It is slow progress, as anything nerve related is, but she is gradually getting better.

Hello, I have a simular problem with my leg and was wondering does your daughter have anxiety? Because I do and I was thinking that the extra stress anxiety gives me might have been effecting it. Just curious, trying to figure out my problem too.

Hi Hannah I went to my GP and he thinks mine is a side effect of repeat shingles further pain the leg ( post herpatic neuralgia)

It did seem to get worse when she had her mock exams. But she was also hunching over a desk for long periods during the exams (she is tall), so there are several confounding factors.

HI Hannah 

I’ve been suffering from anxiety and had this sensation in my leg For the last few weeks. Do you suffer from anxiety and isn’t this something you have had? X

The leg thing for me lasted one day after me scratching it for weeks. No else has mentioned itching beforehand. It was very painful yesterday to sit but its a lot better today. I do have anxiety though.