Burning sensation in face and ears. Anxiety?

[hellomellow]

Hi all. Need some support and, hopefully, a shared experience with someone else to help make sense of this.

My daughter is 15 and since Jan of this year, she has had stomach problems and also redness/burning in her face. She's been off school while we've gone from doctor to doctor. We saw a stomach consultant who found nothing (MRI scan, US scan) but she developed this burning sensation in her face which hasn't gone. It's ruined her life. She doesn't feel hot to the touch and has no temperature. We've seen so many doctors but not been offered blood tests.

Anyone else had this with their child? Or themselves? The GP thinks it is all in her mind and related to anxiety. She has panic episodes, but they are usually when her face is burning. She gets it worse when she's around people, but sometimes it happens at night and she's disorientated. She always has to cool her face down, day and night.

Could it be Roseacea? I suffer with my face burning like sunburn when I’m very stressed. I find La Roche posay Cicaplast cream helpful at night to soothe it.

This was suggested early on, but the burning sensation is constant while the redness goes away for days, then returns. It makes her feel so uncomfortable, she lies in bed crying.

Bless her heart this sounds so difficult,
for you and for her of course. It couid well be anxiety, that’s not to say the sensation isn’t real, it most certainly is - but it could be related to a panic response. Has she ever had any counselling?

This sounds very much like this paper, could it be?
Flushing Disorders Associated with Gastrointestinal Symptoms

Poor girl, I'm so sorry, what a worry for you. I hope you find an answer soon.

She's been seeing a very good psychologist since it started. The psychologist has helped, but it hasn't changed her situation much. The burning in her face still persists.

If she’s panicking at the same time could it be an adrenaline dump? How long does it usually last for? When I go through periods of feeling anxious or stressed I get this wave of burning go through my body, then my HR goes up and it goes back to normal after a while.

Okay. Keep persisting with the GP. It could be neurological. They could put her on amitriptaline for this sort of thing…. Just keep taking her back to the GP. I hope she gets better, it sounds awful for her bless her.