Hypersensitivity in certain regions of skin

I'd like to ask for help for something that has really affected my life in the past two years. Two years ago, I started experiencing some kind of hypersensitivity in the skin on the sides of my neck (to be a little more precise, this is at the bottom of my neck, between my shoulder-blade and neck - there's nothing wrong with the "upper" part of my neck).

As long as nothing is touching this region, it feels fine, but naturally any shirt will make contact with this area, and when any kind of fabric is rubbing against this area, it causes severe discomfort. And tight shirts (or shirts with tight collars) actually cause terrible pain to me now.

I didn't suffer from any serious illness (although I did have a lot of problems with allergies at the time I contracted this, I don't believe that's part of the issue) at that time, and the skin shows no particular outward symptoms - it appears and feels normal.

When this sensitivity started, I tried many skin care products (such as moisturizers and anti-itch cream), but none of them had any effect. I did get an appointment with a dermatologist, but he prescribed a Cetaphil lotion that had no effect. I tried a few other products, but eventually lost hope and waited to see if it would get any better. Two years later, I'm still living with this, and I can't go out without having to deal with this pain. But only a few days ago, another patch of skin - on my inner, upper left thigh - began to feel the same way, and I felt that I needed to seek help.

One other thing that I should mention is that I did meet with a friend's doctor over this, who said that it could be stress-related and recommended anti-depressants. I was under some stress from college at the time this developed, and this issue has caused much stress for me since then, but I don't know for sure if that really is the problem, and so I would like to avoid having to take anti-depressants except as an absolute last resort.

If anyone here can help me with this, I would deeply appreciate it.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
This hypersensitivity could be due to fibromyalgia or neurodermatitis. Fibromyalgia is a common chronic musculoskeletal pain syndrome, characterized by diffuse musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and multiple particular tender points found on physical examination
To confirm the diagnosis you need to get an evaluation done from a dermatologist.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your dermatologist. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.