Burning sensation across stomach

  I am a 62 year old male who usually enjoys good health. Two weeks ago I started to experience a burning sensation across the front of my stomach on the skin. There is no sign of rash, discoloration or swelling. The pain reached the point where I could hardly bear to have anything touch it e.g. sheets or shirt. At first I thought it was shingles because the pain was so similar. My doctor gave me a cortisone cream which did not improve the situation at all. He then gave me a tube of Zostrix which gives temporary relief. The doctor said he is not sure what it is but he believes it is a form of neuralgia. Apart from this I am quite active and healthy. My medications include Monopril (for mild hypertension) Allopurinol (for Gout, which I haven't had for 15 years. However my doctor did decrease the dosage recently.) I take vitamin E and Glucosamine regularly. Any information you can give would be appreciated by myself and my doctor. Thank you.
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The thought regarding possible shingles was a good idea, however the absence of
lesions on the skin is a major point against that.
The key point in deciding if this is primarily a neurological problem
related to the distribution of the pain.
The nerves which supply this area start from the spinal column and curve
around the body in a belt-like fashion, if you drew out the territory of
a nerve it would be a band a few inches wide which would curve around to the front
midline and angle downward slightly.
If the pain is in this sort of distribution this is probably primarily a
nerve root problem, if it is not in the distribution you need to think of other
non-neurological causes.

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