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Farmer (1989) described an unusual peculiarity in 3 generations of his own family. Although the 'disorder' was not life-threatening or seriously debilitating, it was a major annoyance. The informant, his mother, and a son (1 of his 5 children) experienced episodic increases in skin temperature associated with low or normal oral temperatures. The increased skin temperature was accompanied by severe headache, predominantly around the eyes, forehead and temples, and usually by nausea. The headache was aggravated by light. Vomiting often occurred late in the attack. The symptoms typically lasted for a few hours. Attacks often occurred when the subject was confined in a warm room with poor air circulation or was playing or sitting in the sun. The oldest affected member of the family, the grandmother, had onset at puberty and had not had attacks after hysterectomy at age 51. Her son first remembered symptoms at age 6, although the episodes became more frequent in his twenties. The grandson had onset at about age 5. Aspirin taken after the increase in skin temperature but before the onset of headache and nausea controlled the symptoms. Aspirin and caffeine partially relieved the symptoms after the headache had begun. The condition may be one of abnormal vasodilation at the skin surface leading to a higher skin temperature and lower internal temperature. Vasodilation may account for the headaches.
Farmer, J. L. Personal Communication. Provo, Utah 9/21/1989.