Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: libby1 on October 08, 2014, 08:13:58 AM
-
Hi Girls
Now, I'm not panicking with health anxiety, just pre occupied :-\ (makes a change!).
But how do you know whether, cold, numby feelings in arm, hand, lower leg and foot are meno related, a trapped nerve or ms? I had this before, about 4 years ago at the start of peri and saw a neurologist who said he didn't think it was ms but it was both sides then.
I'm fed up with going to the gp, feel like the last 4 years, it's been my second home :(
I know if I go to the gp, I'll be referred, then I'll have to go through all the stress and worry that entails :'(
Any advice? Am I going mad? Feeling fed up :'(
Libby
x
-
I think we have various symptoms as we age. I have more sciatica these days = altered sensation down the legs/feet. If I lay on my left side I get gradual intense pain down the leg which makes me turn over or get out of bed.
Exercising regularly keeps the skeleton healthy. How is your diet generally? Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be hormone-led, i.e. waking in the night with arm/s numb with pins and needles. These symptoms should be relieved on getting up in the morning.
-
Hi CLKD
My diet is good (apart from my sweet tooth ::)) I know that I have 2 or 3 fused discs in my neck and carry a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders. So, could be a trapped nerve but I'm not sure if that have an effect on hand and foot at the same time?
Also, it feels like I have cold water running down my arm and leg :-\
Thanks for the reply :) How are you doing?
Libby
x
-
Have eaten lunch so not feeling too bad. Nerves can be affected right the way down the body dependant upon ………. could you see a physiotherapist for advice?
I too have a sweet tooth, 1 only has to look into our stresscos trolley ;D
-
I have a severe neck problem and I have had 25 years of weird and wonderful body sensations ::) ::) I have been tested for ms many times with mri brain scans over the years just in case and of course I do not have it. One neurologist said to me that if I did have ms ( before the advent of mri) then my symptoms over time on and off would inlcude loss of function and not just altered sensation. He basically said if I start falling over come back.
So the chances are its down to irritated neck nerves but you need to moniter it over a few weeks to see if it worsens or you get true numbness ( I can feel numb but stick a pin in me and it hurts!) or you keep tripping or start dragging your leg or your hand won't work properly or you get vision problems then scamper back to GP forthwith.
No matter how weird the sensations in my body ( sometimes it feels as if giant ants are crawling up my head or leg etc) I have never ever lost any function.
If you do get referred then they would do a mri scan of brain - have you already had one of these??
-
Hi Countrybumpkin
No, I've never had an MRI. And no, I don't have totally numb areas just a bit tingly and my hand and foot feels a bit like it's been slapped or has cold water running on it or that feeling when your hand is coming back to life after throwing snowballs!
Your reply was very sensible, so thank you :)
Libby
x
-
Libby you have just remided me of the ice cold water feeling, I used to get it alot down the outside of my left calf into my heel and the first time I really thought I had stood in a puddle that had splashed up my leg ;D
Another sensation I get is as if my leg is a tuning fork and someone is flicking it every few seconds :o I have had this sensation occasionally for nearly 30 years, this was the sensation that sent me to neuro many many years ago.
-
Countrybumpkin
I get that cold water feeling down the outside of my calf and along the top of my foot and down the outside of my forearm too. It's weird, not nice.
Libby
x
-
Hi Libby1
I am the same, I kept going to the GP worrying about everything.
I even got referred for a brain scan, it was awful, the fear of my results were driving me mad.
It was nothing in the end. So Ive made a new rule for myself, if I get anything, I have to wait for two weeks then go to the GP.
It works, and usually after 2 weeks its gone.
Some things can be stress, I never feel stressed but it must be that.
-
Countrybumpkin, did you get symptoms in your foot/leg and hand/arm?
Poshpaws, I think that you can be stressed and not realise it.
Libby
x
-
The cold water feeling only affected one leg/foot. The tuning fork feeling again only affects same leg/foot.
I have problems all down my spine from neck to lumbar but I am also an anxious person although this has lessened with age ::) So who knows whats the cause, maybe my very dogdy spine but just as easily anxiety symptoms. Having been scanned ( so far have had 14 mri scans of spine and brain etc) for what seems like forever because of course these scans are so sensitive they pick up everything that then needs further scans etc to make sure what they picked up is harmless no neuro disease have ever been detected! This is the downside of scans. So far they have picked up a brain cyst that required follow up scans for 4 years until the cyst disappeared of its own accord. A neurofibroma on my thoracic spine ( I still worry its growing!) even though I was told I would have been born with it. White matter in my brain that they did not know what it was so requiring many follow up scan until a neuro said they now know its normal for some people 10 years after 1st scan!
-
Wow, 14 mri's :o Why so many? You're right, it sounds like having an mri is a double edge sword if it picks up stuff you didn't know or need to know ::)
As an mri expert ::) Would you not recommend having one unless absolutely necessary because what it could show up may worry you more? Difficult question, I know!!
Libby
x
-
Libby how long has episode of altered sensations been going on for this time?
You won't know what is going on unless you get checked out. It might well be trapped nerves or something which can be sorted out. But unless you go and see your GP there's no way of finding out.
-
Hi Limpy
I had it a couple of weeks ago for about a week then it disappeared now I've had it again for about a week. I don't have it in bed or when I first get up, it comes on about half an hour later but it's not continual throughout the day. I do have a gp appt next week so if I still have it I will go but I don't want to as I know I'll have to go through all the worry of being referred etc. And over the last 12 months, I've been referred 3 times for different problems (all ok).
Libby
x
-
I've had the 'cold water on leg' feeling a few times as well. It is very odd and I've honestly thought I had been splashed with water. It doesn't last long with me but it has happened several times. Not sure why but I had always put it down to anxiety, however, I do have osteoarthritis of the spine and degenerative disc disease so thinking about it now, it could well be nerve related.
-
Wow, 14 mri's :o Why so many? You're right, it sounds like having an mri is a double edge sword if it picks up stuff you didn't know or need to know ::)
As an mri expert ::) Would you not recommend having one unless absolutely necessary because what it could show up may worry you more? Difficult question, I know!!
Libby
x
I have had so many mri's mostly on my spine as I have prolasped disc and bad arthritis in my neck, neurofibroma on my thoracic spine and then all my lumbar discs are herniated ::)
The neck problem itself gives many many weird symptoms often in the head and balance problems ( neck helps control balance via messages to inner ear) so those symptoms were looked at via brain mri which picked up things that needed repeat scans to see if anything changed ( didn't) so this is how I ended up with so many scans!! Once you have spine problems then a change in symptoms requires further scans to see if anything has worsened.
Sometimes scans can pick up things in advance, my friend went for a scan of her lumbar spine due to leg pain and they found she had kidney cancer :o - the cancer was totally symptom free and nothing to do with her leg pain that was from a lumbar disc but that scan might have saved her life as they removed her kidney and she is fine 7 years on.
So as you say its a double edged sword!!!!
Def tell your Gp about your symptoms and also any neck pain etc he may be able to reassure you about the symptoms without the need for further tests.
-
Went to see gp this morning. She has no concerns over ms :D
She is sending me for blood tests to check vitamin levels, thyroid and diabetes.
I'll keep you posted but thank you all for the support, I do panic sometimes, wretched hormones >:(
Libby
x
-
Hi Libby1
I have also had cold patch of running water at times usually over my buttock, my consultant for my MS said symptoms are only felt on One side of the body at one time if it's ms related.
I'm not sure how true this is, as I havnt had any relapses since my first one 4 years ago.
I'm sure it's hormones playing up!
Smokeyx
-
Friend of mine (same age) has fused discs in her neck (she's just had an op in fact) and had some mega weird sensations and loss of sensation in her fingers. Yours could be from that?
Since meno I have had weird sensation changes too although I also have Fibro/M.E which doesn't help. I feel as if my clothes are stuck to me when they aren't; my eyes are streaming when they are dry; my legs tingle like mad. I had an MRI which was inconclusive and they said 'anxiety' which I don't accept, but the longer it's gone on, the more I'm convinced although it's clearly my brain involved, it's not going to hopefully be serious but is just horrible to live with. Mine goes away in sunny weather.
Does yours come and go?
-
Hi Girls
When I had it 4 years ago, it was both sides but more noticeable on my right. This time it's my right palm, arm and right sole of foot and top of foot. It's a weird feeling a bit like when you slap something and your palm stings.
I have it on and off throughout the day but not at all at night or when I wake up. I do get occasional skin crawling in both legs.
I'm hoping it is just hormone related as my period is trying to start at the mo so maybe my hormones are all over the place :-\
Libby
x
-
Hi, my first post! I don't know if this is relevant, but for the past three months I've had a tingly left foot and my body vibrates. I saw GP who said it was anxiety and post-meno (I'm 56). He gave me ADs, but I haven't taken them. Strange things is, I don't get any symptoms when I'm driving, going for walk, deeply engrossed in a film/tv/good book. When the symptoms started, I was quite worried about both my children, but things have settled down with them now, but I still get the tingling.
-
I have similar symptoms to some of you, mainly left side, it stated a couple of years ago with what felt like a bee sting in my left upper back near shoulder blade, it would come and go, there was nothing there to see, I did mention it casually to GP when I was there for another reason, he said it was likely to be a pinched nerve, so I stopped worrying ( I do have health anxiety), Fast forward to start of this year when the stinging feeling developed into a dull ache which is also in shoulder, down arm into hand and also armpit pain I sometimes have twitching muscles in arm, leg & fingers/thumb and for the past week, left side neck pain, I also sometimes have a feeling in thighs like someone nipping me. I must admit my mattress is not the best and most mornings I wake up with pins and needles in both hands which goes when I get up, I always think the worst, got GP tomorrow for a check up after gall bladder removal, I am worried about mentioning this as like a few of you say, being referred for scans etc just fuel our anxiety. I must admit, mine has been worse this year since I started Peri.
CG X
-
I"m off to an osteopath tomorrow to see if he can help. I'm fed up with worrying and I have to accept that the gp isn't worried so I shouldn't be and worrying definitely makes it worse :(
Oh, to be normal and rational again :-\
Libby
x
-
Sparkle, no the bee sting feeling wasn't related to GB problems, I did mention the aches in arm/shoulder to GP, who does think pinched nerve and gave me a card to self refer for physio.
You also mentioned PPI's causing low magnesium, I read this to but GP said there's thousands on PPI's long term and mag levels are fine, hmmmm not so sure as that is not a test that is done routinely, also there is only 1% of magnesium in the blood, the rest is in our cells. I did try supplementing with transdermal magnesium, but ended up with rapid heartbeat and bad anxiety, chances are it caused my BP to drop, it turns out mine is quite low anyway. The transdermal is the best way of absorbing mag, it may be that I was using too much too soon or I didn't need it in the first place. Did you get your levels tested?
I am just not the same person I was 9 months ago, I really hope this horrible feelings will pass for us all
CG x
-
Sparkle my guess is your mag levels will show normal, as I said most magnesium is stored in cells and not the blood. If you do get some mag be careful and build up the amount of sprays gradually or another way to get it is from the flakes either in a bath or foot bath.
CG X
-
Libby, just to reassure you, I have had all the sensations you describe plus a few more weird ones (not been able to wear a bra with straps for nearly two years and at times, the sensations are so odd and sensitive I can't wear jewellery like bracelets or necklaces without my hand or arm going cold or else 'heavy'). I have had lots of MRIs, brain scan, endless blood tests and a nerve test. Only pointer they can find is low estrogen. I hate the pain and/or cold sensations, but am trying not to let it dominate my life and have banned my daily meetings with Dr Google! Amitriptyline and Cymbalta both helped, though created their own issues (bad side effects). Really hope it helps you to know you're not alone . B x
-
Thanks Briony
Yes, it does help hugely to know that it's not just me. My New Years resolution is going to be "no more googlng!!"
It's a vicious circle that's meant to reassure but only makes you worry more :'( Is yours one side or both? Mine is one side but does move around on that side :-\ I think it probably is anxiety related but I'm not good at relaxing and switching off. I'd love to be able to meditate but I can't turn my thoughts off ;)
Libby
x
-
Libby. it's on one side usually, though after a year's break, it came back a little on the other side once (very slightly). There is a theory that it is linked to water (retention) ever so slightly touching the nerves in places where they are already squeezed together such as under the arm and the ankles. It's not a proper trapped nerve hence the reason it does not show in MRIs. This does seem to make sense in terms of hormones. It has been suggested that it's also a Fibromyalgia symptom, but my gut feeling is that it's more likely to be hormonal in our cases. I was initially diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, which usually only affects one side (though can be bilateral) and can cause these strange sensations. However, when it moved into my foot as well, it was clearly not TOS - that's when I hit Google (aghh!).
Take care, B x