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Facial numbness, dizziness, and anxiety

I am a 32yo female.  In the last year or so I've noticed a very strange reaction I've been having.  Seemingly out of nowhere, I will get extremely light-headed to the point that my eyes dont focus, my speech slurs, and I break out in a sweat from a feeling of nausea.

In addition, my face tingles with numbness all over especially around my jaw and mouth, but up into my eyes and forehead as well.  I get the feeling like my skin is shrinking, my partner even tells me that my mouth forms funny shapes on its own as I feel it shrinking.  It's the oddest feeling.

Anyway, in addition to the numbness and dizziness, I get this feeling of anxiety.  My heart starts beating really hard and fast.

The irregular heartbeat usually only lasts for a few seconds, but the numbness and dizziness can last anywhere from an hour to all day.  It leaves me feeling drained and can instigate a migraine, not to mention just the overall wierd feeling and funny facial expressions.

I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced this and what you found out about it.
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Avatar universal
Also massage your face. It helps too. Look in the mirror and always smile!
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Avatar universal
This is happening to me too... I'm taking vitamin B supplement. It works! It's for the nerves.
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1310468 tn?1274863925
Hi there, sorry to hear you're having problems.

I don't want to downplay the severity of your symptoms, but this sounds to me an awful lot like a panic attack, possibly being exacerbated by low blood pressure.  When I went through a stressful period a few years ago I had a little spat of them, and they were very much as you describe with dizziness, loss of vision, tight chest, overheating, facial tingling and pulling funny faces (in my case my mouth tended to get stuck in a somewhat goldfish-like position).  The rapid fluctuations in blood pressure along with the stress of the incident itself often resulted in headaches for me too.

The most helpful thing I found was to sit down straight away and concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths, and then as soon as I was recovered enough to move without it happening again to eat something with a bit of sugar in it and have a drink (low blood pressure can be worsened by insufficient fluids).  The main thing though was to remain calm; the first couple of attacks I had were terrifying because I didn't know what was happening, but once I realised they weren't actually dangerous I learned to control them and that feeling of control was helpful in itself.  Very occasionally even now I'll feel one start, (usually if I've worked too hard on the treadmill and let myself get dehydrated or if I have a cold or something), but because I can now spot the telltale facial numbness and tightness in my chest I can get on top of it quickly and prevent the rest of it from happening.

I hope this helps - I know unexplained symptoms can be scary, but of all the possible causes for your condition this would  be a very positive one in that it's just scary and not actually harmful!

Best of luck.
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Avatar universal
i also experience numbness and dizziness all day long...
i dont know if it is a symptoms of health anxiety or a brain tumor...
everytime i leave my home i always think that im going to die about this strange feelings...i feel so anxious every minute in my life i think im not normal that something happening to me...
because i feel dizzy and numbness in my head.and every morning when i touching the right  part of my head has a slightly pain...
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Avatar universal
hi i've had the same kind of symtoms for about 5 years, i think what caused it was a major bug i picked up around christmas time. I have, what i've been told are migrains, every month not really at the same time, can vary slightly during that month. my doctor can't be bothered to help me any more, she wasn't over enthusiastic to start with but doesn't really want to know at all now, it's disrupting my life big time and i don't really know what to do i've tried all sorts of medication but nothing has really helped and i end up losing  3 days out of a month as i just feel completly laid out. I also feel that no one really understands the problem when i try explaining why i've been off because of a migraine people seem to think it's just a headache and they manage with a headache so why can't i, it's so frustrating ! i hope that one day someone can find something to stop this problem and if they do please let me know x  
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Avatar universal
I have similar symptoms and I have Chiari malformation.  It happened for a few months 3 years ago, then no symptoms, then once last year and yesterday.

I get a wave (aura?) of facial numbness, around my mouth and jaw to my ear.  I am told my lips start moving funny and I scrunch up my nose.  I get itchy feeling all down my neck and my throat feels thick.  I get somewhat lightheaded.  I then think I am having an allergic reaction and start to panic- my pulse races.   Yesterday I had more control and was able to start slow breathing and I was calm.  Just felt weak and tired.  It all passed in about 20 minutes. I then feel nauseus and have diarrhea for about an hour.  

After the first wave a few years ago- I was diagnosed with a very very mild chiari malformation.  My doctor said this was not the cause of my symptoms and sent me to a neurologist who agreed.  They said it was migranes.  They gave me medicine for the migranes and that was that.  It didn't help- so she sent me to an ENT- who diagnosed me with sever sinusitis.   I am on 3 sinus medicines and that has helped.  I have not taken them for  a few days (I am horribly inconsistent) so I feel like that might be a part of what happened yesterday.  Also- I was very stressed yesterday and my neck/back have been sore for a few days after an intense workout (chiari?). So I don't know what leads to what- or if it is a combination of everything.....

Although I still paniced- yesterday was the first day I was able to manage it with out totally freaking out and going into the doctor.  Remember to take deep deep breaths!
Helpful - 0
620923 tn?1452915648
Any of u posting with like symptoms have a Brain MRI?.....most of ur symptoms r of chiari malformation...u need a specialist in chiari to detect it...not all NS or neurologists know what to look for...check out the chiari forum....I hope u all find answers.

Good luck
Godspeed
"selma"
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Avatar universal
By the way, I have been out of work since mid August and also have  been in and out of the hospital with many tests with no results. My prayers are with you!!!
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Avatar universal
I have had a similar reaction...facial numbness on the right side of the face and neck, the heavy feeling of the right eye, the numb feeling (like you are wearing a tight turtle neck on the right side of your neck), a severe dizzy spell, drop in blood pressure, short term memory loss, no nausea and no headache.  All tests that have been taken all prove to show that you are a perfectly healthy 39 year old female.  No doctor or specialist can pinpoint any type of problem.  What is this?  What is causing this?  AND, How do we treat to stop this?
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Avatar universal
Hi guys, i've had similar symptoms - ear fullness, neck pain, constant nausea, feeling faint, pressure in head, face, and nose, huge anxiety. i've had this for a month, and have been told that it's probably a virus which has triggered off symptoms of an old illness which caused these symptoms. I don't know. I'm hugely worried. Have been off work for a week (whenever i try to go in i get nausea, blood pressure drops, and i feel faint). Have just been told to sit it out. Would be interested to hear how your cases progress. Fiona
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Avatar universal
Sorry to hear about your problem.  I have experienced similar problems over the past seven months.  I have had a tightness in my head (no pain) accompanied by blurred vision and pressure in my ears.  I had an MRI w/wo contrast with normal results.  Also normal clinical evaluations.  My neuro believes it to be severe tension in my neck, but I'm not totally convinced.  The sypmtoms have now advanced to internal tremors and muscle twitching.  I fear the worse which only makes the symptoms worse.  Best of luck to you, and I will keep you post of any future findings.
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Avatar universal
It sounds like a migraine with aura, this causes facial tingling, or blurred vision, spotted lights, a variety of things. I have seen a neurologist about this type of thing.... it was something irrevelvant to this, but have found out about it, just a thought. Hopefully it helps?
Helpful - 0
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