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Neurology (Expert Forum)
spasms, tingling, numbing
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spasms, tingling, numbing
by maggie, Nov 20, 1999 12:00AM
I am a 48 yr. old female. Since childhood I have had "severe" spasms of the esophagus to the point of passing out from pain.(also had a numbing, tingling in the head similar to hitting your crazy bone,at least once a week.) I still have the esophagus spasms (rare - every 10 years) but now get the severe spasms in the bowel, bladder, toes and this can go on every day for weeks. For the past three years I have had numbing, bug bite feelings and a lot of itching at night that keeps me from sleeping. Then about 2 years ago, the dizzy spells started. I can't stand the heat like I used to either. I was a sunbather, who could sit by the pool all day. Now it's 5 or 10 minutes. About a year and 1/2 ago, I had bad bladder spasms, then two weeks later had flu like syptoms, which kept me in the bathroom for 2 days. Then I felt run down and never got my energy back. The dizziness continued. The bladder spasms were so bad that I went to a urologist, who said I had a high white blood cell count. He put silver nitrate in my bladder twice. It took months for the sudden shotting pains to go away. (Also, I have a sore spot on the top back right side of my head.) Then the shingles came. The numbing, tingling did not start until the rash was gone. The itching continues. It is so bad that I cannot sleep at night, and this is 14 months later. If I get nervous, the numbing gets worse. Also, if I exercise it gets worse. My blood tests came back normal, but they weren't checking for anything inparticular, except calcium levels, thyroid, etc. I have never been so ill. I am terrified that this will return. Also, I failed to mention that I have gastritos and get ulcers in the esophagus and stomach.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS, Nov 20, 1999 12:00AM
Dear Maggie:
Sorry to hear about your problem. I am not sure what you asking for, but I assume that your trying to find out what can be done. I'm not sure what you have tried, but I imagine everything. The parasthesias (the numbness, tingling, etc) might be helped by neurontin (if you have not tried it) or tegratol (diddo). The spasms might be helped by alittle benzodiazepine medication. I really don't know what to tell you about the gastric problem or stomach problem.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD
Sorry to hear about your problem. I am not sure what you asking for, but I assume that your trying to find out what can be done. I'm not sure what you have tried, but I imagine everything. The parasthesias (the numbness, tingling, etc) might be helped by neurontin (if you have not tried it) or tegratol (diddo). The spasms might be helped by alittle benzodiazepine medication. I really don't know what to tell you about the gastric problem or stomach problem.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD
Your symptoms sound more like a dystonia and not MS. However, one never knows unless a good neurological exam is performed and proper laboratory tests are run. What does your neurologist think? But from what you describe, the symptoms are certainly not classic for MS.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD
Thanks in advance!
It sounds like you are dealing with some old problems along with new, but you might check out the Lyme disease forums. It is a posibility. Try LymeNet.com. Read the stuff under treatment on the left hand side. There is a list of symptoms in it that might help. There is also a FLASH board there to post questions. The people are very helpful.
Thanks in advance!
The classic MS signs and symptoms would be eye pain with loss of vision usually unilateral, that would resolve on its own. Then muscle weakness that gets worse and then better on its own. There might be alittle clumpsiness in walking, numbness in the extremities. These symptoms would wax and wane and be episodic.
There might be some speech changes, with speech loosing some of it's rhythm.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro MD
Thanks-just worried!
The reason the symptoms the doctor listed are called "classic" is because they are most often what is apparent when a person is diagnosed with MS. Nearly everyone with MS has those symptoms, some more severe, some less severe, and with different intensities.
The numbness and tingling is most often described like this: you have a foot that is "asleep" because you've pressed on a nerve (or hand, or arm, or something similar). That tingling and numbness is what is experienced. But unlike a limb that is "asleep", with MS you can't shake it to make the numbness go away -- get the blood to recirculate. With MS, it is not a compression, but a sensation of numbness. There is generally SOME feeling, but the feeling is impaired, different than what you'd experience as "normal". And it generally lasts at least 24 hours, often much more, sometimes "forever". So if you've got a fleeting numbness, or tingling, it's probably not MS.
***@****
Thanks-again.