Tingles and Sharp pains.....

[lyss77]

It started about a week ago when I went to fold clothes. I felt this sharp pain on my upper mid left arm. I thought I was bite by a bug or spider? I looked at my arm and no bug/spider or even bite marks. I just went to the bathroom and washed it off with cool water. In the car as we where on the road, about 25-30 mins I felt tingles up and down my left arm and later on feeling of slight numbness near my wrist and hand. I was trying to keep myself calm. I had no other symptoms. Yes, I know it can be signs of stroke or heart attack (knock on wood), but sometime it can lead to other issues. About an hour later it seems to go away. At night on our way back home my forehead and located just above my nose started to ache a little. I have history of migraines but it tends to trigger when I have lack of sleep. Anyways, that night I couldn't sleep well because I was thinking of what happened and yeah I sorta started getting nervous. The next day later on in the evening I notice slight tingles in my lower face and lip. Just lightly tingles. Here I go again! The next morning I end up with a migraine behind my eye. Took Excedrin and felt better after 4 hours. I still do SOMETIMES feel that tingles around both arms now, but not at my lower face. It just feels more scattered tingles. I told my doctor about it and he ordered labs before all this happened because of some slight brain fog I've been having for sometimes now. My bias doctor thinks that nothing is wrong with me and I know he thinks I'm just in a panic mode! BS! I told him that I've done what him and this other doctor told me to do and keep a diary. My neck pain seems to be okay now since the other doctor referred me to see a physical therapist. My blood pressure is normal range and cholesterol is normal and everything else. The only thing is I do have Thyroid disorder (hypo) taking Synthroid 50mcg. Which I told my pcp about checking my thyroid. I decided to have a second opinion with a neurologist coming up this week. So does anyone here have ever had this before? Brain Fog, NOW tingles.....I'm not too sure if it's my sinus that causing this? By the way I also diagnosis myself for having sinusitis, since none of the other so called doctors really had diagnosis me. How do I know....first when I catch a cold my nose and ears get congested (like I was a little kid again), my head thobs and my eyes seems to look puffy.

[jemma116]

They can be swines when they do that carpal tunnel test.  They do not have to put the current up so much that you feel the electric shocks.  I don't know why they do it.  

Now you know that you have compression of nerves in the carpel tunnel, do not overuse it.  Make sure you have good posture at the keyboard.  You can (if they have advised you) is use splints to support the wrist.  Repetitive work will make it worse.

The MRI will hopefully pinpoint the area that is causing the problem.
I am surprised the xray showed up the muscle spasm, I thought they were more for showing up what is going on with the bones!  But as you are having muscle spasms, this is the body's way of protecting the bones and other bits.  The physical therapist will help by relieving the tension and also advising you on the appropriate exercises to do.

Don't like the sound of the needle in the neck to show the strength!

Hope you get on OK.  Do understand tho that somethings are not fixable, but just have to be managed.  I do hope for you that it is fixable.

Best wishes.

[lyss77]

I asked my pcp about that before but she preferred me to see a physical therapist instead.

[lyss77]

I just saw my neurologist and he performed the EMG, which was a weird test. He had these small leads and would start off with my right arm and on to the left. He had the instrument which measures your nerves and sort of giving me shocks in my arms and hands. He would start off from a low to kind of a high shock. It's just like getting static. Anyways, he said that my left arm that had started off with that pinch nerve is fine but my right arm he said seems that I have a mild Carpel Tunnel. Because of the respond seems to be sort of slow. He also did the back of my neck since I did complain of neck pains in the past and he inserted this needle that goes into your muscle and have me move around to show strength. My dr noticed that my muscles in the back of my neck located L7 seems to be weak. So now I have to do an MRI in the neck and spine. I'm pretty nervous but I will never know, even though he tells me not to worry. I also had an xray done ordered by my pcp months ago in the neck and it showed that I have some kind of muscle spasm going on. So that's when she referred me to a physical therapist. Seeing the PT sorta helped my neck because she also did this pulse compress to release pressure, but that was a month. ago. So, don't know what the out come is, but I again hope it's something fixable.

[jemma116]

Did your neorologist not order nerve conduction tests?  If not, he obviously didn't think there was any compression in the carpal tunnel.

I had a similar problem with pins and needle running down my arm and the phsyiotherapist released a pinched nerve in the upper spine.

Nerve conduction tests have shown that I do have carpel tunnel problems that causes pins and needles and numbness in the hands and fingers.

As you are experiencing a problem when your elbow is bent, perhaps there may be a small problem in the elbow area.

When you type at your keyboard make sure you are sitting correctly and also hold your hands horiztonally over the keyboard.  As the problem is happening from time to time when you are typing at the keyboard, it appears that there is an ergonomic problem that needs to be corrected to alleviate the problem.

If you do any repetitive work, this will aggravate the condition and could be the beginnings of repetitive strain.  If you spend a lot of time at the keybord, take short breaks from the keyboard and do some arm and hand exercises and body and neck stretches.

Best wishes

[silverfox67]

you might just need to be adjusted by a chiropractor or osteopath.   Sounds like pinched nerves to me.  

[lyss77]

Thanks! I saw my neurologist and he did some of those clinical exams. Standing up trying to balance, touch nose with tip of finger, having my arms out and ect. so, far he said it looks normal. I have to now go through lab work for vitamin B12, which I know my pcp already ordered in the past and it was normal. Well I just decided to do what the doctor tells me. and other types of blood work like folic acid and whatever else. There's also 2 others which is EMG for nerves and EEG for brain waves. If there's something wrong with my nerves then he'll sure find out with the EMG. But when I type and of course I have my elbows and arms like an L shape, I tend to feel my right arm in the middle needs to be stretch out because it feels like it's starting to numb. No it doesnt happen all the time. Well, i'm pretty nervous on the outcome of these test i'll be doing. To be honest I do think it's more of my back neck and NOW sometimes tingles in both arms. Yeah it's possible I might have some kind of nerve disorder? Kind of scary. I just hope it's not too serious!

[jemma116]

Sinusitis is infection through blockage of the sinus cavaties.  There are a few.  Just above the eyebrows along the forehead, on the cheebone area and one (but I'm not 100% sure) just on top of the head nearest to the forehead, and the cavity inside the mouth just above the nose.  When these get blocked up with infected mucus, this is called sinusitis.  Not all of the sinuses have to be blocked for it to be sinusitis.  With sinusitis you will feel under the weather and possibly have a slight fever with chills.

If the mucus discharge from the nose is green or yellow you know that they are infected.  To help decongest the sinuses as a home remedy, you can do steam inhalations over a bowl of hot water with Vick or Olbas Oil with your head over the bowl of steam covered with a towel.  Take care not to get scalded.  You can also buy nasal sprays to decongest the sinuses, but long term use of these is not recommended because it can make the condtiion worse.  Some allergies can cause congestion of the sinuses as well.

With regard to your tingles in your arm going down to your wrist, this may be trapped nerves either from the top of your spine, or from the carpal tunnel in your wrist.  The phsysio therapist should have been able to help you find the root of the problem if is connected to pinched nerves.

The neurologist should be able to order nerve conduction tests to see if there is any compression of the nerves that run through the carpal tunnel These do not hurt, so don't worry about that, you may feel some slight electrical pulses.

The tingles in your face and lips may be neurological too and can also be a part of your migraines.  When my husband experiences pins and needle sensations in his lips, he says this is the symptoms of his migraine.  If you feel the tingles in your face when you are in a draft this could be neuralgia.

Migraine headaches can be triggered like you say, from lack of sleep, stress, anxiety, but also from some foods.  The most notorious trigger foods for migraine sufferers is chocolate, red wine, cheese, oranges.  You may have different trigger foods that set off your migraines.  Keep a food diary to identify a trigger food if you did not know about this.  That will help you identify your trigger food so that you can avoid it.

I do not know if your underactive thyroid problem would cause neurological problems, but your metabolism will be slow.    Hope this is well managed now.

Hope you get on OK.
Best wishes.