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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Numbness / Burning / Anxiety
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
Numbness / Burning / Anxiety
by staggalee, Apr 02, 2009 11:58AM
I'm a 33 yr old male. In October of 2007, my the fingers began to get numb. The numbness was not centered on one particular finger or fingers and varied in duration from day to day. I began to get very panicked over this and began to feel burning/crawling sensations in my legs as well.
My doc at the time ran blood tests and order a MRI on my brain all of which came back normal. A neurologist also concluded nothing was wrong with me and a nerve test on my hand came back negative. I went to another doctor who advised me that lexapro may help.
After 6 weeks I was advised to move up to 20mg of Lexapro. For several months afterward, my anxiety all but diminished, the crawling/burning sensations were gone and my left fingers would become numb less and less (although they were never numb free). I did have some days early on of isolated odd burning spots on my left knee and outer right thigh as well as numbness in my toes but over time these went away.
After gaining 15 pounds and losing libido, I decided to get off the Lexapro. I took two months to taper off and took my last dose. About a week later, I got slight feelings of anxiety and about a week after that my hand numbness and burning legs were back in full force.
Deciding that the hand and legs may be attributed to nothing but anxiety, I got back on the Lexapro mg and recently increased my dosage to 20 mg My hand numbness has settled down (but still hasn't went away) but the burning legs are still there. Because I thought getting back on the lexapro would get rid of the burning legs, I am considerably distressed.
anyways...my questions are:
Is it entirely possible that the burning legs are nothing but anxiety or could there be another physical cause I should get my doctor look at?
Is it possible that the Lexapro won't ease the burning legs the second time around?
Is there any other remedy I can take that can ease the burning legs symptoms?
My doc at the time ran blood tests and order a MRI on my brain all of which came back normal. A neurologist also concluded nothing was wrong with me and a nerve test on my hand came back negative. I went to another doctor who advised me that lexapro may help.
After 6 weeks I was advised to move up to 20mg of Lexapro. For several months afterward, my anxiety all but diminished, the crawling/burning sensations were gone and my left fingers would become numb less and less (although they were never numb free). I did have some days early on of isolated odd burning spots on my left knee and outer right thigh as well as numbness in my toes but over time these went away.
After gaining 15 pounds and losing libido, I decided to get off the Lexapro. I took two months to taper off and took my last dose. About a week later, I got slight feelings of anxiety and about a week after that my hand numbness and burning legs were back in full force.
Deciding that the hand and legs may be attributed to nothing but anxiety, I got back on the Lexapro mg and recently increased my dosage to 20 mg My hand numbness has settled down (but still hasn't went away) but the burning legs are still there. Because I thought getting back on the lexapro would get rid of the burning legs, I am considerably distressed.
anyways...my questions are:
Is it entirely possible that the burning legs are nothing but anxiety or could there be another physical cause I should get my doctor look at?
Is it possible that the Lexapro won't ease the burning legs the second time around?
Is there any other remedy I can take that can ease the burning legs symptoms?
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Apr 02, 2009 04:55PM
, Apr 02, 2009 04:55PMTo: staggalee
The history you give and the course of these symptoms all point to anxiety as the cause. You should think of anxiety as a dynamic force...sometimes more intense than other times, depending on what you are thinking, and what is happening in your life. The medication only suppresses the anxiety, does not cure it..it gives you time to work on your worries....so see the leg burning as a sign from you to you saying, you need to do more than suppress your anxiety,you have to get to the source, and deal with it.
