Numbness/Needle like pain/burning sensation on area and spine

[MT23]

Hello, back in March/08 i had  something very weird happen to me. i felt tingling on the left side of my body mostly on my shoulder, arm and face. I had pain on one side of my head it was more like pressure from my head going to my left eye. And i temperary lost eye sight of the left eye and my face was droopy. That lasted about 30min and went away. about 2 weeks later i started having horrible needle like pain on my upper, outer thigh. Along with that i have numbness and heat, like my thigh was on fire. and now i still have the thigh problem with the needles and numbness but am also having burning sensation on my spine off and on. And i still get these attacking head pain/pressure that goes to my left eye/ and i feel lil needles on my face sometimes.
i had an MRI and a cat scan nothing shows up abnormal. I also had an ultrasound of my heard and an EKG and my heart is healthy.
i have noticed that now i am having trouble reading or pronounceing words and loss of short term memory

I also had a physiacl thearapy evaluation and se told me that ive lost feeling on some nerves and causes my motor skils to be not so accurate. that i have to look and every step that i take.
im 22 years old and scared. Please help me ?

[Lama Chahine, MD]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with your doctor.

Without the ability to examine you and obtain a history, I can not provide you with a diagnosis. However, I will try to give you some ideas about what some possibilities are.

Regarding the symptoms of numbness you had on the left side of your body associated with vision loss and headache, it is possible that your symptoms were due to migraine. GIven that your MRI has been interpreted as showing no abnormalities, a cause such as tumors or multiple scelrosis is less likely (though I can not completely exclude these since I can not view your MRI as that is not part of our role on this website).

Migraine is a type of headache disorder in which symptoms may or may not include an aura such as visual disturbances or tingling, followed by a headache that is often pounding/pulsating, associated with nausea and sometimes vomitting. Patients will often complain of lights bothering them during the headache. This type of headache is highly treatable should the diagnosis be made.

Regarding the burning symptoms in your leg, it is possible you have a neuropathy. A neuropathy is basically an irritation of some sort to the nerves that supply our skin and muscles with innervation. One type of neuropathy that affects the latera thigh is called meralgia parasthetica. This often occurs in overweight people or those who wear tight pants or following certain surgeries, basically anything that can compress the nerve that supplies innervation to the lateral thigh. This often improves with time and if not is treatable with medicaiton.

Whether or not there is a neuropathy can be determined from history, examination, and tests including one that is abbreviated EMG/NCS. This asseses how well electricity is conducted along nerves and how muscles respond.

Based on your symptoms, it sounds like you would benefit from evaluation by a neurologist. After obtaining a history from you and examining you, he/she will be able to determine whether or not your symptoms are neurologic and may choose to do additional testing.

Thank you for using the forum, I hope you find this information useful, good luck.

[jenn136]

A related discussion, loss  of sight in right eye was started.