Tingling hands and feet

[WorriedOutloud]

44 y/o caucasian male. Relatively good health. BP slightly elevated (routinely 130 / 90) and high Cholesterol, 25 lbs overweight.  No medications or known chronic health issues. 8 mos. ago began to experience a slight scintillation in feet / hands bilaterally, moreso in feet.  Symptoms came and went daily/2-days; blamed normal 'aging.'  Recently tingling more pronounced / more persistent.  Symptoms used to appear, then disappear by the next day, leaving no residual effects. Last w weeks, however, the tingling began to remain overnight for the first time, and even progressed in the last few days to the point that this scintillating feeling ("limb ALMOST back to normal" after having gone asleep) progressed to my elbows and slightly above, and to my knees and slightly above on the outer part of my thighs. The tingling was full-foot and full-hand, as well the full circumference of all four limbs to the major joint bilateral.   The "progression" up my limbs took only a few days. My arms and shoulders have begun to feel weak, and I have periodic muscle twitches in tricep/calf.  Chest muscles "tremble" when I tighten them, though admittedly I'm in a MAJOR stress-panic about fatal neurological disease.  Systemic (blood, thyroid, STD, vitamin) issues ruled out.  Neurologist and MRI are both scheduled.  I am very much afraid of MLS, G-Barre', ALS, and have combed the web endlessly for assurances that I could have something benign.  I'm PETRIFIED now and wondering how likely MS, G-B, ALS, MDyst, MGrav, Parkinson's, other serious Neuro/neuromuscular issue is given my symptoms?

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

A little information can sometimes be too much.  Keep in mind that I have never seen you personally nor have I reviewed your diagnostic studies, so an accurate medical opinion cannot be given. Having said that, there's a couple of typos in your post in quite important parts such as how many weeks (you put w) you've had the symptoms.  But based on what you've provided, it does NOT sound like ALS, MD, MG, or Parkinson's. If it's been going on for 8 months, too long for GBS. MLS not an accepted medical abbreviation, so I'm not sure what you're trying to say. MS possible, but not typical presentation. Also possible is a polyneuropathy such as CIDP (chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy) which is a more chronic form of GBS and will be determined by the EMG and neurologist.  If it's really coming on that fast, and you develop true objective weakness or other serious neurological symptoms, then go to the ER for a more urgent neurological consultation. Otherwise, you'll have to talk to your family doc about your concerns and ask about the urgency of the situation as I cannot accurately triage you without seeing you or knowing more info. Good luck.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Have you consumed aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet), and if so, for how long?  How many aspartame-containing diet sodas or other diet or sugar-free products do you typically consume in an average week?

[WorriedOutloud]

I seldom drink diet drinks, maybe one every 2-3 weeks or so.   My wife bought a 12 pack almost two months ago, and there's still 7 left.   I consume no other "sugar free" products (candies, desserts, etc.) that I'm aware of.   However, since beginning to suffer these symptoms more acutely a month ago, I have had no more alcohol (which before that was only about 1 beer a month anyway), and I've had no more diet drinks at all since then.

[misaki]

Oh, c'mon, stop talking about aspartame. There is no evidence that aspartame causes MS-like symptoms. Read this: http://www.msfocus.org/aspart.htm

Please don't believe everything you read on the Internet. It's important to learn as much as you can about your disease, but make sure you learn from reliable sources.

I know what i'm talking about. I'm a medical student which has turned out to have MS. I try to stay as up-to-date on MS as I can, so I regularly browse the Internet for news. And I swear I get mad everytime I find a certain doctor XXXXXX who claims to have the ultimate cure, or all those sites which blame aspartame for causing lupus and multiple sclerosis. It's not true!!

(Please forgive my English, I come from a European Country)

[Mysterious Stranger]

misaki, your English is OK, but your medical education is still limited.  You cited some misinformation about methanol that is frequently thrown out by the proponents of aspartame, such as statements like this one from the link you included: "a glass of tomato juice provides 6 times more methanol than a beverage the same size sweetened with 100 percent aspartame."  There is indeed methanol in tomato juice as in a few other "woody" fruits we consume.  However, there is a difference between consuming naturally-occurring methanol in fruits and consuming isolated methanol used as a binding agent in the man-made compound aspartame.  Since you are a medical student, can you tell us what it is?
    Here's a clue.  What is the antidote for methanol poisoning?  Since you are a medical student, perhaps you can tell us the answer.  If you don't know, it may surprise you, and even seem pardoxical.  If you do know, then you can probably figure out why consuming methanol without the rest of the tomato juice or orange juice or whatever natural substance it is contained in.  Then, when you figure that out, imagine the effect of consuming methanol in the thousands of people in this country who consume massive amounts of aspartame, often unknowingly.
    Then, when you have solved that, think about this.  What are the symptoms of methanol poisoning?  Here.  I will save you the trouble of opening your medical school textbooks.  The symptoms are as follows:

      Many of the early symptoms of methanol poisoning are non-specific eg. headache, dizziness, malaise, generalized weakness, altered sensorium, acute mania, and paresthesias.

     The most characteristic symptoms that are very suggestive of methanol toxicity are the visual symptoms - blurred vision, decreased vision, snowfield blindness - described as "seeing a snowstorm" or "stepping into a snowfield", visual scintillations, photophobia, constricted vision or visual field defects, total blindness.  Abnormal eye signs include poorly reactive or unresponsive pupils, reduced visual acuity, optic disc hyperemia, retinal edema, an enlarged blind spot, papilledema, and eventually optic atrophy.

     GI symptoms are also very common and include nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain due to gastritis. The abdominal pain can be severe and mimic an acute abdomen; pancreatitis can develop and also produce abdominal pain.  Permanent neuro-visual deficits may follow recovery from severe methanol poisoning eg. pseudobulbar palsy, primitive reflexes, persistent vegetative states, unsteady gait, severe cognitive impairment, visual hallucinations, flaccid paralysis, Parkinsonian-like syndromes, bilateral basal ganglia infarction and optic neuropathy.

     There are a great many people on this and similar boards who complain of SYSTEMIC neurological symptoms -- like numbness, tingling, paresthesias in all extremities and the face, muscle spasms and cramping bilaterally etc.  -- which I am sure you recognize are the types of symptoms that lead many to get worked up for MS.  But just look at the number of people on this web site alone who have had negative MRIs to rule out MS, and dozens of other tests that all come up negative.  Some have searched for months for a clue as to why they have their symptoms, to no avail.

      Granted, for many of those poor folks, aspartame is obviously not the cause of their problems, simply because they report they do not use it at all.  But for those who do use it, my suggestion is a simple one.  It doesn't require any involved analysis of the clinical studies.  It just requires abstaining COMPLETELY from the stuff for 60 days, to see if it makes any difference.  What does anyone have to lose by taking that simple step?

[Bob H]

I am a 73 year old male. Over the past 10 years I have had a gradual tingling and burning of my feet, on the very bottom. It started ten years with a coolness on the top of my toes. I went gradually to th bottom of my feet. Today, my feet are numb from the tip of my toes to the back of my feet, and up to my ankle.

I have gone to medical doctors, foot doctors, neurologist, chropractor that used the needles proceedure. The only one that gave me any relief was the chropractor. He diagnosed the problem as periferial nuropophy. Since then other doctors have jumped on the term of peripheral neuropathy. One foot doctor told me the numbness of the feet was caused in my back, another told me the problem was caused from within my feet, and said he could correct with orthodics, and the next time I went to him, he said he though the problem was in my back.

Over the past ten years the numbness in my feet has worsened and now I have tingling in the tips of my fingers. The neurologist has prescribed Ultrim and Hydrocodone. Hyfrocodone has given me the best relief. When I take Ultram, my urine flow is not as freely.

My son is 48 and he has just began numbness in his feet.

My feet, plantar facias feels like a thin piece of foil on the bottom of my feet. When one foot starts hurting, both feet hurt the same, no matter if I am standing, sitting, in bed etc. My little toes are like they are not there, they are numb, and I feel like, if they were removed, my feet would feel better. My big toes are the same.

I would appreciate any advise you may give me.

Bob Henson

[kaky]

in april I had the last of a series of operations for breast cancer.  2 days after surgery I started having tingling in my hands.  everyday it gets worse.  my feet have turned numb.  I am a diabetic and have asthma.  I have had this condition for 2 months now.  can you give me your comments on this

thank you
Kaky

[Dugg]

" The only one that gave me any relief was the chropractor. He diagnosed the problem as periferial nuropophy. Since then other doctors have jumped on the term of peripheral neuropathy."

That was very funny! Did your chiropractor have a speech impediment?

hehe

[Freddd]

That's how my neuropathies started out many years ago.  It gets a lot worse.  Methylcobalamin (methylB12), the immediately active form of B12, has changed my life.  A lifelong depression and severe abnormal fatigue of 16 years standing lifted in one hour flat starting 15 minutes after putting a 1000mcg sublingual methylcobalmin tablet under my tongue.  Everything is improving.  It costs $8.00 at the healthfood store to buy and test this food supplement that is harmless.  It can't hurt you and possibly could significantly aid you.  No test can tell you that exept trying it.

[jenjen_1382]

IM VERY SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR CONDITION. MY MOTHER HAS BEEN ILL WITH QUITE SOME TIME SHE IS 46 YEARS OLD NOW. SHE HAS DEVELOPED AS YOU SAID TINGLING SENSATIONS IN HER HANDS BOTHE HER LEFT AND RIGHT. SHE HAS ALSO DEVELOPED NUMBNESS AND BURNING SENSATIONS IN HER FEET. SHE HAS BEEN TO NEUROLOGISTS, ENDO AND ALL OTHER DOCTORS AND HAS HAD MRI'S NERVE CONDUCTION TESTS FULL BLOOD WORKS AND NOTHING HAS SHOWED UP. SHE GOT DIAGNOSED THE OTHER DAY WITH CARPEL TUNNEL SYNDROME IN BOTH HER HANDS BUT I AM SERIOUSLY DOUBTING THIS AS SHE HAS SIMILAIR SYMPTOMS IN HER FEET. sHE ALSO GETS SWEELED JOINTS AND BODY ACHES. SHE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME A WHILE BACK AND ALSO FYBROMAYALGIA, BUT SHE SEEMS TO BE GETTING WORSE AND WORSE. WHEN I SAW YOUR COMMENT I RELATED STRAIGHT TO MY MUM. aLL THE DOCTORS SHE HAS BEEN TO NOONE AND I MEAN NOONE CAN SHED ANY LIGHT ON HER CONDITION. I THINK IT IS GETTING TO THE STAGE WHERE THEY THINK SHE IS MAKING IT UP ..WHICH IS NOT THE CASE.IF YOU CAN SHED ANY LIGHT AS TO WHAT DOCTORS MAY HAVE TOLD YOU I MIGHT BE ABLE TO RESEARCH INTO SOME NEW OUTLETS AND TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT THIS MYSTERY ILLNESS IS THAT IS RUINING HEALTHY PEOPLES LIFE. I HOPE YOU ARE FEELING BETTER ANYWAY. I KNOW HOW IT IS TO BE IN THIS MUCH PAIN I HAVE SEEN IT FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS OF MY LIFE.

[BABES]

MY FATHER HAS CIDP,THIS SEEMS TO BE A HELLISH NIGHTMARE THAT HAS NO CURE.HE HAS BEEN TO NUMEROUS DOCTORS AND TO CLEVELAND CLINIC.I WAS WITH HIM YESTERDAY AND HE CAN BARELY WALK.HE LOOKS AS IF HE IS WASTING AWAY. I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR ANYTHING THAT WOULD BE OF HELP TO HIM AND OUR FAMILY. HE IS ON MEDS AND HAS HAD TREATMENTS,MASSAGE.ETC. HIS EMAIL IS ***@****.

[zoomee]

ME TOO!
Mine started 2 weeks ago with small tingling at the ends of my fingers.  It has since progressed up to my elbows in both hands though primarily in the left side AND up both feet to my knees.

I'm also feeling numbness around my lips.

Again, this all started over the past two weeks.  Any thoughts?

[Zdenka34]

Freddd is giving you valuable advice about B12. Try it, what have you got to lose? It's the best vitamin for neurological problems. You can safely take well over 1000mcg & the king he recommends (above) is probably the best.

[zoomee]

I just spoke to my neurologist and he mentioned that this could be some rapid deterioration neurological disease of the nerves called "galines..."

I'm having to get a Stat MRI and spinal tap over next 24 hours (ugh).

Anyone know what this is?

[Freddd]

The brand of methylcobalamin that works for me and a bunch of hypersensitives is ENZYMATIC THERAPY BIOACTIVE B12 1000mcg methylcobalamin.  So far this is the only brand that works for all of the hypersensitives.  One other brand doesn't work at all.  This vitamion helps virtually everything neurological includiong many things that I had no idea were affected.  To say that I am a totally different person is an understatement.

[Freddd]

Another rand that appears to work is Jarrow 1000mcg methylcobalamin with two of 4 testers reporting short term (3 days).  The other testers will start it soon and 2 week test is in progress.

[gumball3]

A related discussion, hands and feet fall asleep was started.