Tingling in arms

[The13man]

Male 53 years old in good health.
A couple of months ago I started getting equal pressure in my temple areas on both sides of my face.  After about a week of this I had to go to the emergency room with severe dizziness.  I had a brain CAT scan and an EKG to rule out stroke or heart attack.  It was diagnosed by the ER doc as vertigo.  The vertigo went away with Antivert, but the pressure still remains.  My family doctor ordered a sinus CAT scan, a brain MRI with contrast, and a spinal x-ray, all were negative.  Now my neck is sore on both sides from the temples to the shoulders.  The area between my shoulder blades is also sore. I now have tingling in my arms and legs.  If I extend both arms out straight and rotate them, I can hear cracking or popping in the area between my shoulder blades. The same sound as when you crack your knuckles.  What could this possibly be and should my next doctor be Neuro or Ortho?

I also have an incisional hernia in my lower left abdomen from a previous hernia surgery that needs to be surgically repaired.

I am wondering if this has anything to do with the tingling?

[Krystof]

Hello,

I

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

Neck/head pain and stiffness is most commonly due to excesive muscle contraction or spasm. Because the neck is intimately associated with the balance/vestibular system, there can be assocaited dizziness and/or nausea

In older people, temporal headache and stiffness can be due to temporal arteritis (this is almost never seen under the age of 50-60 years). There is inflammation of the arteries which can cause blindness. It is assocaited with a condition called polymyalgia rheumatica - stiff and sore muscles in the arms and shoulders. It is effectively treated with steroids and should be identified early with blood tests.

Seeing a surgeon is sometimes not a good idea if there is no apparentindication for a particular surgery, hence seeing a medical expert first may prove more beneficial in terms of diagnosis

Good luck

[tjs1974]

Hi 13man,
I'm not a Dr but I would recommend a neurologist.  Did they do an EMG on you.  That is some kind of nerve conduction test.  I'm a 31 year old male and have tingling and pain in my left arm from a bulging disc in the c5-c6.  I was in the hospital last Thursday and Friday and the EMG showed I had inflamed nerves on the c7.

I wish you the best of luck and hope you feel better soon
T