buzzing in my legs

[noners]

Hi, I need help. I'm 45, female, and am a grade setter for a road construction co.,in which i walk all day, carry a 20 -30 pound bag on my left shoulder and live in Montana. I have a pretty bad case of scoliosis. In Jan. I worked in the cold rain all day, when I woke up the next day my legs were numb and tingling from botttom of feet to knees evenly. The next day it moved up to my waist but not as intense.Gp took simple blood test all ok, had brain MRI with/without dye, and neck. Brain had bright spots, neurologist said doesnt look like MS, and neck was fine, small bulge in disk. Then when I bent neck forward and to the right, would get buzz down my spine. Had sacral therapy, got rid of most of numbness, but buzzing started in legs all the time. Did lumbar MRI, small bulge. Then Lumbar Puncture and more blood work. All neg. for MS or Lupus. Now doing heavy metal test, no results yet but seems like shot in the dark. The buzzing is alway in legs now, never in arms or back, and has started slowly in face, head and stomach. Sometime if I scratch my face it starts to buzz in that spot, somtimes it doesnt. When gasses move through my stomach it buzzes sometimes. The tightness came back in my feet also but not as intense. When I walk or am busy buzzing doesnt bother me as much until i relax. At times I dont know its there until I tap my legs. At times my kids walk on carpet and they really buzz. My Neuro. wants me to come back and see him in 2 months, maybe it will go away. Also I always try to stretch my neck and wrists and ankles. Any ideas? Is the lum.puncture a good test forMS

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

Lhermitte's sign is described as an "electric shock" like sensation on flexion or extension of the neck, and is a non-specific sign of irritation of the back of the spinal cord. The back part of the spinal cord is called the dorsal columns, and is responsible for sensation of touch, vibration, and position sense.

As MRIs are done in one fixed position, it is possibel that in certain positions there may be some irritation of the spinal cord by part of the spine. Severe scoliosis can cause localized spinal cord damage, and for some people, surgery can correct the scoliosis/curve by the insertion of a metal rod to hold the spine straight.

A senstitive and simple test to pick up posterior spinal cord dysfunction even if the MRI is unrevealing is somatosensory evoked potentials of the median and posterior tibial nerves.

Other causes of dorsal columns dysfunction should be evaluated too as they seem to be doing ie blood tests, B12 etc. Lumbar puncture is also a non-specific test which can provie supporting evidence for MS, but is also abnormal in quite a few other conditions.

Good luck

[mineandours]

HI.  I want to suggest that if you don't get a diagnosis, please keep Lyme disease in mind.  It also has co-infections that can occur with it.  You can have Lyme disease and still have a negative test but only a Lyme specialist can properly test for, diagnose and treat Lyme.  I had buzzing all over, bright spots on my brain, and other horrifying symptoms.  I also had every test in the book and they were all negative.  I don't recall a bite nor did I get the rash (less than 50% of people do).  And, to make my story even more bizarre, my husband ended up having it, too. He even lost his job.  It took me two years to figure my symptoms and a year to figure out his.  None of the doctors we saw picked up on it.  We don't live in an area where Lyme is prevalant nor had we been on vacation so we really don't know how we got it.  Go to www.LymeNet.org or www.ilads.org to find out more about Lyme and its co-infections.  Also, www.igenex.com to find about the testing.  Good luck.

[patsmad]

I too have had the buzzing legs, along with a slew of other symptoms - all of which are still happening now, 8 months later (see my post, if you want - "patsmad"). Everybody seems to keep on this Lyme thing. It sounds like a good possibility, so I'm going that route to find out more. But yeah, the buzzing was weird - it lasted for about 5 months. If I tapped the heel of my foot on the floor, the whole leg would buzz. I have had 5 MRIs - brain, cervical spine (3), and thoracic - all negative.
Frustrating, isn't it? Maybe go the Lyme route.

[noners]

I forgot to mention that in late January I went on a cruise to Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya and Grand Cayman. Maybe a wierd bug bite?

[noners]

Thank you so much for the info. It's so scarey to think you might have MS, then hear you dont but symptoms dont go away and the doctors have no idea. Until today I thought I might be the only one out there with this strange stuff going on. Also how do I find a doctor that can test for Lyme? Thanks again.

[noners]

Thank you for responding. It is so frustrating. When I got test back that its not MS, I'm left to wonder what it could be. Then I start to wonder if its the start of MS, but not strong enough yet to show up on Lumbar Puncture. I am going to check into the Lyme thing and see where that goes. I am anxious to here what the doctor says on this site. Its just so hard to be left with no answers and your own thoughts all day. Thank you again.

[Gold24kt]

Great article generated by Malden1 Thanks!
http://drcranton.com/CFIDS.htm

[zzzzzzzzzz]

Hi. I have had very similar symptoms to you plus visual changes, vertigo and speech problems.This has gone on in varying degrees for the last 6 months. Naturally, I fully expected MS, as did the physician, but I also had a negative MRI. It seems on this website, that all this points to Lyme disease. So what if you come from New Zealand where, to the best of my knowlege, it doesn't exist. I recently saw a neurologist who thought it was possibly Neurological Migraine Aura. Apparently this can follow the same symptoms as MS in a very few cases. He also mentioned Hyperventilation - over breathing - which I don't. And of course, Stress!. Its amazing what stress can do to the body. And naturally, having these weird symptoms is bound to cause stress, so you gotta look at what came first. Good luck.

[molehead]

I have had the buzzing, tingling and shooting pains starting in the lower legs since 10/04. It started 2 weeks after have extreme fatigue with eye floaters and flashing in the left eye.  I must mention it was 2 weeks after getting the flu vaccine as well.  Since then it has made it way all over the body.  I am currently not having so many shooting pains but the buzzing and tingling is still there. I got the strange feeling that every time I had one of those shooting pains that the nerve died and I think I may be RIGHT!  I now have muscle weakness and am using a cane. Before this happened, I was really an active person. Now I cannot even clean my house.  

I started going to the doctors in 1/05.  First for an MRI of the spine where narrowing of the spine was found with degeneration of disc, facet disease and on and on.  A neurosurgeon took a look at the MRI and said he could offer fusion but did not think I was a candidate for that.  He said to try steroid shots and physical therapy and if that did not work he would refer me to Shands, Gainesville Fl medical school for a second opinion.  I asked him what was causing my symptoms in my legs.  He said he did not know and would send me to a local neurologist.  I went to see him.  He inisisted I had Restless Leg Syndrome (RSL).  I asked him about ALS and he said "cannot tell now but you will be a patient of mine and I will be taking care of you."  He tried to give me medications for RLS but I did not believe it was that and did not want to mask the symptoms with medications. I spent 4 visits to his office in 4 months.  They did usual blood work, Lyme blood work (because I insisted) and MRI of the brain.  The Lyme did show some bands of infection but not enough for the infectious disease doctor to take me as a patient.  I then had Lyme blood done by IGenex Lab in Calif. and they found more bands positive than the earlier local blood work results.  I found a Lyme specialist in Mobile, Al.  I went to him in August and Sept/05. He examined me clinically for Lyme and seem to think I had had Lyme since a child.  He did find a serious sinus infection and ear problems along with yeast of which my primary physical had not found.  He prescibed Flagyl and a medication for yeast.  After taking that the yeast cleared but not the sinus.  He advised me to go see an ENT and get a CT scan of my sinus. He indicated I needed to get the sinus and ears cleared up and then come back to him.  In the meantime, my primary physician had be go for an EMG locally.  The results showed mild weakening in the right leg and two fingers on the right hand.  He did send me to the ENT.  The results were I do need the surgery.  The primary sent me to Mayo for a second opinion on the EMG.  They did another EMG and it resulted in showing changes in the vastus muscles and lumbar paraspinal muscles related to old left L3 radiculopathy. It did not show ALS at this time.  The neurologist there THINKS I have small fiber peripheral neuropathy and suggested my taking Neurontin for pain and perhaps some of the tingling.  She also suggested a spinal tab to rule out inflammatory diseases and to check for Lyme.  By the way, she had an infectious disease doctor there at Mayo look at my previous blood work on Lyme and he said those results were consist with previous Lyme infection.  The spinal tap did not show Lyme.  However, I have read that there is only a 20% chance that the spinal tap will show the Lyme.

I have had another MRI of the spine.  It does show all the previous problems witht he spine.  However, the report points out the same area that the Mayo doctor talked about - bulging disc appears to directly impinge on the right foraminal L3 nerve root sleeve.  I went back with the MRI to the neurosurgeon.  He now said he has nothing to offer me.  

I am SO discouraged at this point.  I am into my 17 month of this. Oh, I now have the eye floater and flashers in the other eye.

I am left still really wondering about Lyme. I am considering the sinus operation but I have been warned they may damage nerves in my face or eyes with the surgery.  Like I said I am already having facial problems so I don't know what to do.

Sorry this is so long but felt I had to get the complete story out or it would not make any sense.  

There seems to be so many of us going through the same type problems.    

[spitfire77]

Who was the Lyme specialist in Mobile, AL?  I live in Pensacola and I have quite similar symptoms with tingling and pain in my legs.  I had surgery to remove gallbladder which took doctors a year to diagnose gallbladder disease (not stones).  That was very stressfull not knowing what the abdominal pain was caused by for a long time.  A year to the week that my abdominal pain started is when my migraine headaches started.  Then a year and a half after the migraines started is when the leg pain started.  So I'm a mess at 40 years old now.  EEG, EMG, and leg ultrasound (looking for blood clots) have not found the source of my leg pain.  Neurologist rules out ALS and MS too. Physical therapy for a month and excercise since October have not reduced the symptoms.  I will ask my family doctor about B12 and Lyme.  He already tested for diabetes.

[molehead]

I am not sure I can give the name of physicians on this site.  I will be glad to provide the name of the Mobile doctor but I am not sure how to go about doing so.  Of course, if would be very convenient for you since you live in Pensacola to travel to Mobile to see the doctor that I saw.

[spitfire77]

Well, please go to this page and use the contact form to let me know who the doctor in Mobile was that you saw.
http://www.angelfire.com/fl2/mpo/contact.html

If the form does not work for you, post here and I'll leave an email address.

Thank you!

[molehead]

Sorry, the form did not work.  I will be glad to response through email if you would like to leave your address in a post here.

[zzzzzzzzzz]

Hi Carol - not sure if you will see this, but you said that people in NZ can get Lyme - and yet, the research I've done shows this is not the case. Where did you get this info? I know you can get a blood test here, but they specify that it is for people who have travelled to areas where there is a risk. I must admit that when I look at the canlyme site, it does ring some alarm bells especially as I get severe muscle pain and cramps as well as the MS-like syptoms (symptoms) - I had put this down to a seperate (also undiagnosed) condition, but now I have to wonder..... The other odd thing is that I was bitten by something 16 months ago and got pnumonia and sinus infections straight after. I had two round rashes on my abdomin (abdomen) which became a little infected and took a month to clear up. I asked my doctor about a possible connection between the bites and the illness and he laughed saying there is nothing in NZ that could cause such a problem through a bite. Another possibility is that I had a boyfriend 2 years ago who works overseas building Ski lifts and gondolas - many different countries - up mountains and in forrests - in the USA alot. He was ill while he was here - odd symptoms that he didn't really get checked and now I read that there is evidence that Lyme can be sexually transmitted!. I gotta gather as much info as I can before I approach my doctor with this - I can just see the look shes going to give me....

[spitfire77]

Ok, one of my email addresses is:
***@****

Thanks! :-)

[lazydog]

Hi.  I live on the East Coast of Australia in Newcastle and am being tested presently for Lyme Disease.  It was suggested to me that all my symptoms may be Lyme.  At that time I had not mentioned the rash I had all those years (which I'd almost forgotten about).  I have all sorts of problems with headaches, irritability, volatility, pain behind eyes, stabbing pain in front of eye, jaw and teeth problems, shoulder/neck/back pain, elbow pain, Hashimoto's hypothyroidism, anxiety, heart palps, breathing difficulties, chest pressure and "episodes" where I think I wont make it through the night, dizziness, oh and the list goes on.  My rash went away after 7/8 years where I believe the Hashimoto's kicked in.  When I was finally diagnosed with Hashimoto's and given thyroid hormone the rash came back.  So today (after 20 years) I've taken a pic of the rash to show all those unconvinced doctors.  I have read many of the Lyme articles and I have all the symptoms.  Even the buzzing - which happened during my last crisis a few weeks ago.  I got buzzing in my neck.  Very odd sensation - I thought it would spasm but it didn't thankfully.
...J

[gofigerr]

Hi, I have the buzzing in only one leg, it started though with this weird buzzing in my head, like an electric shock, then I got sick to my stomach and dizzy, now for 2 days I have electrical buzzing feeling only in my left calf. I'm very scared, waiting to see the doc today.