neurological symptoms due to stress or disease?

[jrsoma]

I have developed some neurological symptoms over the past few months that have me very worried.  They include the following: very transient, migrating paresthesias on limbs, often a sensation of hot or cold on the skin, as well as pinprick feelings and a crawling sensation (like ants crawling), only on the scalp.  Additionally, dysesthesias include a slight burning feeling upon touch of skin on left hand and upper left leg, pain sensation when leg hair is touched.  Slight tremors in hands as well.  No numbness/weakness anywhere, no electrical shock sensation down the spine, balance is good except I 'feel' out of balance and occasionally a bit dizzy.

Blood tests completed several months ago showed no abnormalities, as did a CT scan of the head.  Have recently visited a neurologist, who ordered an MRI of head and spine, as well as EMG test on left arm--all of which are pending.

I should mention that the last year of life has been very stressful, with major life/relationship changes, and I am a person with a fairly anxious baseline affect.  I do have some obsessive psychiatric symptoms and I have developed a hyper-alert state, with a pronounced startle reaction to loud, sudden noises.  Emotional state is numb, I don't seem to feel normal moods.

My questions are: 1)do these symptoms suggest an organic nervous system disease (e.g. MS, other myelin diseases), 2)could they be due to some sort of partial seizure in my brain, 3)could they have developed from 5+ years of taking SSRI's (ending 5 years ago), and 4)would these be unusual symptoms to simply attribute to anxiety?

[Newbis]

One other thing I was noticing about my symptoms is that they started about a month after our office moved into a new building, where the carpet seems to be new. Since my symptoms get worse if I stick around the office a long time, I'm starting to wonder if it's the building.

Anyone else here have any possible connection regarding exposure to chemicals or newly renovated building environments?

[Allycatco]

Just took a look at this site, wanted to give you a little help on what might be going on, I have RSD/ CRPS. I experiance the same types of symptoms, So maybe you should see a neurologist about that all. Just look it up on the internet as well. It might give you  a piece of the puzzle. I hope this helps. It justreally sound like it with the off balance-ness.

[Dayle]

My symptons are now constant. I experience what can only be described as a small electrical zap in the base of my skull every so often. It is immediately followed by a moment of dizziness. Neither stays more than an instant but both certainly get my attention. The aching and often tingling pains run up and down my right arm, from my skull to my fingertips and also, there feels like there is some involvement with my right foot and leg. My big toe and two toes next to it are numb all of the time. I'm waiting for a battery of blood test results and hopefully something helpful will surface. My doctor put me on an anti-inflamatory, but I'm not tolerating it well and have stopped taking it completely. The stuff makes me sick to my stomach. I do have allergies and have taken Flonase daily for about 10 years. I hope the blood tests provide some answers. She also mentioned putting me in physical therapy if there is no significant improvement. The pain makes me very tired by the end of the day. Any ideas from anyone will be appreciated.

[Spring-02]

This evening when I was down talking with my teenage son and one of his friends, another one of their friends suddenly appeared unexpectently.  I screamed a blood curdling scream and fell on the floor and nearly gave the girl next to me a heart attack. The cat took off and hid in the garage.  My son explained to them that "my mom's nervous system is very sensitive."  Sensitive is one thing, but falling on the floor is another, I am getting paranoid about being out in public anytime there is unexpected noises or sudden movements.  I cannot control my response and it is very embarrassing.  Are any of you like that?

I also notice that some of you  notice a difference in temperature in the affected limb.  Usually my foot and leg are cold and numb in the day time and hot and throbbing in the night.  If you have ever had your finger pricked for a blood sample, that is how it feels in my fingers, except the pain lasts for five to ten minutes.  It is very strange how the pain radiates around and may only affect the tip of one finger sometimes or usually the thumb, other fingers and the palm of the hand.  

I first noticed I was having trouble with my feet when I was golfing.  The last three toes on my left foot were cold and numb and the foot almost felt dead.  The physical therapy and pool exercises help stablilze things, but I hate to think where I would be without them.  The staggered gait and stuttering are also unexplained and I certainly don't know how to control them.

My neck is so stiff that I can't turn it sideways so tonight will be a challenge to get to sleep and stay that way.  Yes, I too notice symptoms are worse at night and especially if you are at rest.

Surely somebody somewhere will come to some conclusion for these troubling symptoms that impair a person's quality of life and add so much to their anxiety level and affect relationships.
When all the tests come up normal, you are left even more perplexed and wonder if you are imagining all this pain.

Thank God for these forums and for the exchange between people who are also battling an unseen enemy, but one who silently waits to strike unseen, and who never lets go.

Take care and all the best.
The Canadian

[Spring-02]

Thanks for the explanation regarding SSRI's.  I had guessed they were some form of medication.  They tried me on Effexor when they thought I had anxiety or depresson, (before the psychiatrist ruled that out) and I could only take it for three days.  I felt so dizzy, nauseous and spaced out.  I would rather be lucid and in pain, then doped up so my brain is in a fog. I still maintain it is easier for the medical people to write a prescription for anxiety meds, rather then to take the time to investigate the problem, or actually take time to really listen to what the patient is saying.  No wonder so many people become depressed, nobody can understand their pain or frustration and they just want to get them to pop some pills, to make it all go away. If only it were that easy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's my gripe for today but have a good weekend and thanks to all for your postings.  There seems to be one common thread running through this forum, way too many people have strange neurological symptoms that can't be explained by clinical testing, and they are more or less written off as psych cases.

The Canadian

[jrsoma]

Hi, I thought I would check in and respond to the queries thus far.  Thanks everyone for their advice and personal histories, it does help very much to know that others are in limbo with annoying/debilitating symptoms yet no clinical diagnosis.

First, I am a 29-year old male, in very good overall health besides these neurological symptoms.  To answer the question, I don't live near a cell tower (that I am aware), and have lived in the same location for the last 5 years and have only recently begun to exhibit these symtpoms.  Neither do I have any allergies, aside from a light case of allergic rhinitis.  For the past year I can't even recall being sick with a cold virus or anything--though I suppose a virus could be resident with no presentable symptomalogy.  I have worried about some sort of heavy metal toxicity, e.g. mercury, and come to think of it I did have two fillings performed last fall, where mercury fillings were removed and replaced with ceramic ones.  Curiously, after that procedure I remember finding a small piece of amalgam still in my mouth.  But since they were removed I would think that large pieces like that would just pass through the system--it seems that mercury could only be an issue if it was present and available to the bloodstream on a chronic basis...?  Other than this, I find it vague to be able to attribute the onset of all of these neurological things to
anything but the stressful periods I underwent.

I guess it just seems that my nervous system is confused, i.e. it's sending signals down the wrong pathway, so what formerly felt like stress and anxiety now feels like bizarre sensations and such.  I know that sounds like maybe kind of a stretch, but that's really what it seems like.  My brain seems so hyperaware and focused on them that my total awareness is consumed by these symptoms.  I just worry that they won't be able to be reversed, even if the diagnostic tests I am having done reveal no organic disorder.  I guess there is always psychiatric treatment, I feel like maybe I should try some sort of anxiolytic agent or antidepressant to see if that would relieve some of the symptoms.

Also, I didn't mention before another curious fact about my symptoms--if I am moving, i.e. walking, exercising, or whatever, I don't seem to have, or at least NOTICE, many of them.  It's almost as if moving distracts the rest of my mind away from them, but when I am still they come on and demand my mind's attention...very weird.