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Neurology (Expert Forum)
undiagnosed "electrical" type symptoms+ tinnitus+facial numbness
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undiagnosed "electrical" type symptoms+ tinnitus+facial numbness
by Saly__0__0, Nov 25, 1998 12:00AM
Dear Doctors,
my 58 year old female friend has been experiencing an increase in symptoms over the past 5 months. Initially she experienced dull basal headaches, and what she describes as "electrical shocks" radiating from her waist to her neck, only during sleep. He sleep has become increasingly disturbed, to the point where she now sleeps for max. 2-3 hrs. per night under the effects of 100-150mg. of dimenhydrinate. She also experiences tinnitus, which she describes as "cricket noises". these she experienced nightly, but have increased to continuos, increasing in "volume" enough to interfere with her ability to concentrate. She describes "flashes" similar to sparks when her eyes are closed, and has experienced transient numbness to her left face, increasing now to constant numbness. Her vision has been affected to include difficulty in focus when she turns her head. She experiences "jolting" electrical shock typr symptoms which physically move her; her face twitches; and she now has the sensation of her skin crawling over her abdomen. She has been seen by neurology, who are perplexed! Her family physician has ordered EEG and CAT scan (unenhanced) which are both negative. She has been prescribed amytryptilline and I think alprazolam, both of which were ineffective in achieving any relief of symptoms, or enhancing sleep. The dimenhydrinate was at first effective in assisting in her sleep, but this is now reduced.
Diagnostic testing is slow, and there seems to be a lack of a sense of urgency. This lady is not "anxiety" driven, and generally a "happy go lucky" well centred individual. She is now enetering her 6th month of these frustrating symptoms, and is getting very tired, but still working!
If you have any suggestions, ideas, or even direction on what type of direction we should be pushing for my husband and I would greatly appreciate some help. This lady is a very dear friend...but not too assertive!
Thank you in advance
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I am also perplexed however a few thoughts, these symptoms involve
multiple levels of the nervous system and multiple differenct systems ;
vision, peripheral sesation, inner ear, skin receptors, spinal cord and
cranial nerves.
You do not mention that she has any finings on examination despite
multiple symptoms in multiple distributions which is very hard to explain.
I camnnot pull all of these threads together to make one clear-cut
diagnosis so I will concentraye on one point which seems clearest to me from your poast.
I am impressed by the electrical shocj senastions and also the basal
headache, both of these point to problems in the spinal cord in the neck
region and could also be related to senastions related to turning her head.
I feel that she needs this area investigated by means of an MRI scan of the
cervical spinal cord with Gadolinium enhancement, she could also have an
MRI scan of her brain at the same time.
