Leg Pain, and more?

A couple months ago I started getting these strange twitches in my left leg. The days they would happen, at night when I lay down I would get a burning feeling in the same leg. My heart would start pounding heavily for no reason. My doctor said it was just anxiety, but did an EKG (which turned up a slight but not abnormal arrhythmia) and blood work because I was terrified of blood clots (I had a fairly bad trauma to that same leg several years back). After a while, the symptoms went away.

The past few weeks, however, my heart starts pounding for no reason. I tried cutting out caffeine and altered the sinus medication I took. When this happens I take 1mg of Lorazepam (which my doctor prescribed) and it still doesn't go away. This week my leg has started aching around the middle of my thigh, my muscles feel tight when I've been sitting down for a while, and there's a pins and needles, burning, numb sensation that goes down to my toes, to my shoulder, and down my left arm, usually only affecting my pinkie and my ring finger. I noticed tiny petechia on my left bicep that showed up after the patch of skin turned pink. There are also patches of pink that come and go on my thigh, and veins on the back of my knee have become more prominent.

I already have anxiety issues (plus my mother is a bit of a hypochondriac, so she sort of feeds into my paranoia) and I just want to know if I really have anything to be worried about.

[Kevin Pho, MD]

Anxiety can lead to your symptoms, but I would evaluate other, potentially more serious, causes first.

Any type of arrhythmia or heart condition can lead to the palpitations.  Obtaining an EKG as well as a 24-hr Holter monitor can be done, and if warranted, imaging the heart with an echocardiogram can exclude structural causes.

Regarding the pins and needles, that can be due to peripheral nerve disease, and should be evaluated by a neurologist.  A nerve conduction study can be done to see if there is nerve dysfunction.  Some metabolic conditions can lead to the symptoms as well, including thyroid disease or vitamin B12 deficiency.

These options can be discussed with your personal physician.

This answer is not intended as and does not substitute for medical advice - the information presented is for patient education only. Please see your personal physician for further evaluation of your individual case.

Kevin Pho, M.D.

KevinMD.com
Twitter.com/kevinmd

[Limping_Twerp]

A related discussion, Desperate. was started.