What might cause these symptoms?

[Holly23102]

I am hoping you can help me as i am getting very worried about some strange symptoms i have been having.
I am 22yr old female from the UK. I am otherwise healthy and have had no major health issues in the past, apart from a bout of costochondritis and anxiety problems in the past 2 years.
I have no family history of any significant health problems.

These symtoms that i have been having all occur on the right side of my body literally head to toe.

Facial Symptoms:
Eye stinging and pain in and around my eye. Ear ache and pain just below my ear (somewhere in between my neck gland and ear) a feeling as if my ear is a bit blocked but no loss of hearing at all. Pain on my jaw joint and a numb/odd feeling across my cheek. I can still feel my face and anything touching it so it is not totally numb, just not right though.

Arm:
Pain feeling as if it comes from the middle of my back/back of my shoulder, down the back of my arm centralising around my elbow then down the outside of my arm again centralising around my wrist and then into my two end fingers, but my whole hand can feel a bit stiff/painful

Leg:
Pain coming from my hip down the side of my leg centering around my knee (can be very painful in my knee) then down the back of my calf into my ankle. It sort of feels as if my calf muscle is 'tight'. One day, i did have a tiny numb spot just below my knee.

None of these symptoms are constant, they come and go and sometimes can be all there together, sometimes only one at once.

I first had them in october last year and i visited my GP a few times, and was told my facial symptoms were a type of neuralgia and they never really gave me a diagnosis for my arm/leg but they threw around a few suggestions such as trapped nerve/muscular skeletal/sciatica (for my leg pain) the symptoms gradually reduced and finally disappeared after around 4/6 weeks

Doctor - please see the next post for the rest of my question as i exceeded the maximum word limit

[babsesl]

Had a lyme test?

[Fairyloveheart]

Any update?  I am very worried too about a brain tumour and had a similar response from the neurologist... am waiting for scan date

[Kevin Pho, MD]

It is difficult to come up with a unifying cause for the symptoms without examination.

If a brain tumor is suspected, head imaging is indicated - either with an MRI or CT scan.

I agree with the neurology referral.  Peripheral nerve testing can be done with a nerve conduction study, as well as blood tests to exclude metabolic diseases like diabetes, thyroid dysfunction or B12 deficiency.

A referral to a rheumatologist can be considered.  Systemic diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis can lead to some of the symptoms you describe.  Obtaining blood tests to look at the ANA level and rheumatoid factor can be done.

These options can be discussed with your personal physician.

Followup with your personal physician is essential.

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

Kevin, M.D.
www.kevinmd.com

[Holly23102]

Question continued..
They have now flared up again and it all started a few days into the new year and have been ongoing since. I have visited 2 different GPs. One prescribed me some anti inflammatories but when i was feeling no better i visited another GP who wondered if it was an odd type of migraine, as i was getting a headache and a bit of nausea (this started about a week after the pain symptoms and lasted a few days and haven't had it since) she sent me to a neurologist.

I saw the neurologist last week and after taking a history and note of my symptoms, carried out the following tests. Looked into my eyes/reflexes/scratched the bottom of both feet/pricked various points of my body with a pin/tuning fork on my feet to see if i could feel the vibrations/tested my strength/tested to see if i can feel hot and cold/tested how big my visual field was/bent my arms and legs/tested coordination/watched me walk/asked me to rub my foot against my opposite shin.

Nothing showed up abnormal in his exam and he said my symptoms did not point to one specific thing. He has scheduled me in for an mri just to be totally sure nothing is wrong and also for my piece of mind. He said he would be very surprised if anything came up abnormal though, as he does not think anything is wrong neurologically. He said he is almost certain he would have found something at least slightly abnormal in his exam if i were to have something serious wrong. I wont be having the mri for a month or two due to the waiting list and that i am a non urgent case.

I am worried i have a brain tumour although all the doctors i have seen tell me it is highly unlikely and i am not displaying the normal symptoms for brain tumour.

I am planning on going back to my GP this week to discuss my neurologist visit and also to see what the next route we can take is, that is if the mri comes back ok and the symptoms dont go away.

What i am asking is, is there anything that you can suggest could be causing these symptoms? Is there any tests i can ask about that could give an indication of what is going wrong?

I forgot to mention i last had a full blood test done in december which came out all ok, although this was for something totally different.

It just seems that since i had the spell of costochondritis and then the phase of anxiety last year that i haven't been totally 100% since...i can understand that anxiety brings on a lot of scary physical symptoms, which i am sure i am probably making this current problem a bit worse than it is as i am focusing on every little twinge and every aching odd feeling part of my body and going over and over in my mind that it is something serious...although i dont think the route of these pains is anxiety.

I am sure there must be some underlying cause that is causing all of this.

Thank you very much for your help and i am sorry to post such a long message! I just wanted to get as much information in as possible