left arm leg and face tingling

[MMMUNDRICK]

I am a 26 year old female. For the past year I have been having a variety of symptoms which started with heart palpitations.  I still get these skipped beats but not as often as I had before.  I take this as a good sign? These caused me to worry and I developed anxiety and panic attacks.  I still get a panic attack now and again.  While I was going through all of this I would have a tight muscle type pain in my left shoulder blade region sometimes very sharp which my dr told me was muscleskeletel.  The pain then started to go down my arm at times but seeing as though I worked at a computer I chalked it up to poor posture.  The pain started to move around to the side of my left ribs and breast/chest area.  It feels like a tight muscle/cramping pain. Very uncomfortable.  I was prescribed Naproxen but it made me very nauseous so I was switched to maloxacam.  This seemed to help a little bit.  I still get these symptoms but only now I am experiencing a tingling sensation in the left lower leg.  Mostly in the calf but I do get it in the whole lower leg at times.  Tingling in the left arm.  Mainly from the elbow down to the fingers.  Sometimes the whole arm as well and numbness in my left face.  A lot of the time this effects my cheek but can get so bad at times that my whole face gets tingling and feels like I have been to the dentist and the medicine never wore off.  Sometimes my lips and tongue feel odd as well.  I also at times get horrible headaches and I am not one to get headaches.  I feel at times like my nerves are just short circuiting all over my body and I just feel odd.  When I get like this I have horrible hand tremors.  Could this all be due to anxiety that just wont leave or could this be something with my spine?  I have a family history of degenerative disk disease and spinal stenosis.

Tests that I have had done so far are:
Multiple ekgs, 30 day heart monitor (showed a few pvc/pacs), stress echo, sinus x-ray (I haven't been able to breath clearly through my nose since the start of this), endoscopy (developed gerd symptoms as well), physical therapy (couldn't figure me out with out views?) shoulder x-ray (front), loads of bloodwork (high iron, high MPV, low functioning pancreas) last bloodwork was for when I broke out in hives for the first time ever and showed acute inflammation.  I was on a taper of prednisone, attarax, allegra and Flonase for the hives.  Going to have bloodwork on this again in a month.  Everything else is within "normal" ranges.  

My mother had a massive heart attack in her 30's is the reasoning behind all of the heart tests.

Any information would be greatful.  I believe at my next apt I am going to request an mri?

[MMMUNDRICK]

Thanks!  I go to my doctor in the morning so hopefully we can figure something out.  I really want to think that it was just my anxiety not letting up even though im not anxious and just making me tense.  After a year of being tense I am sure your body isn't going to feel very well!  My chest X-ray that I recently had was normal.  And I have repeat bloodwork for my inflammation tmr as they were high a month ago.  I am hoping that he want to go with an MRI as I think this is the only way to rule the rest of the concerns out.

[emra1]

Im not a Doctor and I'm not a nurse but it sounds like you have a few things going on . I agree get a good Dr. The headaches and pain in your jaw and face could be TMJ  I was a dental assistant for 24 years before I had disc problems and a dentist would be able to diagnose it , it would be worth a shot.. I get heart palpatation's  and had to wear a halter monitor and was told I had an extra heart beat and that's why i got them. As far as anxiety could be caused by stress I take ativan for them.If it was me as far as the pain in your arms you should get an MRI to rule out any disc problems . I don't know what your ins plan is but  you would need a good plan to cover all the cost's I wish you nothing but luck and hope your health returns . Kp

[MMMUNDRICK]

I wish I could say I haven't done all of those tests already.  But there has got to be some reason why I constantly feel like I am going to keel over.  Hopefully I get some answers Wednesday when I go back to the Dr.

[philnoir]

A minimal cardiac exam would involve pulse, BP, spO2, auscultation by a qualified physician, a 12-lead EKG, and blood tests to check for so-called cardiac enzymes indicated damage to heart tissue.

Sometimes doctors will have you wear a heart monitor for 24-48 hours -- the so-called "halter monitor" -- to check for irregular beats at any time during the day or night. These tests would rule out most cardiac problems.

However, if further studies are indicated for some reason, then you would be referred to a cardiac laboratory for more sophisticated tests.

I do hope you get to the bottom of this problem very soon.

[MMMUNDRICK]

Thank you for your response.  I'm really not sure what heart tests are left that I haven't done already.  At least ones my PCP will say I am not to young for. My BP is usually pretty good they have never told me it was high besides one time when I was really anxious.  Heart rate is anywhere from 83 to 103 depending on how I am feeling as well. Never end up having a fever and my O2 is always 98.

I normally see the CRNP at the office but my apt next week is with the actual Dr. himself.  She just wants to make sure we aren't missing anything.  I've never been a real anxious person and would always shrug everything off.  So it is very hard for me at times to tell myself that I am overthinking the situation.  I seem to be very tense and always have to relax my shoulders. So maybe she is right and it is muscular in nature.  It is just odd to think that your muscles could cause you so much pain.

Either way I am hoping to get to the bottom of it so I am not in pain anymore.  The past couple days it is just stuck from my sternum following under my breast and through my mid/upper back.  When I press on these areas they hurt so much worse.  It is a deep nerve type of pain.  Very hard to describe when I think about it.  It just simply hurts. Ive taken a meloxicam but all that seems to do is give me jaw discomfort and a horrible pressure headache.  My CRNP also recommended that I see a Chiropractor but I am leery that this may make my pain worse without really knowing if there is any real issues going on in there.

[philnoir]

Who can say without vital signs, a full medical history, medical examination, and appropriate diagnostic tests?

In medicine, we follow certain procedures to make accurate diagnoses for a reason -- it's complicated. If we don't follow those procedures, we make mistakes. It's hard enough even when we do have procedures to follow.

So, my advice to you is to find a primary care physician, if you don't already have one, and to explore these problems, one by one.

Ruling out cardiac involvement is a priority.This will help your anxiety to know that you don't have a bad heart. Then finding the cause of your pain is the next job.

All this will require time and money, so get a good insurance policy and follow this through. Patience is a virtue in cases like this with confounding issues, but they can be solved by a well organized diagnostician.

Getting some psycho-social help with your anxiety will help matters a great deal, so consider finding a good health psychologist while you're finding a good primary care doctor.

Best wishes.