Electric Shock sensations

[mschvusangel]

Does anyone ever have electric shock sensations?  It feels as though someone is zapping me with electricity in the back of my head.  The feeling starts at the base of my skull and travels down the back of my neck.  The sensation only lasts a few seconds, but sometimes it does it over and over for several minutes.  I have had these before, but it was very few and it very infrequent, but they have returned and now are happening every day.  

I have googled this and all I can find is withdrawal from antidepressants, or something related to MS.  I have never taken antidepressants, and I haven't been on anything else recently either.

[Akcowboy]

  I get the same thing I believe this is called L'hermittes sigh and is very annoying when I get them but will not hurt you.

  Cowboy

[Wobbly]

could this electric shock feeling be in your feet, near your toes...I get the almost everyday..it starts as tingling..they get stronger and feel like electric shocks..only for a few seconds and they are gone?

[Amyloo]

I get a very freaky brain shock/zap.  I get about a 1 second warning as it is coming and have to hold my head until it passes.  (About 3 to 4 seconds)  It is horrid.  It starts on my left side above left eye.  No pain, no neck or spine involvement.  It moves through my head like a freight train.  And then it's over.

[tragdysangel]

I know what you mean it feels like someone has stripped an electrical cord and while its pluged in they touch you with it right? I have got the same thing happen to me for years and there has not been the 1st doctor tell me what it was.Good LUCK.

[mschvusangel]

That is EXACTLY what it feels like.  I was just afraid to word it that way....lol  Most of the time it doesn't hurt, it just feel really strange.  When mine does it repeatedly that's when it starts to bother me.

[Heather3418]

Welcome to the "tingle" group.  I totally can relate to the tingling or buzzing feelings you have.  As you may know, I have been dx with MS for over a decade and this tingling has been my constant companion since the very beginning.  I now think of it as more of a nuisance, where I used to be very fearful of it.  I guess with time, it's something that I learned to accept as part of my life with MS.  I sometimes describe it as being plugged into a light socket.  Sound familiar?

Again, welcome to the "tingling group."  There are alot of "members."

(((HUGS))))

Heather

[mschvusangel]

I haven't been diagnosed with anything yet.  I have been to 3 or 4 different Neuros  over the past 6-7 years and they all have tried to diagnose me with migraines.  In the very beginning I did have major bad headaches, until one day it progressed to the facial numbness where my husband thought I had had a stroke.  The headaches continued along with the numbness for about 2 years, and then the headaches just stopped and now all I have is the numbness.  Along with all the other things that are starting to happen.  I feel pretty certain it is not just  migraines causing all of this.

Things are just so hard right now.  I am in school, I have a family of my own, and I also take care of my mentally ill father, so I am pretty stressed most of the time.  Problem is that's what everybody wants to blame it on!!  The symptoms were there before all of the stress was.  The symptoms have been with me for quite a while, I just didn't start to notice all of it until recently, and now my family thinks I'm going nuts....lol

[Paboo]

Hi Mschvusangel,     I have the shock sensations you are describing, and I have Fibromyalgia.  They are super annoying. My shocks come with eye movement!  If I can hold my eyes straight, and not move them at all, I am okay!  But, you know, that it not easy to do while driving, walking, talking, etc!  So, I am constantly being shocked.  It has become worse in the last year.  I have been dx for 6+ years.  You are so young, and I hate so bad all of the things you are going through.  If there is anyway at all that you can reduce your stress level, DO IT NOW!!!!  Do not allow anyone to tell you that you are going crazy, because you are not.  THIS STUFF IS REAL.  Just continue on until you are diagnosed.  Prays will be sent on your behalf.

[pennst8r]

Those shocks are what I believe landed me in the ER the other day. I don't get them often, but they are in my leg, head or occasionally in my arm. My friend is an RN. She put the shooting pain w/ my looking awful, slurring, and brain fog (room was HOT) and thought I was having a heart attack or stroke, so she called 911. Can't blame her I guess. I've told her about what happens when I get hot, but she's never actually seen it. Apparently it's scary, lol!

Take care of yourself

Penn

[mschvusangel]

I just wanted to ask those of you who have the shock sensations if there is anything that seems to aggravate it?  I guess thats what I'm asking anyway...lol  
When I start having the sensation it seems to happen a lot for several days to weeks and then it just kind of tapers off for a while, but during the times that it is happening my head seems to be very tender (I am not tender headed at all).  I can brush my hair and it cause the shocks, or sometimes just touching a certain place on the top of my head.

Does this happen to anyone?

[doublevision1]

I have Lhermitt'es, so consistent with this, I get the shock/buzzing sensation when I bend my neck forward.  However it only seems to be brought on following some kind of activity (climbing stairs, treadmill, etc).  If I am just sitting around, I can bend my neck forward with no buzzing involved.

I get other 'zaps' on different parts of my body, often the arch of my foot, the base of my thumb, wrist, etc.  Usually these zaps happen out of the blue, but I have noticed that I often get it in my right foot, immedately after stepping out of the shower.  I don't take hot showers so I don't think it's temperature related.  It feels like it has more to do with stretching the arch of my foot.  Weird.

db1

[dave9836]

Many of your symptoms sound like those of ms. My back has been undergoing these "electric shocks" continuously for almost 8 years. It feels like the nerves are being over excited. It tickles, burns, throbs, feels like pins & needles all simultaneously and not I seem to be feeling a weakness in my legs. My condition remains undianosed although a neurologist once diagnosed mild ms only to retract it 2 years later. American medicine doesn't have the incentive to deal with the hard cases anymore, thanks to Medicare.  The doc said I was "dying of a broken heart". Psychosomatic syndrome: the "great dumping ground".  It does teach patience.

[howgoit]

I HAVE THIS FEELING IN MY NECK LIKE CRUNCHING FRICTION WHEN I BEND MY NECK FORWARD.THEN I LISTEN TO IT WITH MY EARS IT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING IS RUBBING THE SPINAL CORD AND WHEN IT DOES THAT IT FEELS WEIRD LIKE ITS SHOCKING ME.I ALSO STARTED HAVING TINGLING IN FACE ARMS HANDS AND LEGS AND FEET AND NUMBNESS. I GO FOR A CERVICAL MRI ON FRIDAY AND A LUMBAR SPINE AS I HAVE SOME NERVES BEING PINCHED THEY SAY BUT THEY WANT A BETTER LOOK WITH THE SPINE CLINIC DOCTOR. I ALSO GO TO THE NUEROLOGIST FOR A SENSORY NERVE TEST IN OCTOBER WHICH IS A WAYS A WAY. THERE IS ONLY ONE GUY DOING THE TEST AT kAISER.ANY I HOPE I CAN GET SOME ANSWERS. Marj

[zapstruck]

My "zapping sensation" happens mostly when I go to a specific place - the grocery store!  It's not painful, but uncomfortable and lasts a split second.  

[Nerve_Wrecked]

Electric Shock sensations have been the one consistent symptom I have had for almost 3 years now. It's actually where all my symptoms started.

Mine started in my left calf, and now happen wherever, whenever. No where is safe, even had them in the privates, fingers, and through the head coming out the eye.

Christine
(un-dx)

[Nerve_Wrecked]

My shocks take on a sporatic pattern, they kind of go "zap, zap, pause, zap, pause, zap, zap, zap, zap, pause"...and electric shock is exactly how I have described it from the first time it happened. I find I usually can't move the body part it's happening in while it's zapping. Like if it's in my finger, I am unable to move my finger while it's actually zapping.

My first neurologist told me he thought it was muscle spasms. I don't know. I know Neurontin helped, when I could take it. I also find there are periods where it's more intense, and periods where it only happens once or twice a day.

[Quixotic1]

Reading on the forum I am struck by how common these zaps and zings are.  Start a thread with a complaint of one and instantly there are more people commiserating.  Yet, neurologist don't seem to know about them.  Are we not telling our doctors?  Does it seem too weird that we don't mention it?

NW - Maybe yours are sending you some kind of Morse Code message?

Quix

[monotreme]

Craig told the NYU neuro about his electric shocks he gets going down his arms.  His neuro agreed that they do happen in MS.  he thinks it is part of the disease.

Elaine

[Lulu54]

This is the symptom I describe as having Pop Rocks (remember the snapping candy?) exploding in my neck...

Laura

[Nerve_Wrecked]

LMAO Quix,

I'm thinking you may be right there. It's my diagnosis...lol

I'm thinking maybe I should learn Morse....lol

Christine

[Sunnytoday]

Elaine, so if I tell them of this symtom at NYU they won't think i'm crazy like my Dr. DWI did? Laughing.....
This is a part of my life, and I just figured I could tell my dr. and when he gave me that "look" i realized that perhaps it wasn't as usual as I thought.
Another reason to make me glad I'm going to NYU.
~Sunnytoday~

[Fluffysmom]

Hey, I just added a new "tingle" today.  It's on the front of my left leg, mid-thigh, and started out like the cell phone on vibrate.  The dang thing has been ringing all day, though now its spreading out a little more.

I'll definitely mention this to my MS specialist, for what it's worth.

Kathy

[cat9000]

I'm so glad to have found this forum! I am so scared right now. I've had these sensations for about 3 years. They went away for a while, but have now come back stronger.  When they first started I went to the doctor who sent me to a neurologist. After MRIs and EEGs, the neurologist had no explanation. He looked at me like I was making it up.  I get random shocks through my body.  Sometimes they are just in my chest, sometimes down my led or arm. I noticed they happen most frequently when I work out or walk.  Moving my neck does seem to play some part, but also I tend to move my neck the most when I'm walking or working out. The shocks don't necessarily hurt, but they are a bit uncomfortable and scary. I spent so much money the first time to be told nothing, that I'm not eager to go hunt down a diagnosis again. And I'm also scared that it's something life-threatening. I've wondered lately if I should have seen the cardiologist rather than the neurologist.  Any chance these are heart related? I feel a bit like it's my heart shocking me. Please help!  

[hpynana]

I understand what you mean about being scared.  I have addisons disease, but I don't think it is related.  I started having them about 2 years ago, and they will come on really strong for a few months, then just go away.  My doc sent me to get a MRI and couldn't see anything.  My shocks always involve my head, and I get light headed or maybe even feel high(?) during them.  They can also happen any time, any where on my body/  It is so cool to be able to blog with someone about this, because I have had those 'you are crazy' looks myself.  My daughter had one episode when she was in Jr. High, but it has never returned.