Dizziness, Tingling and Heaviness of Left Arm

[Blaze01]

For about 3 months now, I have been experiencing dizziness as well as heaviness, tingling sensation, and an overall weak feeling in my left arm mostly, but it also has traveled down the entire left side of my body. I am a 24 yr old healthy female. I went to the ER when it first started and was really bad. My entire left side was tingling, including the left side of my face, my left arm, leg and foot. It only happens on the LEFT side. When I walked it felt like my left ankle was just going to give out on me, it felt really weak. I was also EXREMELY dizzy. I was admitted and these symptoms were strong and lasted for over a day. I was in the hospital for 2 days and they ran a CT scan, an MRI, blood tests, and all came back negative. Gradually my symptoms started to fade. They released me after they had done every test they could think of without knowing what was causing them. Since then my symptoms have been coming and going, but not to the same intensity that they were when I went to the ER. Sometimes I will be fine and then it will just come on slowly and last for a few hours and then fade away. This happens daily if not every other day. It doesn't matter if I'm sitting or standing or being active or inactive, I will just start to feel really dizzy and off balance and then the arm heaviness, and ankle weakness will set in. I am going to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor so he can run tests as well. I had an extremely bad ear infection about 6 months ago where my equilibrium was off and I was dizzy. I am hoping it's some kind of virus that can be treated and not something serious like my heart or MS or anything like that. If anyone has had similar symptoms or has been diagnosed with something, PLEASE let me know what you think. I cannot keep going on without getting any answers. There has to be an explaination out there somewhere! Thank you so much for your comments.

[Chacha1313]

Did you ever get a diagnosis?

[Molupretty]

:'(

[Gautamsharda]

Hi everyone.. Even I'm feeling constant dizziness/heavy headed ness for about a month now..This dizzy head just came about one fine day when I woke up and is with me till date.. I even have slight ringing in my left ear and a slight pain in the back of the neck... Also I do have very brief instance of tingling in my left arm which is actually very less in intenstity and time... But this dizzy/heavy head is making me crazyyy.. What to do??

[Beeoh]

Hi. I m glad I read this as I am experiencing the same thing for 3 months now. It the doctors say nothing is wrong. As I am typing, I am feeling the heaviness on my left arm. It is all the left side of my body, including my left leg. I do not know what is wrong with me, and my problem is, I do not have health insurance.  Let's pray for each other. This is such an unsettling feeling. Good luck

[CinCin1234]

http://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/guide/cervical-osteoarthritis-cervical-spondylosis


I have had many of the symptoms people have been describing for the past month. I've had numerous blood test, mri, x rays yet I do not have a diagnosis.

I will be discussing this with my Dr. Monday morning. I hate self diagnosing, it leads to anxiety and worrying about the way TOO many what ifs.

I do think that I have found the answer to what is wrong with me, but I will keep updating until I get a definitive answer.

Good Luck

Cin

[Moid24]

I have lots of these symptoms and finally had a brain MRI done. I will say first I do have anxiety disorder/ panic attacks. I have vertigo attacks, feelings of off balance, ringing in my ears, a few times I have had auras, flashing zig zag lights for about 20 minutes with nausea. I have left arm heaviness, lots of muscles tightness, spasms in my neck and back. Sudden feelings of nausea and off balance. Facial numbness on and off, twitching eye lids.   My MRI located a epidermoid tumor/ cyst, skull based pressing on my cerebellum.  So if you are having symptoms and you just have a feeling the drs are saying it's just stress, keep pushing them for answers. I suggested the brain MRI.  I would have, still do a feeling of falling that happened even when I was laying down. I saw a eye Dr, a ENT and a neurologist.  But had I not insisted all my problems where related and had only been getting worse I would still be just DX with anxiety.  They did the MRI to check for MS, that's how they found this rare form of tumor. Now I am on a wait and watch my symptoms until the symptoms out weigh the risk of surgery.

[Niqo6]

I was taken to the emergency with similar symptoms as all of you guys, my doctor diagnosed me with Vertigo, I recommend going to an ENT

[prismson]

I have very simular symptoms as most of your posts here. I have severe dizziness (very light headed to the point I feel like I might pass out and it happens no matter if I am standing, sitting or laying down), heaviness and slight tingleness in my left arm (though it feels numb, i can feel when i pinch myself and no loss of strength or movement), my left leg feels almost as bad as my arm but not quite, but I can feel the difference in my legs when I walk as my left leg feels heavier or maybe weaker is the correct word than the right leg and I have even had some shortness of breath. It got bad last week to where I couldn't eat or sleep for like 4 days. I finally went to the ER. They seemed to run their normal tests and told me that I wasn't dieing to go hom, if it got worse come back otherwise a appointment with my doctor. The diagnosis from the ER simply said what my complaints were. Not what the found or didn't find. Weird. Later that night it happened again and felt worse. So I went back to the ER and this time at least they ran a MRI of my head (and I found out I had a brain, Who knew!) but they said everything looked normal. They said there were no signs of a heart attack, stroke or anything with the tests they ran and sent me home again with the diagnosis this time of fatigue and weakness.. No kidding I have fatigue, I have been up for 4 days and haven't ate. So unhappy with how I felt I was treated I called the discharge nurse and talked to him. He had me come back in and after sitting in the ER on a friday night for 5 hours I go to the back and they ran no tests at all. Instead they sent in the mental health people. They think it is just anxiety. Well I am not a professional by any means but the way I feel feels mighty real to me. But I told them that if they can give me a "happy pill" that will make it all go away, more power to them. I figured I would give it a shot because I have to wait until monday to call to make a appointment for a neurologist anyways. So I am on Buspirone that treats symptoms of anxiety. And to be honest, it has not taken away the symptoms, but they are less servere. So I am on the fence with this. Not sure if maybe they just haven't gotten the right dosage yet or if it isn't the problem and I am just playing mind over matter. All these symptoms and nothing shows up on any tests. It would not suprise me that one day they find out that these are early signs of something more critical that just hasn't surfaced yet. Would be nice if someone would start a study on this matter as it seems I am not the only one by far with these issues. What would also be really nice is if a doctor of any sort would leave some sort of feedback saying I had a patient with these symptoms and it turned out to be this. May not be what we all have, but at least it would give us direction. Hard to sit here and just suffer with this while everyone else just says that there's nothing we can do for you, we don't know whats wrong or I think it's all in your head. No matter how true these statements may be, it does not make it any easier for us who are suffering with this. I just think it's funny when they say you seem a little gittery, or you seem a little anxious. Well no kidding, lol. Go for days feeling like your going to pass out or like you had a stroke or whatever and see how you feel. I will bring up the B12 thing when I get in to see a neurologist and some of the other thing's I have read on here and hope the doctor doesn't feel like I am driving myself crazy by trying to self-diagnos over the internt. And if anyone has had any success with this as far as any answers, please post them. Like I stated earlier, it may not be what we all have but it may be what some of us have, but never the less, it does give us some direction to go on. It is possible that a doctor(s) may have just over looked something or maybe it normally has nothing to do with how we feel but for some strange reason, it does. Never know. Feel free to leave any comments.

[Stipper]

Hi I have had weird symptoms over the last year started with a vibration in my tailbone that came and went lasting few months , woke up with right side of face slightly numb and sensitive to touch , sensitivity to sharp loud noises that make me feel as though my head is going to burst , I have had tingling in my lips and the last week i have had pins and needles in my left hand and  a slight weakness and up my arm I am Now feeling the tingling down my left shin nauseus feeling and dizzy  , I have had a brain MRI and it was normal no ms or tumors so I am totally stumped and scared of what it could be ... Nice to know I'm not alone but still scared , many people have said I should look into aspartame poisoning as I gave used sweeteners for years and diet drinks etc so I'm stopping all of those and see what happens  

[martinjd]

I just found this thread. How is everyone? I have similar symptoms. Feeling of numbness in my left arm with no loss of strength. Numbness at times seems to extend to the left side of my face. While I was out yesterday my left leg seemed weak after walking for awhile. Went to the er and doc said it was anxiety. But I am not an anxious person. I know I am not imagining these symptoms.

[Rjh28]

Hi Cortex_toom
i feel the same right now its driving me crazy.. i know how you and everyone else feels. i am a healthy 27 year old who has never had any symtoms like this... i have had all my bloods done normal and also its not vasculitis or diabeties.. i have had abnormal MRI i have migraines and 2 white spots on my T2 white matter... which he said are non specific and nothing to worry about and week later get all this tingling down left side and arm feels so heavy i dont understand what it is from. i think i have everything right now. there is not one day i ever feel great with something making me feel down... does anyone else feels this... my neuro says all reflexes everythings great and have another MRI in 6 months to make sure there are no more changes... so frustrating...

[Dablizz]

Hello,
I stumbled across this forum and wanted to see if anyone here could shed some light on my strange symptoms as well. Four months ago I had a pins-and-needles feeling in my left forearm and hand. It came and went within a few days. A few weeks later, it returned, along with tingling in the left side of my face, then went away again. Another month later, the facial tingling came back, along with a slight tingle/perceived weakness in my left leg (but no more arm/hand issues). I say "perceived" because in actuality I was able to continue walking and playing sports as normal. It's more like a heavy feeling than true weakness, I guess. Oh, and the tip of my left big toe is also a little tingly/numb (weird but true - certainly not in my head). These symptoms disappeared as well, and then came back a few weeks later. For the last month or so, my left jaw is tingly and numb (sometimes my right jaw is a bit tingly as well, but not as much), and I have that toe tip tingle, perceived weakness in my left leg, and now left upper arm as well.

Very strange symptoms. I'm a 29 year old male, healthy, visited my doctor several times. He ordered an MRI to rule out MS, which was negative, did a functional nerve test in which everything was normal, did blood tests which found no evidence of Lyme or thyroid issues. The only slightly concerning finding was my vitamin B12 level, which is on the borderline of the lower limit of normal. But my doctor doesn't seem to think my B12 was low enough to cause these symptoms. When I first came across Lyme symptoms, I was almost convinced I had it until the blood test came back, since I live in the Northeast and do a fair amount of mountain biking and hiking (and have never been that diligent about checking for ticks).

I'd rather not send myself around to other doctors. I'm hoping some of you might have some ideas.

[Stresshead1983]

The emergency department make me worse as  have had previous anxiety everytime I go in there they straight diagnose me with anxiety.
I have been having tight heart, crunching feeling, numbness in left side of my face and left arm, also tingling in my body .
i have 4 boys and m a single mother that means im under alot of stress.
On top of my own problems.
what do I do?

[ali210]

I am a 62 year old female, with the tingling, numbness and heaviness and pain in my left hand, arm and shoulders for the last four hours and it will not go away.  Of course two of my fingers and my thumb are also numb, because of carpal tunnel.  I have had this for over 27 years and I always had therapy for it; although I did have the surgery on my right hand over 27 years ago for the carpal tunnel.   I should mention that I just recently had a EMG, because of the severe pain in both hands in July.  I should also mention that in Jan. 2010 I was diagnosed with Guillian-Barre` Syndrome and was in ICU for 20 days.  The results of my last EMG the nuero confirmed the carpal tunnel on the left side and also told me that I was losing muscle in my hands; but because the EMG confirmed that my nerves were still slow and sluggish, like they were in Jan.  there would be no surgery in the near future. Two of my fingers are totally  heavy and numb; my thumb the numbness comes and goes. During the last EMG I felt very little of the shocks and only one needle stick me.  I am assuming that the numbness, heaviness and the pain in my left arm are all part of the carpal tunnel.  Have any of your had that checked out?  It is funny that I can feel this, because other than the pain I had in my hands this summer, I have not feelings what so ever.  I hope this helps someone.  Check with you nuero's or GP's to see if this could be the cause of your symptoms.

[Ose]

My mom is 62 and she started having heaviness of the hand, numbness in the entire left side of her body and pins and needles in her hand.  She complained of her palms feeling very very rough.  Its been three months as she first noticed the feeling mid march of 2010.  She's spent about four days in the hospital doing all kinds of test.  Still no diagnosis.   Just wondering if anyone has a diagnosis or any medication to alleviate the symptoms

[chikpic]

Ppl... try some basic things..

Try to get a watch on your acidity levels.   Also, chk your neck and back for stiffness.  
Do light excercises of every limb and especially do excercise for neck, back, shoulders, and Very importantly.. EYES.

Avoid Television and Computer as mch as possible.  

and fianlly ... try n keep the tension levels low.  Best way for this is do Simple YOGA. If possible, work with a Yoga teacher for 1 mnth and learn some basic excercises. It really works wonders.

Lead a disciplined life .. follow routines. But always keep in mind 2 things...
1.  Do your work and do not think of the results/rewards. Dont compare urself with others too much. When you think that a feeling of comparison is overpowering you.. just say "Wat the heck" and forget it.

2.  There are opportunities which will go and keep coming in different forms. Whatever happens, happens for good. You may feel angry at some mishappenning .. but keep patience and be sensible .. you will soon find the good behind that mishappening.

Dont fear death.. it will come when it is bound to come.. Till then live life as it comes. Bcos if you live life thinking of death.. then at the time of death.. you will regret that you didnt live the life.

Dont Panic and BE SENSIBLE in all situations ... and KEEP the Faith .. Always.

[JJenniferJ]

I am actually in a panic right now... i am 23 years old healthy and the last 3 days my left arm seemed to be tingling and numb it comes and goes doesn't matter what i am doing... and today as i was getting my daughter out of the bath my arm just went limp for 9 mins. and afterwards its been tingling and numb for the last 3 hours nonstop i am going to make a doctor appointment because i can't afford the emergency room. I am lost and need some kind of advice on what i should be asking about if anyone knows.

[cortex_toom]

hi how are you? after the cold i have been getting strange neurological symptoms , especially when the cold started to lessen, paresthesias, is mainly located in my hands, especially in the median nerve it hurts a lot, the eye pain lessened after the infection has gone, my mother wants me to stay inside , because she thinks i still have symptoms of cold but after 3 days of cold i feel fine, usually when i have a cold i take like 8 days even with the injection of influenza and now i take like 3 days or even one day for the c old to go away, isn't it strange? i have all symptoms that indicate cold including fever and suddenly i feel fine and it won't come back until there is the climate change and usually it takes like one year for it to come back not that i want to have a cold but before i started with this symptoms (neurological) getting cold was common now it's rare...what do you think?
i hope your tests comes ok, and that the doc will say it's only fibro... you can easily treat fibro, ms is more disabling, but it is not fatal but some people are afraid of ms because in rare cases a person needs other's aid..
write back

[stinkypinky]

hello.  i saw my neuro yesterday.  he is not sure what is going on but, he has ordered an mri and evoked potentials.  i think he is very cautious about giving a diagnosis.  he did write on the order for the mri however, "check for demyelinating disease."  i'm not sure what other diseases can be demyelinating but, ms is one of them.  i am not going to worry about it though.  the evoked potential test is to test my optic nerve for "optic neuritis."  both tests are this week which is really quick.  i hope at least one of them shows what's up.  i'm sorry, i don't know what other tests you should have after an emg if your doc thinks nothing is wrong.  if it is fibro there is a medicine called Lyrica that is supposed to help with the pain.  i haven't tried it so i don't know how or if it works.  my symptoms are not too bad this week.  mostly stinging and itching.  i do also have a mild headache and some dizziness.  i am feeling better than i was a few weeks ago so, i take this "remission" as a blessing.  let me know how you are doing.  stay strong!  bye

[cortex_toom]

my neuro said that i have no desease...i won't like it if i am told i have a desease first because i'm yet young, i'n my early thirties, secondly i have been dragging with mucle pains in my legs only since i was in my early twenties and was afraid to tell my family because they will accuse me of being crazy, finally when this spred up to my torso, and hands, my parents said to me that i'm a psycho and should go to a psychiartic unit, so you see that's why i didn't talk before.., the simptoms look like fibro, in case emg is negative , i have to do the test yet...,i don't general blood test and it came good.., i also did rh blood test , it was good.., what more tests should i do after emg? i guess the only test i didn't do was lyme its' because tis not common deasease here...
anyway, i was on vitamine b12, but it worsened my symptoms instead of correnting them... paresthesia have lessened its' frequency thank God, i never experianced it before , but i always experianced muscle aches although the frequenecy was at it s peak in october, now it has lessend, i never experianced muscle weakeness but stiffness and heaviness yes...

[elaw]

Hey guys I think you all should look up "glyconutrients" and Dr. Robert Young's "New Biology" theory about alkalinizing the body.  Start doing some research.  Extensive studies about both have been shown to be very promising in ALL diseases.

[cortex_toom]

hi i'm glad you feel better, i hope that your symptoms will go away once and for all... yes most husbands do not help their wives, my collegues have this problem lol, one of them  she says that her husband doesn't help her at all, and so she has to do all stuff prepare the lunches etc.., so you can imagine you're lucky, to have somone who can do things for you, like my parents, they always not letting me do anything and treat me like somone very important to them instead (like many parents in my country do) of urging them to do the chorse needed and have little food at the end of the day...anyway, i fear ms like you do, because periferal neuropathy presents with pricking mostly in the feet and no muscle pain or eye pain, however ms has eye pain headache , and pricking , but i'm not sensitive to heat at all, and i do remember things clearly... probably it's fibro, because fibro presents well with facial/head pain in a form of tension headache.., neurological examination usually includes testng for str okes even if they are not requested by the patient as it is part of his job i think right? .. , but from blood test and pressure etc.. all came clean.., i fear many things, but sometimes pain can come from stress because our boss is really good for stressing people... if he hears what i'm typing here he might get mad at me right now lol thank God i haven't seen him for more than a week now though in a way i think it's not a good idea to talk like that, because he has had an infection that lasted like 15 days.. it's colon related...i hope he is ok though...
well rite back...
graz

[stinkypinky]

hello, are you doing well today?  i did feel a little better when i was out yesterday.  i went out with my husband who is back from california.  it's nice going out with him because if i get dizzy and my legs start to hurt, i have him to lean on.  he has been very loving and sympathetic since he got back.  he helps with the cooking and the dirty dishes.  not too many men will do that!!  he checks on me to see if i need anything and if i do, he gets for me.  he has also gotten me a few new dvd's and a lovely necklace.  what a man!!!  so anyway, last nite wasn't too bad.  only a little itching and not much pain.  i even slept better.  today, the itching and stinging is back though.  i will just have to get thru it as we are having company over for the Super Bowl.  Our team, the New England Patriots are in it and they are going to win it!!  wish me luck that i'll be able to enjoy it.  i hope you are having a nice weekend too.  take care of yourself.  bye

[cortex_toom]

hi how are you? i hope you feel better, constant paresthesia is no joke, it is hard to deal with chronic paresthesia, it feels like bugs biting under your skin, you try to rub some muscle relexant but this relief , you know is temporary, my neuro said i have no need for mri, because when he examined me i responded to all his tests, desease are suspected with abnormal neuro exam here... i don't know if i'm allergic to anything but these symptoms started last year October, and i'm still carrying it on...although not as severe as it used to be, i have no muscle weakness but the shocks shooting, sometimes stabbing pain in the muscles and paresthesia make me feel tired, and like an aged person, my cousin used to have this and had a negative test too, he did emg all was ok...he was afraid of ms so his doctor scheduled him to further testing and all came ok... his parents think that it is anxiety or he is carrying too much load (his work involve heavy loads) but can this contribute to chronic muscle pain/paresthesia? muscle pain that comes alone with periferal paresthesia is usually associated with fibromalygia...(i read somewhere) that fibromalgya is pain in the muscle fibers, which includes muscle pain and paresthesia (pain in muscle fibers)...fibro can also be disabling,,but anyway i will be having some relief after my emg test before that i can't say for sure it's fibro. yes i'm young but there are young people who have chronic deseases not only few... a relative of my aunty (she is 80 not history of ailments she is healthy at 80) he is like 24 year old, he is diagnosed with ALS and is on a wheelchair (als is a form of muscular distrophy that usually starts from one limb or leg) he has been with this illness since he was 5 and doctors are sure that because of his motor neuropathy he will not reach 30... but who knows, God knows...it would be better if he had ms because it is not fatal and only few people end up disabled, although the pain is constant...but he has that fatal desease...the sad thing is that there is no treatment either not only no cure..., in ms there are lots of treatments...and ms sometimes and many times iwould say it stops to progress...lifespan is normal...
anyway but still i'm sometimes afraid...i hate to have pains that i know i have to feel them for all my life..well, i hope that we shall feel better once and for all, and maybe doctors will understand that this is not in our head but a real pain~!
wriet back