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Weird Symptoms
HELP!! I am having some very weird symptoms. At the end of August, I started having some strange numbness, burning and tingling in my face after some dental work I had done. 2 days, It went into my arms and hands, then traveled to my feet. I got so scared, I went to the ER and those idiots diagnosed me with anxiety and told me that I was probably having an anxiety attack or a reaction to the Dextamethazone that I had recently been taking and it should go away in a few days. Well it never did, if anything, it has gotton worse. I have constant numbness and tingling in both my hands from the elbow down, and extreme pain that radiates down the outside of my arm on and off, especially the more I use my arms, or reach up overhead for something. My skin is also very very burny when you touch it. My feet also twitch at night when I try to sleep. I am a Dental Hygienist and cannot work right now becasue of this. I have had several tests, MRI of head and brain, 2 EMG and nerve conduction tests, extensive bloodwork, carotid doppler, CT scans of head and brain, cervical spine, Xrays of cervical spine which indicate a few bone spurs. All tests are negative. I have had spinal fusion in 2002 on C5/6 with placement of a plate and screws, but my surgeon says that it is fine and nothing is pushing on the spinal cord or nerves. I have seen several neurologists and they keep running tests, but all come out negative. I had to go the the ER once again on Thursday night becasue my right arm went completely numb and felt very very cold. the numbness in my hands is constant with the pain radiating on and off. the tingling in my feet is also intermittent. All my motor functions are intact & it seems to just be effecting my sensory nerves. I AM DESPERATE FOR ANSWERS!!! I AM SO SCARED. I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS NOW FOR 6 WEEKS. I am going to lose my job if I can't get back to work soon. The neuro's are upset because I keep switching doctors, but I'm not looking for drugs, I'm looking for an answer and a cause to my problem so I can get my life back. This has been quite disabling for the most part. I am very depressed and have been on antidepressants, pain and anxiety meds. I have also been in PT for myofascial release & really haven't felt much better. Please someone help. I can't go on living this way much longer......
Can you please share with me, your experience with macrobid? I, too, am now suffering from muscle twitching.
I have much of the same symptoms as the OP and the twitching like wandswworth. I, too, took Macrobid a few months ago and just haven't been the same.
Holy crap, so have i Jules77733...I'm going crazy, how do you deal with it?!?!
No, I never did persue that. It was going to require too much work gathering medical records and pissing off doctors. It was never really diagnosed in writing anyway, just something that I had found in my research. My symptoms went away gradually and have never returned. I did find out that I am deficient in B-12, quite deficient actually, and have been getting B-12 shots every 2 weeks ever since without a return of my symptoms. My primary doctor who is also an internal medicine doctor, told me that as low as my B-12 was, it could have very well been causing my symptoms. I will probably have to keep getting these shots for the rest of my life. But I'm still not convinced that the Macrobid had nothing to do with it. I think it may have been a combination of things.
I know it's been ages since your post but wondered if you ever persued Macrobid. I took it last year for a uti and have been suffering with muscle twitching for a year now and in the beginning did experience numbness and tingling. Something to think about.
I've had spinal fusion in my neck and chiropractic care is really not indicated for me. My surgeon says I shouldn't have it. I have een in physical therapy for the last 6 weeks and am feeling better from the pain, but not from the numbness. she doesn't understand it either, why the numbness isn't going away or improving.
Still having symptoms, especially when I use my arms too much. Trying to live a normal life, but its difficult. The strangest thing about this is that the numbness is there all the time. The pain seems to be subsiding some, but its still there. I was wondering if anybody knew anything about the drug Macrobid that is given for urinary tract infections? One week before this started, I went to my OBGYN for my regular yearly checkup and she found that I had a UTI that I didn't even know that I had. She prescribed Macrobid for 7 days twice a day. I took them and didn't notice any side effects. I found out later that this drug is BAD. It can cause alot of problems, even after you stop taking it. One of them is irreversible peripheral neuropathy from damage to the nerves from the drug. No Dr. has told me that I have peripheral neuro, one even said I didn't have it cause my feet weren't ridged. I just can't help but wonder if it could be from this drug, even though it didn't show up until after discontinuation of the drug. This drug can even cause respiratory problems also. Its very similar to Cipro. The leaflet that came with this drug DID NOT indicate anything like this under warnings or side effects. I didn't find this out until later. I guess it hard to prove that it is being caused from this drug. I'm so afraid that this is never going to go away. No one know what it is. all tests are normal. I may end up at the mayo clinic or Cleveland Clinic for Evaluation soon. HELP!!!! Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks for listening.
Have any of your neuros ruled out RSD --> Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy
It can start after a minor injury or pain to the body and can cause many symptoms as you describe .. the sympathetic nerves do not turn off in response to pain and can be severely painful and also loss of range of motion, etc.
Just my 2 cents as i ready your post.
C~
It can start after a minor injury or pain to the body and can cause many symptoms as you describe .. the sympathetic nerves do not turn off in response to pain and can be severely painful and also loss of range of motion, etc.
Just my 2 cents as i ready your post.
C~
How could it be anxiety? This numbness is constant and the pain comes and goes. Even when I am calm, I still have this. Why wouldn't it go away? I wake up with it and go to bed with it. I can't even work. why would i not want to work. I am having so many bills coming in now from all these medical tests. When I sleep, I'm not anxious, so why doesn't it go away? My neuro sent me to a Rheumatologist for further testing. He never said he thought it was anxiety, but its probably in my chart. I had another neuro tell me that I have conversion disorder and need to see a phychiatrist or psychologist, or my symptoms will continue to persist. He is full of sh-- If these symptoms go away, then my anxiety goes away. This is what is causing my anxiety, not the other way around.
How long is this going to last. I can't stand it anymore.
How long is this going to last. I can't stand it anymore.
Wouldn't it be great if this was anxiety, I wish for you it was. If it was anxiety the meds should be helping and by the sounds of it they are not. I know what it is like to want your life back so bad and how upsetting it is when doctors try to blame everything on depression or anxiety when of course you are going to have anxiety when your body is suddenly doing all of these crazy things and you are scared beyond belief. Anxiety seems to be the diagnosis of choice for anything when they can't figure it out. All I can say is you know your body better than any doctor or anyone on this forum and you know when something is wrong. The way the medical system is you have to be your own advocate. I hope you get your answers.
It can be what they think...yes, anxiety...sounds stupid? well come on over to the anxiety forum and find out for yourself.. Many of us there have experienced the same sensations and SWORE it wasn't anxiety...there had to be something wrong with us. It is a horrible feeling to feel that something is wrong when everyone is telling you that you are fine....I understand...and so do the people on the anxiety forum...give us a try....we all felt like you too, and now we ARE getting better!
Hi I just posted and I read your post and it seems to be similar to how my illness started. I had the burning, numbness, tingling and pain in the beginning and my skin burned so bad even my bra strap bothered me. I still have no diagnosis and I would be interested to find out if you get a diagnosis. I have too hopped around from doctor to doctor looking for answers because I know how it feels to be scared and want an answer and not be able to get one. Hand in there, Mya
I have really thought about this and have spoken with the doctors and they said that the nerves that intervate the teeth do not go to the arms or legs. The toooth that I had work doen to was a root canal anyway and didn't have any nerves in it. the only change i had was a bite change and I found out that I was very senstive to it afterward. I was very weird how it all happened. It could all be a coincidence, but I doubt it. My boss is also my dentist. He understands why I had facial pain, but no why I have arm and feet numbness. I really think that this is something so simple that is just being missed by the doctors. I had spinal fusion 5 years ago, but my surgeon says it is fine. I don't like jumping from Dr. to Dr., but I don't want to just be "managed with meds" I want to find out what is wrong with me. I have tried different meds, but to no avail. I am just very impatient and need relief now. It has been 6 weeks. I think thats long enough....
It sounds like you're dentist may have damaged a nerve during the dental work...or you contracted some sort of infection that is attacking your nerves. I'd be careful about going off of antibiotics, at this point. Have you talked to your dentist about this?
Drugs are not the "answer" to the problem, but they can help alleviate symptoms...in some cases, there isn't a cure for problems, so pain management (with drugs) is the only option. I'm not saying this is the case for you at all, this is just an example. If you find a good neurologist, who seems to be handling your case very well, then stick with that neuro. You'll never be able to find a perfect one, but you need to settle down with one specialist or you'll keep going to them and not getting any answers. Most of them will start off on the same course of action--they're all trained well, and trained similarly--which is to assume that it's something commonplace. For example, with me, I have an unexplained litany of symptoms that's been going on for the past 8 months, but includes headaches, light sensitivity, and dizziness. While I have a lot of other symptoms (tremor, muscle weakness on one half of my body), the neuros I've seen have all started off on the same course--treat me with medication for migraines, to see if this is the cause. They pursue other answers concurrently, like testing my bloodwork for signs of a neurodegenerative disease, and another MRI to monitor my brain, but I comply with their "migraine" diagnosis and take medication in the meantime, even though it isn't working. Patients have a tendency to assume the worst, I think (myself included!), so I have to remind myself sometimes that they do know what they're doing...and that it's MUCH more likely I have migraines than a brain tumor...but as long as I know they aren't discounting the possibility of a brain tumor, it's alright.
Just try to stay calm about it all and settle with one neurologist, because the sooner you do, the sooner you'll find out what's wrong with you. Jumping around from doctor to doctor won't help much. You likely are experiencing anxiety as a result of this problem, but it sounds like there may have been some damage done during the dental work.
I hope you feel better soon.
Drugs are not the "answer" to the problem, but they can help alleviate symptoms...in some cases, there isn't a cure for problems, so pain management (with drugs) is the only option. I'm not saying this is the case for you at all, this is just an example. If you find a good neurologist, who seems to be handling your case very well, then stick with that neuro. You'll never be able to find a perfect one, but you need to settle down with one specialist or you'll keep going to them and not getting any answers. Most of them will start off on the same course of action--they're all trained well, and trained similarly--which is to assume that it's something commonplace. For example, with me, I have an unexplained litany of symptoms that's been going on for the past 8 months, but includes headaches, light sensitivity, and dizziness. While I have a lot of other symptoms (tremor, muscle weakness on one half of my body), the neuros I've seen have all started off on the same course--treat me with medication for migraines, to see if this is the cause. They pursue other answers concurrently, like testing my bloodwork for signs of a neurodegenerative disease, and another MRI to monitor my brain, but I comply with their "migraine" diagnosis and take medication in the meantime, even though it isn't working. Patients have a tendency to assume the worst, I think (myself included!), so I have to remind myself sometimes that they do know what they're doing...and that it's MUCH more likely I have migraines than a brain tumor...but as long as I know they aren't discounting the possibility of a brain tumor, it's alright.
Just try to stay calm about it all and settle with one neurologist, because the sooner you do, the sooner you'll find out what's wrong with you. Jumping around from doctor to doctor won't help much. You likely are experiencing anxiety as a result of this problem, but it sounds like there may have been some damage done during the dental work.
I hope you feel better soon.
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