periodic attacks of tingling, hotflash and weakness

[sfey]

Over the years my brother has had periodic attacks which progress as follows:

tingling - pins and needles - throughout body and lightheadedness
flash of heat throughout body
extreme muscle weakness and respiratory difficulty

The severity and duration has increased over time. I was present for his most recent and severe attack and was able to make these observations:

elevated blood pressure (135/98) which is not normal for him
rapid pulse
dilated pupils
mild dehydration

These attacks have always follows some unusual stressor. Years ago it was smoking maryjane, which pretty quickly led to his abandonment of that activity. More recently it happened in the dentist's chair shortly after receiving pain medication, and the last time occurred the day following a night of drinking after months of abstinence. We took him to the emergency room and he was dehydrated, but nothing else.

His doctor has been rather nonchalant about it. I think there's an underlying cause that should be investigated further.

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Hi, Thank you for your question. It is likely that your symptoms could be due to anxiety, dehydration, injury to a nerve, pressure on spinal or peripheral nerves (neuropathy), vitamin deficiency, lack of blood supply due to cholesterol plaque from atherosclerosis in the extremities, viral infection and use of certain medications. Additionally, sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be due to compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve, which may occur due to disc hernia, disc degeneration or spondylolithesis. So, the treatment modalities also range from anti-inflammatory, physiotherapy, non-surgical decompression or surgical decompression. Take care.

[ggreg]

Well, I suppose his thyroid may be acting up, they can draw blood and do a special panel for that and see what his numbers look like.  Dehydration, by the way, can make the pupils get big like that.  But I think his blood pressure needs to be looked into, because could be that is setting off the whole cascade of symptoms.