Weird symptoms of numbness, etc, no diagnosis - PLEASE HELP! (Message 1)

[thatgirl1269]

(I posted this in the free community forum, but I'm also posting it directly to a neurosurgeon / neurologist in the hope that I receive a fairly rapid response.  I've also added a few extra symptoms I've thought of since my original post.)

I don't know where to start, but here goes.  I'm a 41 yo white female, healthy, a few kilos/pounds overweight (not sure of exact weight but I'm by no means obese), no past history of problems (except recently diagnosed with bilateral disc herniation at L5/S1).  Smoker (25+ a day).  I work from home as an MT (medical transcriptionist).  Please note I live in Australia, so obviously I can't be referred to anyone in the USA.  Please also note when I say 'numbness', it's more like paresthesia as when I'm touched anywhere on my body that is 'numb', I can actually feel being touched and the sensation of being touched is the same bilaterally.

Firstly (and I don't know if this is related) I've had strange symptoms with my tongue for a few weeks - firstly like food tasted 'off' and secondly almost as if my tongue was slightly numb + tingling in fingers (very slight at 1st).  Eventually my mouth started feeling dry, like I wasn't producing saliva.  That was okay, seemed to be very minor & not a big problem and I didn't see anyone for this, although I did mention my mouth symptoms at the time to my GP (this was BEFORE all the other symptoms started) and he mentioned it could either be a virus (which as it turns out from my blood work it wasn't - no sign of virus there) and/or when I went back on the paroxetine, the dry mouth (in particular) symptoms I started having could be a side effect from that (I think I do remember having those symptoms years ago when I started paroxetine for panic attacks - please see next message/s for full description about this.)

[thatgirl1269]

Yes, I had TFTs done & every other blood test done known to man + a CT scan - everything was normal.  I saw a neurologist (Professor) yesterday & he seems to think it's due to stress (a few other doctors since I wrote the above have said the same).  I have been very stressed for a long time.  He did all the tests of motor, sensory, reflexes, gait, etc, and they were normal.  He put me on a higher dose (double) of Cymbalta (duloxetine hydrochloride) to see how I go.  The symptoms have eased slightly the past few days, which is good.  I am going in for an MRI scan whenever I can get in, but the neurologist didn't seem concerned that it was MS or anything serious.  As I say, he's putting it down to stress - he said my symptoms are "all over the place" and don't fit with anything he knows as serious.  

[Dr_Nassim]

did you have thyroid function tests done?