A strange erm, problem . . . thing?!

Hey everyone, I've been posting on TSR for a while now but only discovered Health and Relationships earlier today, and what a mine of useful (and not so useful) information it is :biggrin:

. Some people sure do have weird problems, and I've been experiencing a rather peculiar phenomenon myself . . .

Like all of a sudden, last Easter some disturbing, well, alarming, to be perfectly frank, things started to happen to me. I got these inexplicable stabbing pains in my chest, like all over my chest, not just in one place, and sometimes in my back, shoulders and upper abdomen as well. These pains were very brief and intermittent, and sometimes accompanying them, and sometimes independently of these pains I started to feel weird sensations in my limbs, to be more specific my left arm and left leg. My left leg would feel like I had just been kneeling on it, and then stood up, but before pins and needles set in (not very well described - sorry :redface:

). This would also be relatively brief. Also, my left arm would start getting sensations of numbness all the way down, particularly the fingers; at other times there would just be prickling. This would last longer that the other pains and sensations.

Well this stuff freaked me out whenever it happened, as I'd read somewhere these were symptoms connected with heart trouble. As there is a history of heart trouble in my family, it was agreed I should go to the cardiac specialiast at the clinic over here. So I did, about six months ago (when all this stuff began) and he performed an ECG and said there was nothing wrong at all (predictably, as I'm not the typical stereotype for cardiac problems :p:

).

After the ECG, feeling very relieved, I thought maybe I'd imagined the whole thing, maybe just some indigestion and imagined the whole arm and leg thing, as I'm generally regarded as sort of a hypochondriac :p:

. But I have definitely had a numb left arm at least a couple of times since then. Also, the prickling sensations have spread to my right arm and leg, though not nearly as bad as in the left ones. And this keeps happening; even if it is indigestion it's not normal to get it very frequently, is it?

It doesn't seem that these weird things are connected to anything I do, they usually happen randomly, at random times; having said that I generally feel better whilst exercising and (much) worse after skipping meals. Once, before I had eaten, I had a numb arm, and after, I was feeling fine. Also I don't generally dwell on all this when I'm busy.

These tings don't happen all the time, they are very intermittent and unpredictable. Sometimes I am fine for weeks. A couple of weeks ago after about three weeks of none of this, I was randomly watching TV and the next thing I know my left arm had gone numb, just like out of the blue. That's not normal, surely?! I was pretty scared that time, as I was at home by myself with my little sister, and I instinctively reached to feel my heartbeat (like check it was still beating lol :rolleyes:

) but it felt very fast and irregular, so I was in rather a panic. I proceeded to feel all the symptoms associated with anxiety, and after I had calmed down they subseded and I felt fine; my heart was beating regularly and slowly (well, like normally).

Not long after the ECG test I went to see a neurology (is that the name for an expert on nerves?) specialist to see if there was a nerve problem with the weird limb sensations. But he couldn't detect anything. Then I went to a gastronomy expert, as my dad said he'd experienced similar things a few years ago (like me he thought it was his heart; the disease is that side of the family, but like me his was fine), and he had apparently solved it with regular eating patterns. The gastronomy dude gave me some acid blocker tablets (I can find out the name if it makes a difference) but they gave me heart palpitations (DEFINITELY this time; it was one of the side effects) so I thought best not to take any more.

Perhaps it is worth mentioning my father has a gastric ulcer, and has had it for a long time, but it hasn't bothered him for about 15 years. Could the symptoms I'm experiencing be connected with a gastric ulcer, and do they even run in families? Another thing, could my heart have deteriorated from six months ago (the ECG), silly I know but so am I :rolleyes:

?

Well I haven't experienced any of these problems badly for about two weeks, but they're intermittent, and that's not unusual (I usually take Rennies when I feel bad and they make me a little better - they taste nice, at least :redface:

). As I say, I recently discovered Health and Relationships and thought I would share all this with you :biggrin:

. I mean I want to get to the bottom of this problem, at least know what on earth it is and whether it's dangerous etc., but over here there aren't really any GP's, just specialists in all different fields. And since I got no idea what's wrong with me I don't know which to go to :redface:

. And I don't want to waste loads of money going to the wrong one (yes we have to pay :frown:

, I got insurance though so it's not that bad :wink:

lol), so erm, has anyone experienced/heard of these symptoms before. Any pointers as to which bit of me is the problem (so to speak) would be most welcome!! :smile:

Damn that must be the longest post I have ever written - sorry for all the stupid info about my silly problems :rolleyes:

Reply 1

Helenia

If none of these experts have an answer, I doubt anyone here will, I'm afraid.

Reply 2

cherryade

Helenia

If none of these experts have an answer, I doubt anyone here will, I'm afraid.

im afraid. sounds really nasty tho :frown:

if ur ECG was clear i doubt anything would have changed in the 6 months, even people with heart problems dont usually have checkups more regularly than that. do the pins and needles just come on randomly? not like just when uve been still for a while? i really cant offer any constructive advice cos im not qualified :wink:

but maybe have a look on the internet. obviously dont regard all the info as accurate but it might give u an idea of whether this condition is common/harmless and could put ur mind at rest. hope something helps u! :smile:

Reply 3

Sophdoph

Wow! Well, for starters, I think you should keep trying the medical route rather than pinning your hopes on TSR curing you, but I can understand your frustration.

Secondly, medically, I know how you feel. I've had stabbing pains in my chest and lots of pain in my left leg, which has been mainly psychomatic, but the chest pain has caused by costochondritis (http://www.emedicinehealth.com/articles/5058-1.asp).

I have had 6 doctors look at my leg to try and see what the pain is from, and there is nothing. It's basically all in my mind. Are you under and stress? Any life changes happened? Any worries about your medical past/family medical history? Things like these can lead to you expressing your emotions and feelings in a way which manifests itself as a physical symptom. To resolve the physical, sometimes the underlying emotional has to be addressed which can be tricky if you can't work out what the emotional phoblem is.

This is just one idea, which I'm presenting to you as I've had issues with this but I'm sure there are many more possible causes. The fact it might be in your mind doesn't mean the pain isn't there, and it doesn't mean people should ignore you or not believe what you feel, but it does mean there is some emotional barriers that need to be broken down to get rid of the physical pain.

Hope this might have helped a bit or at least ruled it out as a cause! :smile:

Reply 4

hallucination

Helenia is right, you need to try and see a GP or at least somebody who will be able to identify the problem, rather than using your current method of elimination!

I have similar problems to you, but I get the tingling in my legs and sometimes my fingers - my GP sent me to a specialist at the hospital and apparently I have poor circulation. I also get numbness in my arms sometimes, but I've always put this down to the same reason, and it's never been bad enough to have to see a doctor about it.

The symptoms you are experiencing can be related to a number of different problems, serious and non-serious, so it is really important that you see someone who can make a proper diagnosis.

Reply 5

Molsaka G

Thanks for the replies everyone,

@Helenia: I realise that, but I thought maybe there could be some pointers, and then I could go to different, more relevant experts for the answers :wink:

.

@cherryade: Thanks for being understanding. I woud say that it occurs more often when I have been still for a while, yes, do you think this could be something to do with it? Like my sitting position or something? I've surfed around on the net, but I'll give it another go :wink:

.

@Sophdoph: Sorry to hear you understand how I feel :hugs:

!! Thanks for the advice, although I can't think of any obvious causes of stress, I'll think over everything in more detail to try and see if there is anything I am subconciously worried about. Don't think it's costochondritis, because when I just pressed on my ribage there was no pain. Thanks for the suggestions and hope you are feeling better now :smile:

.

@hallucination: Yep, I agree, seeing a GP would be best, but I can't seem to find one :redface:

. Do you know what kind of doctor I should go to see about poor circulation? Right now, I don't think it's anything really serious, but I do certainly want a diagnosis to find out what this thing is. Trouble is, I don't know where to get it from!! :confused: