Hello all - new poster here --
For the past 1.5 years I've suffered from a form of paresthesia. I will be seeing a neurologist soon, and am trying to collect information. Essentially:
*started in hands, progressed to feet
*no numbness, no loss of motor control, purely sensory
*hands feel abnormally warm (but are not "hot," they are the same feeling/temp as my wife), or sometimes I feel acute sensations of pain on the rim of the palm and/or in the pad of the thumb on the left hand only. Sometimes there is a feel of pressure in the hands, like too much blood
*feet only feel abnormal warmth sensation
*initially, hands would feel burning/throbbing. This has gone away to some extent, they only feel warm nowadays
*increases during stress, lack of sleep
I will try to be brief in my descript
ion to follow:
Summer 2014 - developed mild pain in forefinger due to overuse of mouse. This led to a period of 3 weeks of intense hand pain (both hands). It went away.
Spring 2015 - I began to feel the pains again, probably from overuse of the computer. Went on a road trip to North Carolina, pain symptoms were present but not bad. Upon returning, i began to feel increasing pain in shoulders, forearms
Fall 2015 - aching pains in wrists, forearms, hands. I went to a massage therapist, he said I had numerous trigger-points but though the massage helped, it did not totally heal. I began to feel pain in gluts (old injury)
Spring 2016 - I had an acute viral infection that lingered for seven weeks. It might have been Hep A, as I recently found out that I was infected with it. I can think of only two times where I suffered such sickness. It was at the onset of this infection that the paresthesia began, in the hands. A few weeks later, my feet began to get warm/burn.
I tried Chinese Medicine, as they have a condition that corresponds to this (warm hands/feet, along with mild tinnitus, which began around 2013). The herbs didn't seem to do much, though I noticed over the course of a few months that my right hand was no longer as affected. Even today, most of the paresthesia is located in my left hand, and, to a lesser extent, the feet.
I have tennis elbow and pains in my forearms and shoulder, shoulder blades. These are not really present unless I massage them, but they are always there; muscles in forearms are often tight.
I've had blood tests that rule out thyroid, B12, diabetes, etc. Initial Lyme test was negative (ELISA), but that was taken just a couple weeks ago and I'm aware of how the tests can easily fail. However... I show no other symptoms of Lyme at this moment.
During the viral infection, a well meaning doc gave me antibiotics (she thought I had bronchitis), and I suspect this wiped out my good flora. I spent four months with intense intestinal and stomach pain. This went away during the summer of 2016. The paresthesia remained.
Possibly due to the herbs from the Chinese Medicine, I found out that my liver enzymes were elevated when I did a series of tests in Korea in June of this year. They gave me medicine and then enzymes went back to normal. It was only AST/ALT, not the others. I tried gabapenton briefly; 900mg across the day ceased all paresthesia.
I stopped the herbs and have been taking a vitamin B-12 supplement, along with Alpha Lipoic Acid and Acetyl-L Carinite, as I've read these can help with nerve pain. I've noticed a huge increase in mood -- I was depressed, panic attacks, etc. due to chronic pain -- and the condition seems to reduce, at least in the morning.
Part of the problem is my obsessive brain; it locks on the pain and I have a hard time concentrating on other things. I've noticed recently that by doing breathing exercises, this takes my brain off the pain and reduces the intensity, so I think some of this is psychological and/or hyperventiliation aggravating the paresthesia.
So that's it in a nutshell. I'm not sure where it came from, except: I got a viral infection, the paresthesia started immediately. I'd had 7-8 months of forearm pain beforehand. At the moment--in part, because of the supplements--I feel totally healthy except for the paresthesia. No other problems. I wonder about
Lyme, but it seems that I would be experiencing other health issues from long-term infection.
It's been suggested to me that it might be Erythomelalgia, but I'm not sure -- several of the key elements are not really in tune to what I have. I do have Bier's Spots in my hands and *sometimes* in my feet, which is a vasoconstriction issue -- my hands are red, with scattered white speckles throughout-- but I had it at least 8 months before the paresthesia started and possibly years and years, judging by old photographs. My feet are usually pale and the paresthesia is there regardless, and EM has to do with the blood pooling in.
Is this a standard polyneuropathy, with injured nerves? Would it be something else? Again, I have only sensory issues, not numbness or motor issues. No tingling.
Even though it's but a shadow of what I've read on this board, it still has been majorly disruptive in my life. I spend my days fighting against the discomfort while tending to my two small children. It does feel like it has reduced from where I was a year ago, or even six months ago.
Also, for the 4-5 years before this happened, I had poor sleep and exhaustion issues. Not sure if that plays into it. I do feel the symptoms somewhat less if I get a good night's sleep, but that's happened like 3 times in the last half year. I do not feel the sensations when I wake up at night, nor for the first hour or two upon getting up.
Of note: If I message my forearm at the nerve points, I've noticed that the acute pain in my left hand (along rim/thumb pad) dissipates, at least for a few days. With the feet, I've been trying the exercises at Do-It-Yourself-Joint Pain and it had some effect on my feet - I've also noticed numerous times that, when I get a flare in my feet, if I adjust my back or move around, the sensations stop or diminish significantly. If I feel burning in my feet upon going to bed, if I get up and move around, do some yoga, the sensations are gone when I go back to bed.
If I smoke tobacco, the paresthesia goes away cold. I have been quitting off/on for the past two years, mostly as a pain management tool. At this point I would prefer getting on anti-depressives rather than smoking, and that may happen soon.
Thank you for any information or advice you could impart.
Post Edited (ivance) : 7/24/2017 11:35:26 PM (GMT-6)