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Buzzing/tingling in hands? (Read 26222 times)
George
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Buzzing/tingling in hands?
Nov 25th, 2009, 4:19am
 
Hi everyone Smiley,

I know this seems to be common with anxiety, but does anyone know any other causes of tingling/buzzing in the hands and feet?

I think mine are certainly NOT caused by anxiety, because I am not anxious that much, to be honest, and when I am, I know it.

I went to my GP yesterday and explained how I'd been having this tingling/buzzing feeling in my left hand for a few weeks. It's in my left foot a little too, and a little bit in my right hand, but not as bad as the left. It's in my left fingers and thumb, and has "moved" across my hand over the last few weeks from my little finger and ring finger first, to my middle and index finger, and now seems to be in the thumb a little bit. Same story for the right side, but it hasn't moved all the way to the thumb yet and seems to be in the fingers only.

On my left foot, it seems to be on the outside and not really changing much and sometimes disppears until I think about it again.

I am really regretting the fact that I didn't explain everything to my GP. For some reason, I just forgot.

It started about 3 weeks ago. For the first 2 weeks (roughly) I was also dizzy and had a headache. The headache was like a pressing or squashing pain, as if my head was being crushed. Sometimes it would be localalised and other times it would be my whole head. I am still getting this but it is mild and if I loosen up it gets a little better, but only slighly. The dizziness is also nearly all gone.

I've had this kind of dizziness before, and related it to anemia as it seemed to get better with and increase in hemoglobin. I relaxed about it all and it seemed to just be getting better.

I've been thinking it may be some kind of deficiency (electrolytes?) but I'm not sure. I know magnesium and calcium can give you these kinds of symptoms and have been to A&E (ER) before with tetany in the hands due to low magnesium or calcium (they were both low so not sure which caused it).

I know B12 can do it, but I had my level checked about 2-3 months ago for another reason, and it was fine then, so it is probably fine now. GP doesn't think it's B12. He mentioned something about the ulnar nerve, too. I'm sure it's not that though, because that nerve only affects the little and ring fingers and this is all fingers + thumb.

My last full blood count came back as fine (I mentioned it in another post) aside from anemia, but I didn't get magnesium or calcium checked as they are not routine tests here in the UK. I am going to phone my local practice up and book an appointment to check whether it is these.

GP mentioned something about the thyroid, too, but I had that checked a few months back aswell.

I can't for the life of me figure out why I didn't tell my GP about the headache and dizziness, but he did say that if the tingling didn't settle, then I can book in for a calcium/magnesium check, even though he told me he doesn't think it is caused by those.

I am kind of hoping it is those, because I can get supplements to boost them. I made the big mistake of asking Dr. Google what buzzing/tingling in the hands and feet mean, and now I have self diagnosed with some nasty diseases Sad.

My GP did a quick strength/sensation test by asking me to stop him from pulling my hand forward and then testing to see whether I could feel him gently touching my fingers/hand. No loss of strength or sensation. In fact, my fingers feel VERY sensitive and even tickle when I gently touch them.

I also sometimes feel weak in the legs, but I think it is not a true weakness. I feel as if I am falling over, but then I "snap out of it" and realise that nothing is happening, and my legs are not actually weak at all.

As I am writing this, I am also getting a sort of tense/tingly feeling my my cheek bones. Not sure if that's tension but I am scared now. I also get "restless leg syndrome" (undiagnosed and unchecked) in various body parts, mainly the left foot, my chest and neck and left arm. Sometimes on the torso aswell.

I'm sure this is not anxiety related, as it never goes away. It does get worse with anxiety, and better if I forget about it, but it never completely goes and I'm sure there is a physical reason for it because it came on slowly and is slowly progressing.

One thing I will say though, it that it seemed to "move" to my right hand a day or so after I said to myself "It's not in my right hand though, that's strange". Lo and behold, now it is...

I'm scared! Help!
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Crohn's disease (active terminal ileitis) - diagnosed 2007. Taking: Imodium 2mg x 2 daily. 25 years old (updated 10-June-2013).
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RLR
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Re: Buzzing/tingling in hands?
Reply #1 - Nov 29th, 2009, 8:15pm
 
Okay, first of all, if you post to the general forum please kindly inform me on the symptoms forum. I very rarely look at the general forum and my time is often limited. I see that your post is several days old, so my apologies for the delay. Again, make certain that I'm aware you've posted here.

I note in your posting that you are going a very long way to convince me that your symptoms are unrelated to anxiety. I'm going to share with you here that your position is very common among the patient population that shares many of your symptoms.

You need to realize that the type of anxiety that virtually everyone recongizes is known as situational anxiety. It's the form of anxiety that affects people on a regular basis and frankly, is just part of daily life. The second form, however, is absolutely not something that patients associate with anxiety. It's known as somatoform and it results from a constant excitation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. As such, the senses become highly irregular and the feedback being produced causes the brain to act by inducing a variety of physiological changes.

All of the symptoms you are describing are the byproduct of somatoform and it's sort of like anxiety on steroids. From a professional evaluation standpoint, I see nothing of your symptoms to suggest a pattern that is recognizable among neuropathological disease. In other words, you can immediately drop the notions that you might have Multiple Sclerosis, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Creuztfeld Jabob disease, Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Dementia with Lewy Body disease, Motor Neuron Disease and so on.

Those diseases produce very characteristic hallmark symptomatology and they are well-recognized among the neurology community.

The pins & needles sensation in the hands is a product of tension, whereby the tendons are somewhat drawn and you'll find that if you extend your arm out to the sides as far as possible and then try to make a tight fist, you'll likely encounter a good degree of discomfort and it will to some extent reproduce the pins and needles sensation.

The same thing can take place in the legs as well. Incidentally, Restless Leg Syndrome is strictly a condition associated with the lower limbs. Your description that the sensation is sometimes felt in your chest, neck, torso, etc., is a phenomenon known as akathisia and is common in persons with anxiety disorder.

The same is true for the perceived weakness in your legs. Realize that true weakness has other symptoms which are present that you make no mention of, so we're not dealing with any type of actual muscular anomoly of any type.

Lastly, I'd be curious to know your basis for determining precisely why your symptoms are not the product of somatoform anxiety, other than the statement that it never goes away? This type of anxiety demonstrates a tremendous influence over the nervous system and has little if nothing to do with situational anxiety.

You'll be fine.

Best regards and Good Health

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Best Regards and Good Health
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George
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Re: Buzzing/tingling in hands?
Reply #2 - Dec 20th, 2009, 10:17pm
 
Hi RLR and thank you for replying to my thread. Also, sorry for the big delay in reply time, too!

To answer your question about why I think this may be something else, here goes:

I'm not 100% sure where to start actually. The beginning I guess.

Around March/April this year I first noticed the signs that something wasn't quite right. Those symptoms were:

1. 90-120 resting pulse
2. Palpitations always (no skipped ones, just pounding)
3. Trembling sometimes
4. Sweating
5. Dizziness
6. Feeling weak without actually losing strength
7. "off kilter" sort of feeling, like I could fall over at any time, but never actually would have
8. Feeling very cold, but my actual temperature was increased

These symptoms all seemed to get worse afer I'd eaten something sugary or carbohydrate rich. Sweets and chocolates made them appear right away (within 10 mins) and quite severly, while things like potatoes or rice took around 30-60 mins to produce symptoms and they were not as severe. By severe I mean I would be sweaty, shaking, fast pounding pulse, highly anxious etc. and not severe would be a slower pulse (but still fast), not as anxious, not quite as sweaty,etc. you get the idea.

At first the GP said it sounded like some kind of reaction to a food additive, even though I told him it happens after eating sugar and seemed to be able to last all day. He said he doesn't suspect diabetes or anything and he was correct, because I didn't believe him and went ahead and bought a glucose meter. My glucose was always normal. Normal in the morning, normal after meals and normal before bed.

I went back to him a few months after (when I'd figured out what the problem was) and told him I thought it was "Idiopathic Postprandial Syndrome" and I wasn't actually getting low blood sugar because of the sugars and carbs I was eating, but I was getting rapid drops in blood sugar that were producing these symptoms. He agreed that it quite possibly was the problem. He said he thinks I will adjust to it and I still don't know what's causing it though I suspect corticosteroids that I've taken this year for Crohn's. Not sure though, 'cause if I chill out about it and eat sweets, it won't happen. If I think about it happenng, it almost certainly will happen.

Anyway, there's more to the story. Going back even before I started getting these symptoms I had a strange night once where I had a problem with my vision.

It lasted around two hours and seemed to come in waves of 20 mins on, 20 mins off. Basically I had a blurry zig-zag shape covering a large portion of my vision. Its origin was on the left eye and it zig-zagged up and to the right kind of like this:

   \/\/\/\/\/\
   /  
   \

I could cover my left eye and see the tail end on the right eye, and cover my right and to see the main body of it on the left eye. There was also a lot of blurring and dull vision to the very left side. It would come on for 20 minutes, then fade out for 20 minutes, then fade back in, etc. which lasted a total of almost exactly two hours.

For the life of me I don't know why I didn't see my doctor about it, but it went away and I forgot about it and I've had no problem since. That was probably around April.

So, that bring me up to now. The recent symptoms I've been experiencing are:

1. Tingling in hands/sometimes feet
2. "Crawling" or moving sensations under the skin. Like a snake is slithering around in there!
3. Headaches (sometimes local to one side or place, sometimes all over)
4. Twitches (random places)
4. A strange pressure above and behind my eyes which comes and goes. I can replicate the feeling by looking up as hard as I can for a few seconds to feel that "ache". It feels like someting is pushing down between my eyes. My vision is clear, but I feel like if it gets any worse I am going to be having mild double vision. I suspect this may be something to do with my anemia, as it has improved with my HB count going up.
5. Slighy "off kilter" feeling occasionally.
7. Tingling on the end of my tongue! (new)
8. Tingling head (not constant and localised each time)

So my reasoning for thinking I have some kind of neurological thing is basically because of the eye problem I mentioned, tingling in hands/feet and the fact that I seem to have a blood sugar "thing" going on. I know my blood sugar is never out of its normal range, but I read that blood sugar problems can contribute to things like peripheral neuropathy and nerve problems.

I know that the drop in blood sugar symptoms I feel are actually unrelated. One set being adrenergic type symptoms, one set being low blood sugar symptoms. Another set of symptoms for the anxiety, etc.

I realise that my symptoms are individual and I am taking the entire lot of them in one go and trying to find a common cause of all of them, but I just don't know what's going on inside my body. Everything is "normal" according to tests, my ECGs never catch the skips, my glucose meter says my glucose is normal every time, yet my blood sugars drop rapidly, my heart skips and pounds away now, my eyes went funny that time, my hands tingle! Ahhh! I'm developing some horrible disease!

RLR, how are we to go about seperating our symptoms in to their individual sets? For example, I was grouping the adrenaline symptoms with low blood sugar symptoms and coming to the conclusion that they were one set with one cause, when they were in fact two sets with different causes. It wasn't until I learned more about what was happenin
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« Last Edit: Dec 20th, 2009, 11:53pm by George »  

Crohn's disease (active terminal ileitis) - diagnosed 2007. Taking: Imodium 2mg x 2 daily. 25 years old (updated 10-June-2013).
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George
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Re: Buzzing/tingling in hands?
Reply #3 - Dec 20th, 2009, 10:19pm
 
That I started to understand that my symptoms were actually not caused by the same thing. The main "reason" for the symptoms was blood sugar dropping, but the two sets of symptoms were of different origin.

Thank you for reading my very long post. Am I imagining all of this? Thanks RLR!

Smiley MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Grin
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Crohn's disease (active terminal ileitis) - diagnosed 2007. Taking: Imodium 2mg x 2 daily. 25 years old (updated 10-June-2013).
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Re: Buzzing/tingling in hands?
Reply #4 - Dec 13th, 2011, 11:13pm
 
Hi George...I had to join to see how you are going as it has been a couple of years I see, am wondering if you ever got any answers? I too have had the very same experiences lately, am questioning whether I have a hyperventilation problem/heart problem/ lung problem etc because of the same symptoms that you are experiencing. Would love to hear how it has gone for you.
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Re: Buzzing/tingling in hands?
Reply #5 - Dec 26th, 2011, 7:20pm
 
Do you think this could be some kind of reaction to some kind of chemical or change in water supply chemicals or environmental pollution?
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Re: Buzzing/tingling in hands?
Reply #6 - Feb 1st, 2012, 3:32am
 
Hi George,

I have had a lot of your symptoms and it turned out to be sinusitis - it took a long time to come to that conclusion (the original diagnosis was a stroke!).

"1. 90-120 resting pulse"
My pulse was occasionally elevated but not to that level.

"2. Palpitations always (no skipped ones, just pounding)"

I had pounding and skipped

"3. Trembling sometimes"
Yep

"4. Sweating"
Yep

"5. Dizziness"
Yep

"6. Feeling weak without actually losing strength"
Yep

"7. "off kilter" sort of feeling, like I could fall over at any time, but never actually would have"
Yep - I've had it so bad that I struggled to stand up but mostly it's at a low level.

"8. Feeling very cold, but my actual temperature was increased"
Not noticed

"These symptoms all seemed to get worse afer I'd eaten something sugary or carbohydrate rich. Sweets and chocolates made them appear right away (within 10 mins) and quite severly, while things like potatoes or rice took around 30-60 mins to produce symptoms and they were not as severe. By severe I mean I would be sweaty, shaking, fast pounding pulse, highly anxious etc. and not severe would be a slower pulse (but still fast), not as anxious, not quite as sweaty,etc. you get the idea."

Ok, now for the odd one - I used to get this - particularly after breakfast - it turned out to be a mechanical effect on the sinuses from the chewing!

"I went back to him a few months after (when I'd figured out what the problem was) and told him I thought it was "Idiopathic Postprandial Syndrome" and I wasn't actually getting low blood sugar because of the sugars and carbs I was eating, but I was getting rapid drops in blood sugar that were producing these symptoms. He agreed that it quite possibly was the problem. He said he thinks I will adjust to it and I still don't know what's causing it though I suspect corticosteroids that I've taken this year for Crohn's. Not sure though, 'cause if I chill out about it and eat sweets, it won't happen. If I think about it happenng, it almost certainly will happen."

The extra tension caused by worrying would set my symptoms off.


"Anyway, there's more to the story. Going back even before I started getting these symptoms I had a strange night once where I had a problem with my vision.

It lasted around two hours and seemed to come in waves of 20 mins on, 20 mins off. Basically I had a blurry zig-zag shape covering a large portion of my vision. Its origin was on the left eye and it zig-zagged up and to the right kind of like this:

   \/\/\/\/\/\
   /  
   \

I could cover my left eye and see the tail end on the right eye, and cover my right and to see the main body of it on the left eye. There was also a lot of blurring and dull vision to the very left side. It would come on for 20 minutes, then fade out for 20 minutes, then fade back in, etc. which lasted a total of almost exactly two hours.

For the life of me I don't know why I didn't see my doctor about it, but it went away and I forgot about it and I've had no problem since. That was probably around April. "

I sometimes get blurred vision in my left eye but nothing like as bad as you describe there.

"So, that bring me up to now. The recent symptoms I've been experiencing are:"

"1. Tingling in hands/sometimes feet"
Yep - caused by trapped nerves due to muscle tension.

"2. "Crawling" or moving sensations under the skin. Like a snake is slithering around in there!"
Yep

"3. Headaches (sometimes local to one side or place, sometimes all over)"
Yep

"4. Twitches (random places)"
Yep

"4. A strange pressure above and behind my eyes which comes and goes. I can replicate the feeling by looking up as hard as I can for a few seconds to feel that "ache". It feels like someting is pushing down between my eyes. My vision is clear, but I feel like if it gets any worse I am going to be having mild double vision. I suspect this may be something to do with my anemia, as it has improved with my HB count going up."
Yep - a classic sinusitis symptom.

"5. Slighy "off kilter" feeling occasionally."
Yep - more than occasionally without treatment.

"7. Tingling on the end of my tongue! (new)"
Nope

"8. Tingling head (not constant and localised each time)"
Yep

"So my reasoning for thinking I have some kind of neurological thing is basically because of the eye problem I mentioned, tingling in hands/feet and the fact that I seem to have a blood sugar "thing" going on. I know my blood sugar is never out of its normal range, but I read that blood sugar problems can contribute to things like peripheral neuropathy and nerve problems."

After they ruled a stroke out I saw a neurologist (who said that there was nothing they could do) and a neuro surgeon who said he couldn't find any problems on the MRI scan.

"I realise that my symptoms are individual and I am taking the entire lot of them in one go and trying to find a common cause of all of them, but I just don't know what's going on inside my body. Everything is "normal" according to tests, my ECGs never catch the skips, my glucose meter says my glucose is normal every time, yet my blood sugars drop rapidly, my heart skips and pounds away now, my eyes went funny that time, my hands tingle! Ahhh! I'm developing some horrible disease!"

I'd get the possibility of sinusitis checked out - it should be fairly obvious if you've got an MRI or CT scan you can get an ENT consultant to look at, otherwise it's a telescope up your nose job Smiley. If it is diagnosed, you may have a problem convincing them that your symptomatology is caused by the sinusitis but there is no reason not to get it treated anyway.

Good luck
Mark
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