Originally Posted by jeanneuro2000

Please read carefully; I would appreciate your help

It has been almost 2 years and I am not even getting closer to a diagnostic and thing getting worse. About 2 years ago, I have been feeling some pin and needle sensations in my legs. Before that, I used to feel some sensitivity in my legs, but I did not pay attention. Anyway, about 2 years ago, I started feeling some sensation in my legs, mostly my left leg. First I went to my primary care doctor and she did some blood test for me and she recommended that I stopped taking all vitamins, although I did not take a lot of vitamins. All my blood test came normal. Then the symptom became worsen. I went to see a neurologist, he did some test and he told me my nerves work fine. Then I saw a rheumatologist, she referred me to see another neurologist, which I did and got a nerve conduction test. They did not find anything wrong with my nerve. Then after I saw a neuropathy specialist, he told me that I don’t have neuropathy, he suggested that it is probably my thyroid and another Japanese name type disease which I forgot . I went and got those blood tests and all of them came to normal. He suggested I should see a chiropractor. After I saw a chiropractor and get some neck adjustment, my symptom became worse.

I think what I have may be a never compression. Anyway, it makes my skin very sensitive. The left part of my body is more sensitive, especially my left nerve. I feel nerve pulsing in my forehead (skin). This is the way it used to be before I got the neck adjustment, when I worked out and lift a lot of weights, I felt that my nerve is pulsing in my forehead the left part and my left leg. Whenever I felt those things, I would feel some pin and needle sensations. I mean someone puts needle on me. I usually did not feel it all the times. Especially the nerve pulsing. Right now I feel it more; I think that happens after the neck adjustment.

Since I used to lift weight, I thought that I may have lifted something in my head or neck. I don’t suffer headache. Anyway, they did an xray of my neck and it shows sight of arthritis. My rheumatologist recommended the xray. She told me that shouldn’t cause that symptom. I went to see an orthopedist, he told me I may have a pinched nerve in my neck and recommend an mri. After reviewing the mri, he recommended spine therapy for me. After 2 sessions I felt worse then I stopped. When my rheumatologist looked at the mri, she told me that, that should not cause the sensation. I have seen more than 20 doctors/specialists already without getting any closer.


Here are the symptoms I have
• Needle sensation all over my body (anywhere in my skin, but not all the time)
• Skin sensitivity (left part of my body and left leg more sensitive)
• Needle sensation on my fingertips
• Needle sensation on my toetips
• Feel sometime someone put a needle under my feet (both foots)
• Some scrolling sometime on my left thigh
• Nerve pulsing of my left forehead
• Needle sensitive can happen anywhere of my body, but it does not happen all the time
• Symptom worsen when I workout and lift weight
• When I do a lot of cardio like 1 hour or more treadmill I feel more sensation in my thighs, especially the left one
• Shooting pain in my fingertips, toetips and under my feet

I will appreciate your help

I think it is a nerve problem, but one of my neurologists told me it is anxiety. I don’t feel any anxiety. While I took some vitamin to help a little bit, but I have tried gabapentin, lyrica, amitriptyline, just for a short period of time. I don’t want to take those things, since they don’t solve the underlined problem.

Your suggestion will be appreciated

Originally Posted by Meggie

Hi Jeanneuro,

My name is Meggie and your post caught my eye. I am not a neurologist by any means but have a very basic medical background I am more than happy to share what I know.
Many of your symptoms coincide with parasthesia type symptoms which are many times caused by peripheral neuropathy (or nerve dysfunction) or neurological disease among others. Your worsening symptoms (especially headache) with strain can indicate many things, one being Chiari 1 malformation and/or syringomyelia (the latter is my diagnosis).
Chiari 1 malformation is where the cerebellar tonsils descend at-least, but not limited to 5mm below the foramen magnum (basically part of your brain is getting squished out of the bottom of your skull causing a block in proper fluid movement). There is also a Chiari 0 diagnosis now but I have yet to find the parameters other than a 4 mm or less descent.
Syringomyelia is a rare spinal cord disorder most commonly caused by Chiari 1 malformation where a cavitation of the spinal cord is formed by an interruption in CSF flow forcing it into the spinal cord creating a "syrinx" (similar to a cyst and shown well in my profile picture as a large white oval inside my spinal cord). I highly recommend informational searches from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and The Mayo Clinic (Wikipedia is not a reliably accurate source) for further reading.
I know first hand how debilitating these types of symptoms can be and understand how rare and misunderstood these disorders still are. I would highly recommend a consult with a different neurologist if not a neurosurgeon.
I hope some of this information might help and hope for you the best. Meggie

Originally Posted by jeanneuro2000

Thank you for your help. I did a cat scan and an head mri, both of them came normal. The doctor said nothing is wrong. Will what you described show up in the mri? Right now the symptom borders me more in my left. I think it is the left nerve, especially my left leg. I went 2 weeks ago and did a emg test to my left side and I haven't been to my next appointment to get the report. My doctor told me it maybe something in my lower back. I am still waiting to get an mri of my lower back. Sometime I feel some lower back pain to the left side and sometime I feel something is moving in my left leg. I am waiting for the MRI to get an appointment at Barrow clinic in scotsdale. I am also thinking about going to get at diagnostic at Johns Hopkins if nothing work. I think is my left nerve. The pain is more sever in the left side including foot, leg, thigh, shoulder, hand, nerve pulsing on my left forehead, lower back pain to the left.

Originally Posted by Super Nice 007

Have you had any motion x-rays taken of your cervical spine to see what is wrong. Just a suggestion.

Hope all is well.

Originally Posted by pabb

Jeanne, can you get and post your head ct/mri? and is the tinnitus ringing or pulsatile?