[im4dexter]

I'm not really sure where to post this as it could be anything. Has anyone out there had the "electric pricklys"? I don't know how else to describe it other than to say it seems to begin at the back of my skull and go through my body in a wave leaving every single nerve ending on my skin and just under the surface feeling like I'm recieving some kind of electrial shock. It usually lasts for a minute or less, but I find I'm getting it more frequently and was hoping I'm not the only one and there's something I can do. I'd be grateful for any input.

[glenntaj]

--upon touching chin to chest?

There is a name for this phenomenon--L'hermitte's sign--and it suggests damage to the dorsal cervical cord and or dorsal spinothalamic tracts. It is very common in multiple sclerosis, but also can be caused by cervical vertebrae or disc pressure on the spinal cord, B12 deficiency, and a host of other things. It can also be drug-induced--many chemotherapy patients have reported it.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhermitte%27s_sign

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2447962/

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijol/2010/907960/

[im4dexter]

Oddly enough it's just laying down. I've never had it happen any other time now that I think about it. However it sounds like it could be such a wide varity of things. Good heavens I had no idea. Thank you so much for the info. Best of luck to all of us.

Originally Posted by glenntaj

--upon touching chin to chest?

There is a name for this phenomenon--L'hermitte's sign--and it suggests damage to the dorsal cervical cord and or dorsal spinothalamic tracts. It is very common in multiple sclerosis, but also can be caused by cervical vertebrae or disc pressure on the spinal cord, B12 deficiency, and a host of other things. It can also be drug-induced--many chemotherapy patients have reported it.

See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhermitte%27s_sign

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2447962/

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijol/2010/907960/

[mrsD]

When you lie down, why don't you try a cold pack on your neck?

That may help and if you do it several days in a row, it might stop or become less frequent.

Sometimes things can get irritated from whatever is out there and cooling it off may settle it down. Its free and easy and worth a try.

[glenntaj]

--might also imply a shifting of herniated disc material or an oesteophytic complex moving closer to nerve.

Feeling symptoms in some positions and not others does imply mechanical issues.