Freezing Legs
 

I need help. Several years ago I noticed that after getting up at night to use the bathroom, my legs would start freezing when I lay down again. It would take half an hour for them to warm up. This has accelerated and sometimes it happens without my getting up. Nights are torture now because I wake up several times and am not comfortable lying down or sitting up any more and i am having mild perspiration for several hours a night. This is only in the upper body. My legs and feel no longer sweat at all. The freezing has spread to my arms and I am often very cold now during the day, but it is not an internal chill. it feels more like cold air blowing on me.

In the meantime I have developed sock and glove sensations and most recently prickly feelings in the buttocks as well as some difficulty walking. My feet feel like logs and I am slightly dizzy with a constant headache on the top of my head. My face now feels numb, can't tell if my glasses are on or off.

I had an EMG and my doctor said I am perfectly healthy. I am very sensitive to supplements, took a B complex recently and felt very anxious, possibly because it contained soy. I have stopped for now, waiting for blood work that tested the B's, C, D and E. Two years ago my D level was at 6 so I take D daily.

I am hypothyroid and have celiac and keep a strict diet with no wheat, dairy, soy or eggs. Another doctor has agreed to order an MRI of my brain and upper cervical because my leg and arm reflexes are brisk. Two years ago it was only my legs.

Any ideas? This forum is my best hope. thank you. I am 63, female. Twenty years ago I was injured--broken tailbone, pubic bone and sacrum but this does not feel related. Thank you.
Gerry

I have some similar symptoms to yours and have also taken a B vitamin complex which the doctors feel may have exacerbated my symptoms. I'll send you a private message in more detail.

My first thoughts are:

1) You should consider magnesium either in lotion (applied to the legs) or orally or both. Start with the lotion. It will improve circulation to any body area it is applied to.
Morton Epsom Lotion.... at Walmart and online at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Morton-Epsom-L...n+epsom+lotion
It is new and not in all stores yet. Some people have found it at Walgreen's locally though.
Use only about a quarter's dollop on each leg below the knee to start once a day, at bedtime. It is nothing short of miraculous IMO.

The Big Three: B12, magnesium and Vit D should be fixed in everyone with PN IMO...before thinking of other possible interventions.

2) If you are using the RX vit D --you need to understand that this does not work. D3 is OTC and much better. Since you know your test value, you can figure out how much to dose at.
1000IU D3 daily for every 10 points to raise you to a reading of 50. In your case it would be 4,000 IU D3 orally daily. Then get retested in 3-6months.

3) I use leg warmers at night. I can't stand socks, and these are a good compromise. They warm the blood going to the feet without constricting anything. I let mine sag around the ankles, and they work very well. This way you can stay cool "on top" and help the circulation at night. We don't move around much sleeping compared to daytime, so the blood tends to stagnate and not move well around. I also do isometric exercises when I wake up to use the restroom, before falling back to bed...this moves the blood around, and the constricting/ relaxing, muscle actions help the blood move around too. I learned this in physical therapy when my left hip tendons were injured. Doing these when sitting around also is a good idea.

4) the minerals zinc and selenium are the cofactors for the T4 thyroid hormone to be activated in the tissues, to active T3. If you are low in these, that will be blocked and you will have a functional low thyroid response even though you take hormone by mouth. A Centrum Silver delivers the RDA for both of these and is a good idea. Eggs are a huge supplier of choline as a nutrient. If you don't consume them, you need to find another source. Choline builds cell walls and keeps repair going in the body. Some commercial choline is derived from Soy, so it will be a challenge to find it without.
There are some sources for choline listed here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choline

This is just a start to think about.... if these fail for you, then in 3 months you can start thinking about other nutrients.

Thank you. I did get your message but can't figure out how to reply. Still new.

You doctors are saying B vitamins are making your symptoms worse? I would like to hear more about this and why, if you don't mind.

I was already having moderate, intermittent burning pain on my soles last year, then began taking a B vitamin complex as a remedy for my hair which had suddenly become very thin and limp. A few months later, the burning became severe and occurred nightly, and I started developing other strange and unpleasant sensations, as well as autonomic symptoms--abnormal sweating and salivation, and patchy baldness on my legs. My B6 and folate levels were measured and were high, so I was instructed to cut back on the B vitamins. After that, the symptoms tapered off, although new ones continued to develop; overall, the pain and other symptoms have been much diminished.

The neuropathy definitely preceded my taking the B vitamins (in fact, I had a year of severe burning pain on my soles many years before), but my neurologist suggested it might be possible to have an underlying neuropathy that can be triggered by various things.

In researching B6 toxicity, I found information such as this from drweil.com: "The current recommended maximum daily intake is 100 mg. High doses of vitamin B6 can, over time, be toxic, and may result in nerve damage or numbness and tingling in the extremities that may eventually be irreversible." I had originally been taking 20 mg in my B complex, but then discovered B6 in my calcium, multivitamin, and melatonin pills, and I think I may have been taking 50 mg total per day for a while. Still well within what is considered safe in the US. However, I discovered that in European countries 50 mg or even 25 mg is considered the maximum safe amount.

I don't know whether it was a coincidence, but I sure had a horrible flare of symptoms during the time I was taking the higher doses of B vitamins, and they've gotten much better as I've cut back to less than 20 mg per day of B6. One curious thing is that my serum B6 continues to measure high, (and I stopped taking any supplements for a week before the bloodwork), at 282.6 nmo/L, where the standard range is 20-125.

Sorry for the confusion. No, I am wondering if the B complex made me feel worse because of my soy allergy. Soy tends to cause anxiety and nerve irritation for me. Thanks