lhermittes's sign I suppose
 

Hi 42 yo male with no neurological history

I had a bicycle crash about 4-1/2 months ago, knocked out, gash on my head and excruciating neck pain in the days following. I say this because I think it's related but I don't know.

About 2 months later I started getting a vibrating feeling in my leg when I bent my neck. Over the last 2 months or so it's been getting progressively worse. It now involves every part of my body down to fingers and toes sometimes, caused by neck flexion, and to a lesser degree movement of my arms and legs. I have bad spells when it gets nearly unbearable. I also get tingling and vibrating (like a tuning fork) that persists in my arms and hands for hours sometimes. Weird sensations, things don't feel like the should when I touch them.

It flares up anytime I do any work with my hands, or exercise of any sort. Driving my car aggravates it but sitting in my car in the same position calms it.

I have had brain and c spine MRI and reports were normal for someone of my age.

My doctors have given me no indication that they have any idea, or quite frankly have not expressed any interest in diagnosing it. I have neurologist consultation in a week and a half. I feel that my health care provider is not treating it with the proper urgency. Best I have got is "there aren't many things that can cause it", "I think your ok", and "if it's ms there is no cure anyway"

What else can I do? Is it normal to take so long to attempt a diagnosis? It's quite a terrible thing most of the time.

Ben

Welcome Climb again. :Wave-Hello:

Hi Climb again and welcome to NeuroTalk.

I know it is quite concerning for you, but lhermitte's is not life threatening or detrimental to your health. I would certainly be questioning why you have the symptom.

Lermittes sign is when you bend your neck/head downward and have abnormal sensations from the spine down. These sensations will last only seconds but can be repeated each time the head is put chin to chest and sometimes you can feel those sensations when simply bend the head down slightly such as when you are looking at the keyboard.

Lhermittes causes abnormal sensations such as buzzing/vibrations, electrical shock (pain) from the spine down.

I don't remember everything that can cause lhermittes but; any injury to the spinal cord, Multiple Sclerosis and I think, a B-12 deficiency.

I have had lhermittes for almost 30 years. Mine is due to Multiple Sclerosis, I experience vibrations/buzzing from mid spine down. In the case of Multiple Sclerosis lhermittes is caused by lesions, an anomaly seen on MRI to the cervical (neck) spinal cord.

The only thing that can be done for lhermittes is to wear a medical collar that stops the ability to bend your neck/head down. I never found this option to be very convenient or appealing. If a person has pain due to electrical shock sensations then the pain can be treated.

Hello Ben,

Welcome to the Neurotalk Support Groups.

You could try reposting over on these forums below if these symptoms appears post concussion. I'm no doctor, but it sounds as if it is spine related even though your tests were apparently fine. I'm sorry you're dealing with this and that the doctors have no clue what is going on.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome Forum

Spinal Disorders & Back Pain Forum

Thanks for taking the time to reply, maybe I will try another forum, as soon as I can figure out which one :)

I am concerned about long term affects, but more concerned with the progression of it. And I am trying to get a sense of whether or not it's typical for it to take such an excruciatingly long time to diagnose, or even communicate with me about possibilities. I know people with ms go through this, so maybe I'll try that forum.

I've read lhermittes's sign is "benign and transient". I can tell you that for me it's neither. With the odd sensations, tingling and progressive symptoms (spreading in both intensity and location) it's just an experience that has really rattled me. And I don't rattle easily. When I was 5 yrs old I broke my arm but didn't tell anyone, I guess I didn't think it was an urgent problem. I am not a hypochondriac or even close.

You might consider seeing an expert chiropractor that also does upper cervical adjusting.
Your c1 c2 may have gotten misaligned from the crash - MDs don't really explore this part of things. Some type of bias I suppose...:(:confused:

info-
http://www.upcspine.com/self.htm

Or you may have acquired a version of thoracic outlet syndrome..
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

But I would seek out expert chiro first and see where that goes for you..

Lhermittes, it's self, is not difficult to diagnose as the way it presents is pretty common.

The cause for lhermittes can take longer to determine.

The symptoms you are having, do they only last second when bending your head down?

The most intense 'waves' last only a second or so but keep getting more severe. Sometimes hundreds of times per day.

The less intense vibrations, particularly in my arm persist often as long as my head is down, but sometimes stay for hours regardless of what position my head is in.

Some of the tingling and distorted sensation is with me almost all of the time.

If the cause is lhermittes the sensations will not last more than seconds.

You can have abnormal sensations that last longer which would not be connected to lhermittes.

The proper terminology for abnormal symptoms is Paresthesia. There can be many different reasons for someone to experience Paresthesia.

Peripheral Neuropathy (PN) is one of those causes.
PN forum:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum20.html

I don't know Climb again, there could be quite a few possibilities for the symptoms you are experiencing. It might be related to your injury or it might not be. I would certainly start with blood work to rule out vitamin/mineral deficiencies and some other possible causes, if that hasn't already been done.

As far as Multiple Sclerosis. MS can cause the symptoms you are experiencing. However, there is no symptom(s) which are unique to Multiple Sclerosis as there are numerous other conditions, diseases, vitamin/mineral deficiencies, some medications and mental health issues which can cause the same symptoms as seen in Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the Central Nervous System(CNS) which includes the Brain, Spinal Cord and Optic Nerves. Damage done by the disease can be found on MRI of the Brain and/or spinal cord.

There is a diagnostic criteria for MS, The McDonald Criteria:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Nat...osis-of-MS.pdf

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Sym.../Diagnosing-MS