Wandering parasthesia?

[cayenne88]

I've been having some odd parasthesia symptoms the past few months and have read where it may be MS or definitely not MS but figure this forum has a good chance of giving a straight answer.  I've been pursuing this as not MS, but now I'm wondering if I'm wrong.  I do have an appt with a neurologist, but it's a month off.

I get tingling/weird sensations in my hands and feet, face, neck, scalp, chin, and forearms.  Sometimes a burning feeling.  Sometimes a cold or wet feeling. But they are not consistent.  The sensation, in that exact spot, may only last a few hours, and then it's on to a new location, maybe a single toe, maybe the heel, maybe my right thumb, maybe my scalp.  Sometimes they last for days, like the burning and tingling on my toes and the base of my foot, but mostly it's just a few hours.

Sometimes the feelings are symmetrical.  As in, yesterday, both forearms felt like they had a sunburn.  When my feet were tingling and the soles were burning, it was in both feet.  When my big toes were getting burning and  shooting pains, it was both at the same time, in the same way.  But sometimes my left foot feels the sensation more intensely, though.  

Sometimes they are NOT symmetrical.  The three toes on my left foot might tingle on the tops, but not the toes on my right foot.

Interestingly, I only have one location active at a time (or two locations if symmetrical).  As in, my feet may burn, but that's it.  My right arm may feel heavy and achy that day, but nothing else.  Mostly, the same sensation never goes back to the same location. The foot burning/tingling has been more recurrent.  

Today I woke up and my left thigh felt achy and tight and didn't want to work right, the knee felt unstable, but I could walk fine.  Within 2 hours that muscle weirdness went away and then I started getting a large tingling sensation in my thigh that migrated up to my buttocks, across the groin/saddle area, and onto my right buttock and upper right leg.  When it moved into a new area it basically left some of the previous area.  It's mostly gone now.

But that's the only place in my body with any tingling.  Not my feet or hands right now.

There has been one spot on my body that has tingled for months and has not moved.  A spot about the size of a dime on my lower right abdomen below my belt line.  Just a mild tingle, nothing alarming, but it's there.

Until my left leg was feeling off this morning I had felt no weakness in any limb.  Muscles have been strong.  Reflexes good.  No loss of sensation.  No visual changes.  

So does this sound MS-y?

I think I have some kind of viral infection in my nervous system and the infection is moving around.  I don't have a fever or anything, though.

[aspen2]

Cayenne, thank you so much for getting back with your results!  It's always great to get follow up from those who come here wondering about ms, and finding out it's something else.

I had to have copper and zinc levels tested while in limbo, because if the ratio is off, it's one of the many ms mimics (not that your symptoms were ms-like, but obviously something was off).

Given that you have some issues with minerals already, if you continue to get twitches, you might want to have your magnesium levels looked at as well.

Best wishes!

[tj3762]

Sorry to hear you are going through this and needing to find answers.  

Only you know something is not right and for sure, everybody has different symptoms at different times that come and go.

I wish you the best of luck!  

[cayenne88]

Hi, this is the original poster.  I did want to follow up with all my neurological testing.  

Brain MRI normal.  Nerve conductivity and EMG are normal.  

But copper levels were low normal.  I do take zinc supplements.

I stopped taking the zinc and supplementing with copper.

The paresthesia is gone.  

So, it was just low copper I think.

I do have some muscle twitchiness, but I think that's just a side effect of my nerves getting healthy again.

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

Wandering sensory symptoms that move around the body, present with both upper and lower, in all peripheral limbs and or symmetrical as you've described are basically the red flags pointing away from neurological conditions like MS, so it definitely doesn't sound MS-y to me..

What you've described sounds more consistent with peripheral neuropathy and it's associated conditions eg vit B deficiency, diabetes, herpes simplex 2, hypertension, medications etc etc etc whilst post viral can cause these types of moving symptoms too, if you havent' experienced a viral infection in the months leading up to it starting, it would be a less likely explanation.

Hope that helps.......JJ  

[cayenne88]

This helps a great deal, thanks!