Zaps, Zings and Electric Shocks

[Quixotic1]

I am rewriting this as a new post, because it seems important.  There is a type of paroxysmal paresthesia that people describe as feeling like a sudden "zap of electricity" or an "intense zing like a sudden electric current."  Other desribe it as feeling like being electrocuted without the dying.  This appears to be different from the ongoing tingling that many of us have.  It is an intense, sudden thing that comes and is gone.

How many here have this?

If you have it, what does it feel like?  and where is it?

Are you diagnosed with MS?

The reason I asked is that I looked through two other threads that talk about this and the vast majority of those that identified with this did not have a diagnosis of MS (yet).  I am wondering if it is common in this disease.  It is often complained of in Lyme Disease, but I have also heard of it in Transverse Myelitis (which also could be MS).  I suspect it is common to any demyelinating disease, but curious as to the experience here, even if you have posted on the older thread.

Zaps and Zings only, please, lol.  No ongoing tingles.

Quix

[Vmfl58]

What a beautiful poem for your friend

[kwarendorf]

Hi Nestleroad - Welcome to the group.

I think your family doctor is the place to go. As you found out with the nose doc, guessing and being wrong can be frustrating and expensive.

When I hd my last relapse I had no idea what was wrong. MS had never been part of my world. My primary care doc is the one who steered me to a neurologist.

Kyle

[Nestelroad]

I have had electrical shock down my arms to my fingers and my legs for many months. Along with that I get very dizzy when I first wake up.
I thought there was something in my nose so I went to a nose specialist
found out that was a waisted trip and insurance. Now I am wondering should I see a regular Family Doctor or seek another Specialist. Confused and Miserable

[jgia]

You are the 1st person I have heard actually describe the exact thing I am going through. Bug bites...like a split second bite... at night while sleeping. It has woken me out of a dead sleep though because I am so out of it  I can only surmise that is was a spider biting me. I've actually gotten up and tried to search for a spider in my bed waking my husband. It's on a leg, calf, ankle, foot, upper thigh.... but also hands and very rare on my buttocks. It only happened maybe once per every couple weeks though and always a few nights in succession and then stops for months. This last incident I awoke again swearing a spider had bitten me. I searched the bed.... nothing. Then decided to just get up and get a drink of water. As I stood at the sink it occurred to me that this same thing has been happening for years. I just didn't correlate the other times.
I have always had an electric blanket on my bed..... I have fibromyalgia so the warmth right when going to bed helps. But I always turn it off before I fall to sleep. I can recall quite a few times feeling an electrical current on a foot or arm or hand or somewhere and waking in a stark. I kept thinking it was my blanket.... hmm maybe I need to replace it. Well then summer came and I took the blanket off the bed and it happened again.... then I realized... with the same thing except a much stronger stinging/zapping..... I thought it was a spider biting me. Now I realize it feels more like a sharp electrical current at a split second.. happening so fast. I have read that people with fibromyalgia can also experiencing these same electrical shock feelings which is nerves firing. One thing I have also wondered about is MS and lyme disease. I have been bitten by a tick before while living in South Dakota.... a few years ago. I was never diagnosed or tested and don't recall ever feeling ill. I am also realizing that the constant slight tingles I get on and off frequently throughout the day is related and feels similar but not as strong. I read of other women experiencing sharp upper groin pain. I have had what feels like someone has stabbed me somewhere at the end of my cervix (is the best way to describe the location). Paps always come back A ok and when I have asked the doc about it they just look at me like I'm a little nuts. Years later now.... and a bigger issues is things are escalating (I am now 52). The bigger issue is we are self employed now so have no real medical coverage so I haven't been able to afford to go in for testing. Years back when my husband worked for a big corp we had medical and it was then that I was tested for lupus, and RA and any other type of arthritis blood markers. Those tests came back negative so the doctor diagnosed me (given my symptoms and family history) with fibro. That was 12 years ago. I am still wondering now if MS could be the culprit. Thanks for reading. :-) JJ

[dogmum]

I had Lhermittes shocks in my first big relapse in 2011.  I had another random Lhermites shock since, but don't have it as an ongoing symptom.  My nervous system likes those zapping symptoms apparently as I also have had trigeminal neuralgia.  

[nikkimcooper]

Your post is old so you may know this now but you sound to have l'hermittes phenomenon being the current down your spine and occasionally to your toes. This is what I had initially and then was diagnosed after further tests with MS. I had my first Zap shock this morning however. Never heard of this symptom before. Hope you are well.