Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
208141 tn?1229873260

Tingling, flashing in eyes, bells palsy. What's going on?

Hi. I am a 28 year old female. 5'7 140 pounds. I am married with 3 children and a have a moderate to low amount of stress. I do not feel anxious or stressed out unless my health symptoms start acting up rather badly. I have been having ongoing undiagnosed medical problems for 3+ years. My symptoms include tingling of the scalp and fingertips. Those symptoms happen on occasion, not necessarily together. It may be scalp or my fingers. Can last from 30 seconds or sometimes a day or two before it goes away. I also see spots in  my vision, everyday several times a day. Sometimes black spots, sometimes flashes of color. They can appear blue or white, such as what people refer to as seeing stars. Both eyes are affected. I have had 5 dialted eye exams and seen several dif. types of eye doctors. All eye specialists concluded my eyes are healthy and it must be persistant visual aura with no migraine or that it's something neurological. No preventitive migraine medicines helped with the spots, therefore I am not taking any medications right now. I rarely get headaches.  All of these symptoms began during my 3rd pregnacy and have not went away. My daughter is almost 3. I also developed bells palsy during pregnacy. I am extremly tired all the time. No matter how much sleep I get it's never enough. I am now on a set sleeping schedule, seven hours a night. However all I wanna do is nap all day. I almost fight to stay awake. My last two symptoms affect my hair. I have had a signifigant amount of hair loss. I'm getting a receiding hairline. It is very noticable. This does not run in my family. My hair is also growing in pure white now. I have  dark hair and my hairdresser said I have a lot of white hair growing in all over my head. Going white or grey at my age does not run in my family at all. My prior medical history.. I have had tinnitus since I was 11. I get regular check ups for this. They are unsure why I developed this so young. Both ears are affected. The ringing has never stopped since it began 17 years ago. Also when I was 22 and 23 I had to be on acebutol to regulate my heart rythem. My heart took spells where it would beat to fast. I was taken off the medicine and all of my heart check ups since have been fine. My heart was last checked when I was pregnat and all these symptoms began. I do not notice periods of rapid heartbeat anymore, unless Im working out or something. The fast heartrate used to cause me to get panic attacks. I do not get these anymore since starting the medicine.  I have had 3 mris(one a year since it all began) all appeared normal with the exception of two unidentified spots on my brain. I have been tested for ms. I was negative at that time. I have been tested twice for lymes disease, negative both times. I have had lots of blood work done, only finding a low b12. 316 before starting b12 treatments. I was on b12 shots once monthly for 6 monthes but I didn't notice any change in my symptoms. I am no longer getting shots, just taking a daily b12 vitamin. I would like some serious ideas as to what could be going on. I am very worried. The spots and flashes in my vision is my biggest concern. Something is clearly affecting my eyes. The spots and flashes of light occur all day, every day with breaks in between. Thank you for reading  and all replies and suggestions are much appreciated.My neurologist has sceduled for an eeg and evoked eye potentials tests this week. I will post an update if and when I get a diagnosis.
3 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
See a sleep center. Recurrent "Bells Palsy" is actually very characteristic of narcolepsy with cataplexy. In fact, often times, it's not "Bells Palsy," but cataplexy. Viruses and some vaccines (namely the H1N1) can actually precipitate this, but it can happen seemingly in random fashion, too.

It doesn't look the way you think it looks. Common misdiagnoses are depression, epilepsy, and migraines. I struggled for years to find an answer, and was misdiagnosed several times. I had it with just sleepiness during the day and what looked like insomnia at night for probably about 15-20 years before I ended up with more serious symptoms of narcolepsy that actually included cataplexy (random muscle weakness that can either be isolated, or widespread).

The cataplexy manifested first in my face, as what looked like episodes of Bells Palsy that came and went when I was tired, stressed, or even when I was happy and smiling.  But when I paid closer attention I realized I got weakness and twitching (not uncommon) in my other muscles sometimes too, though I chalked it up to clumsiness until I paid attention. I also had issues with my vision randomly and sleepiness.

I went undiagnosed for about 15-20 years, until I finally saw a sleep specialist and she nailed the diagnosis right away. The vast majority of doctors have absolutely no idea what it is or what it looks like, and no routine lab tests, MRI, CT scan, x-ray or anything of that nature will detect it. 75% of people with narcolepsy never get diagnosed in their lifetime.

I was tested for epilepsy, migraines, MS, all kinds of things. But nope, it turned out to be narcolepsy!!

Get seen by a sleep center!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
It is amazing how similar our symptoms are- I have almost everything you mentioned- I have 2 kids and it ALL started after the birth of my first daughter (I also had bells palsy 2 days onset after the birth)
It's amazing to read this !  We should keep up with each other and update!  I have a blog if you'd like to follow it www.ramblingsofarandomhousewife.blogspot.com

Please keep in contact, at least you know how I feel!  I'm 26 btw
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi
I have constant flashes of spots in my eyes. It started in 2007 and hasn't stopped since. I have a history of migraines but rarely get them. My eye spots are often bright at first, somtimes white, blue, green or yellow. They usually become black after varying amounts of time. I've had a few of these spots last hours, even days. It's very frustrating.
I too have had an MRI and numerous visits to different doctors with little explaination other than it's possibly a migraine variant that's persisting.
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the Neurology Community

Top Neurology Answerers
620923 tn?1452915648
Allentown, PA
5265383 tn?1669040108
ON
1756321 tn?1547095325
Queensland, Australia
1780921 tn?1499301793
Queen Creek, AZ
Learn About Top Answerers
Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Find out how beta-blocker eye drops show promising results for acute migraine relief.
In this special Missouri Medicine report, doctors examine advances in diagnosis and treatment of this devastating and costly neurodegenerative disease.
Here are 12 simple – and fun! – ways to boost your brainpower.
Discover some of the causes of dizziness and how to treat it.
Discover the common causes of headaches and how to treat headache pain.
Two of the largest studies on Alzheimer’s have yielded new clues about the disease