undiagnosed condition

[Dina723]

I'll try to be brief! I was a very healthy woman until my symptoms started after a minor surgery several months ago. I have tingling, a pins and needles feeling, numbness and a cold-yet burning pain throughout my left arm, shoulder, front of my chest, down my back and all the way to the top of my head. If I rest and lay still, or keep my arm propped it helps, but it never completely goes away. I had numerous other symptoms that came on rapidly, headaches, joint pain and weakness in both legs, blackout/dizzy spells, heart palpitations, anxiety and panic attacks. It was very scary, as I had no idea what was going on with my body after a minor surgery.

I was hospitalized r what I was afraid was a stroke when my arm went numb one evening and I collapsed. They did a lot of tests: blood work, chest x-rays,  mri's ct's. All they found was a mass on my thyroid. Bingo! They pursued that condition. Actually, I ended up having a partial thyroidectomy. I was scared to death I would come out of this surgery worse than before. But fortunately, it did not get worse-yet.

I don't have the severe headaches anymore, or the dizziness and blackout spells. But the arm tingling and numbness symptoms and lower body weakness still persists. All doctors are perplexed. They do not think these symptoms are related to my thyroid condition. I don't know who to see next. I'm just a shell of my former self. I can barely walk, my arm goes numb all the time, and I'm dealing with hypothyroidism.

They've sent me to numerous specialists and I am grateful they ruled out a lot of other illnesses. I had a nerve conductor study done on my arm and leg only and it was negative. I wondered why they didn't do my neck or part of my face, maybe it starts there?

I would be happy to provide more information if you need it. My friends tell me I should be on House, because I am definitely a mystery patient.

[Dina723]

Sorry I haven't been back to respond....my B vitamins at the time were actually higher than the lab ranges. Strange, huh?? Magnesium I will look into. I am currently being treated by a holistic doctor and am seeing great results with my thyroid numbers with the addition of cytomel. Unfortunately, I still feel crappy!! So, she is investigating my cortisol levels. I had a cortisol test when I was hospitalized. But I don't think they did it correctly. She is also looking at my estrogen. I am just excited to have someone in my court. It has been a huge stumbling block to get docs to recognize that as strange as they have presented, I have REAL symptoms and something is wrong with me. Thanks!

[Red_Star]

As your symptoms came on after surgery, magnesium deficiency is very possible. Surgery is a listed cause of magnesium deficiency. Magnesium deficiency causes numerous symptoms but includes tingling, numbness, muscle weakness, panic attacks, anxiety, heart rhythm problems to name a few.

One study found 40% of patients with hypothyroidism were deficient in vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is essential to maintain the myelin sheath around the nerves so tingling and numbess will eventually occur if not treated.

Many hypothyroid patients have vitamin D deficiency.  Vitamin D causes joint pain and muscle weakness (especially in the legs) to name a couple of the many symptoms. I'll send a great link on recommended lab work for hypothyroid patients.

[Smileyrie]

I have been exploring undiagnosed pain conditions to try and narrow down the one I suffer from, and I have encountered a number of stories of people with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome that sound similar to your symptoms.  CRPS seems to start after minor surgery or a minor accident and develops into severe pain & altered sensations from abnormal nerve stimulation.  The website you may find interesting on this is a pain management clinic in Sydney, Australia. http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/pmri/about/index.php.  Hope this helps (-:  Carrie