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What Can Cause Numbness In Mouth With High ESR Levels While Suffering From Fibromyalgia And Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Posted on Tue, 21 Jan 2014

Question: I am not feeling well, I am very hot and my mouth feels numb every now and then. I have just had a call from the hospital saying my ESR test is raised (78) what can be wrong. I have RA and Fibromyalgia can you help Thank you

Answered by Dr. Dr. Alokkalyani (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: need few things to answer... Detailed Answer: Hi there, I am Dr Alok Sorry for your suffering... As you have RA, it may be possible that that your disease is flaring because you feel hot and your ESR is high. As far as numbness on mouth is concern, as it is on and off, it is very difficult to interpretate, it may be related to fibromyalgia. I would like to know few more things to help you. 1. Do you have pain or swelling over joints? 2. Do you feel stiffness? 3. Do you have ulcers in mouth or over lips? 4. For how long do you feel numbness in mouth? Being a Rheumatologist, I would like to ruleout flare of the RA and fibromyalgia, as your problem may be related to these.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T

Follow up: Dr. Dr. Alokkalyani (2 hours later)

1 Yes i have pain but no swelling i am taking Embrel for the RA inject once a week 2 Yes i feel stiff all over at the moment 3 No ulcers in my mouth. The numbness is more in my Tounge than the rest of my mouth. 4 It is only fore a few minutes at a time. There is a tingling all around my mouth but seems to have been going on for a couple of days now. Thank you for your reply and look forward to hearing more Kind regards XXXX

Answered by Dr. Dr. Alokkalyani (7 hours later)

Brief Answer: Seems that you have flare of RA and fibromyalgia Detailed Answer: Hi, As you have pain and stiffness - it may be due to flare of disease. Even with embrel, disease can flare. As you donot have ulcer and other significant problem, I think probably medication or nerve injury due to trauma or dental procedure or Vitamin B deficiency can be the cause of tingling mouth and tongue My advice -see your doctor and rule out flare of RA & fibromyalgia disease by clinical examination -Also probably your doctor wants to prescribe you some vitamin B supplements -If you smoke- quit it as early as possible. It may cause flare of RA as well as cause nerve damage around mouth - You need to take care of gum hygiene, It is also proved that gum infection may leads to flare of RA Hope this will help please contact, if any further clearification is required...

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E