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What Causes Numbness In Arm?
Many symptoms over 3 years, MRI in 2008 was clear but could I still have brain tumour
Hello, please help, 42 year old male. About 3 years ago, I started having numbness in my left arm and hand that would wake me up in the middle of the night. My first thought was a possible heart problem, and although my cholestorol is borderline high, the doctors said there was no immediate threat as long as I made changes to my diet.
Over the following 3 years, these numbness episodes came and went. In March 2008, I had an MRI on my head and neck and no problems were found. The doctor thought it might be something to do with a nerve in my neck, but a series of x rays and tests have founf nothing there.
In September this year, the episodes became more frequent and more severe - both arms and hands crippled when waking up in the middle of the night, taking several seconds to shake them back into life. I started having pains and a squeezing sensation in the sides of my chest, palpatations, and severe pains in my shoulder blades. During the day, my shoulder blades and arms would often ache. More heart tests were done, but again, nothing found, ECGs etc. Just more advice to watch my diet.
December 3rd this year, I started having headaches. These would be all over my head, sometimes on the top, sometimes at the back, the sides, even the base of the skull. I also started having shooting pains in the right side of my head during the day, that last a second or so. And I kept waking up with numbness in both arms and now also leg cramps.
2 nights ago, I awoke at 3.30am with a terrible headache, it felt the whole front of my face was throbbing. I took an ibuprofen tablet to calm it down, but I had a headache (mainly at the back of my head) all day yesterday. This morning was worse than ever. I couldn't get to sleep, every time I lay down the headache would get worse, and also, I'd feel twitching sensation in my right leg and arm, not like a fit, just one twitch each time I felt myself dozing off, to wake me up. And it felt like my whole body was throbbing. I still feel achey now, at the base of my skull.
I'm also suffering pain behind my eyes, particularly my right eye, and 'floating shapes' when I look at a white screen or wall, or even a white cloudy sky or snow. The Doctor just says I need my eyes testing, I may need new glasses, as I use PCs and screens for work 10 hours a day. This started the same day as the headaches.
Doctors say 'no, this isn't a brain tumour', and want to do more x-rays on my neck, because they say I have bad posture. But everything I read online suggests symptoms of brain tumour. This week I have started feeling nauseous, have missed evening meal 4 times in 7 nights because I just can't face food.
My problem is this, if I had mild forms of this arm paralysis 3 years ago, and an MRI showed no tumours, could the worsening of this, and further symptoms, mean that there was something that they missed, which has now grown too big to ignore?
Hello, please help, 42 year old male. About 3 years ago, I started having numbness in my left arm and hand that would wake me up in the middle of the night. My first thought was a possible heart problem, and although my cholestorol is borderline high, the doctors said there was no immediate threat as long as I made changes to my diet.
Over the following 3 years, these numbness episodes came and went. In March 2008, I had an MRI on my head and neck and no problems were found. The doctor thought it might be something to do with a nerve in my neck, but a series of x rays and tests have founf nothing there.
In September this year, the episodes became more frequent and more severe - both arms and hands crippled when waking up in the middle of the night, taking several seconds to shake them back into life. I started having pains and a squeezing sensation in the sides of my chest, palpatations, and severe pains in my shoulder blades. During the day, my shoulder blades and arms would often ache. More heart tests were done, but again, nothing found, ECGs etc. Just more advice to watch my diet.
December 3rd this year, I started having headaches. These would be all over my head, sometimes on the top, sometimes at the back, the sides, even the base of the skull. I also started having shooting pains in the right side of my head during the day, that last a second or so. And I kept waking up with numbness in both arms and now also leg cramps.
2 nights ago, I awoke at 3.30am with a terrible headache, it felt the whole front of my face was throbbing. I took an ibuprofen tablet to calm it down, but I had a headache (mainly at the back of my head) all day yesterday. This morning was worse than ever. I couldn't get to sleep, every time I lay down the headache would get worse, and also, I'd feel twitching sensation in my right leg and arm, not like a fit, just one twitch each time I felt myself dozing off, to wake me up. And it felt like my whole body was throbbing. I still feel achey now, at the base of my skull.
I'm also suffering pain behind my eyes, particularly my right eye, and 'floating shapes' when I look at a white screen or wall, or even a white cloudy sky or snow. The Doctor just says I need my eyes testing, I may need new glasses, as I use PCs and screens for work 10 hours a day. This started the same day as the headaches.
Doctors say 'no, this isn't a brain tumour', and want to do more x-rays on my neck, because they say I have bad posture. But everything I read online suggests symptoms of brain tumour. This week I have started feeling nauseous, have missed evening meal 4 times in 7 nights because I just can't face food.
My problem is this, if I had mild forms of this arm paralysis 3 years ago, and an MRI showed no tumours, could the worsening of this, and further symptoms, mean that there was something that they missed, which has now grown too big to ignore?
posted on
Thu, 13 Mar 2014
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Wed, 8 Oct 2014
Answered on
Thu, 9 Oct 2014
Last reviewed on
I can't say that I have a diagnosis and a solution to your problems, but I don't think that you have a brain tumor. I don't know what are your online sources but apart from the headaches (which while present in a brain tumor can have a myriad of other causes) not much else in your history suggests a brain tumor. The aching and the cramps, the bilaterality of your symptoms, the palpitations and the squeezing sensation in the chest, all these are not typical of a brain tumor.
While you presented well your case one thing was a little unclear, if the complaints started 3 years ago why did you have an MRI in 2008? Could it be that the symptoms were present earlier?
Perhaps they've already been done, but I'd have some metabolic, hormonal tests perhaps even an ENMG (although this last one should be required based on the findings of neuroexam). If all results are normal I'd also consider a course of treatment with an antidepressant drug. I am not suggesting you are depressive, but several antidepressants are also widely used in in preventing chronic headache as well as treating anxiety (which is suggested by some of your symptoms) so I would try that therapy, my initial choice would be amitriptyline.
While you presented well your case one thing was a little unclear, if the complaints started 3 years ago why did you have an MRI in 2008? Could it be that the symptoms were present earlier?
Perhaps they've already been done, but I'd have some metabolic, hormonal tests perhaps even an ENMG (although this last one should be required based on the findings of neuroexam). If all results are normal I'd also consider a course of treatment with an antidepressant drug. I am not suggesting you are depressive, but several antidepressants are also widely used in in preventing chronic headache as well as treating anxiety (which is suggested by some of your symptoms) so I would try that therapy, my initial choice would be amitriptyline.
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