Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi, the last few days I've been getting pins and needles in my hands and feet, it's the feeling like you've been sat on them too long.
As I type my left hand is holding my phone and it's feeling like I have pins and needles. If I cross my legs or sit with my feet up on the sofa I get the same feeling in my feet.
Anyone think this could be MS or the onset of it???
0 likes, 11 replies
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Treezie laura48798
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laura48798 Treezie
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Treezie laura48798
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Treezie
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Sorry, I forgot to mention: that pins and needles feeling is called "parathesia".
laura48798 Treezie
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laura48798 Treezie
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Treezie laura48798
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Back in 1988, when the parathesia was really intense in my hands, I went to a neurologist whom my mother knew (she was a medical administrative secretary), but he didn't know me. He did an evoked potentials test which involved electrical shocks to my hands. It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable. I was quite anxious at the time, because I was getting married in a few months. The test results were lost! Someone told me later on, after my diagnosis, that maybe they were "deliberately" lost because they showed a positive result for a disease there was no cure for and the neurologist didn't specialize in MS--actually, was maybe a GP, not a neurologist (my mother was and still is very inexact about things like that!). I really have no evidence to prove that--just a lot of experience where doctors--my daughter's pediatrician years later, who did not listen to me. I had to yell at him to make him administer a test to my daughter for epilepsy! You know, the fake blowing out candles test--hyperventilation that would provoke a seizure? It did. She was perscribed zarontin for petit mal epilepsy, but had a rough time in elementary school. She luckily outgrew her absence seizures 7 years later, but the gaps in her knowledge were part of her learning disability problem that was very difficult to diagnose.
Anyway, anxiety was the main result of all these diagnoses. And now depression, because of a 25 year old daugher living with me, who will not help out with chores around the house--washing dishes for instance. Yeah, yeah and of course, my husband left me when my daughter was only 2. So, the feeling that my life was a mess has followed me for a long time. The one beautiful thing that has remained consistent is my library technician job at a Canadian university that I have had for 28 years. Oh, and it is a medical library that I work at. World reknowned, although I did not succeed in achieving Librarian because it was all part-time and I had MS!!
steven12310 Treezie
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Guest laura48798
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There are dozens of conditions that involve pins and needles sensations in the extremities, and MS is one of them. But with nothing else to go on, nobody could possibly tell you they think you've got MS, just based on pins and needles. Anxiety and panic attacks are one common cause of this type of parasthesia (unusual sensation), and you mentioned you have health anxiety problems... so why are you assuming you have Multiple Sclerosis?
Calm down, do some fact-based research if you can do so without raising your anxiety level, and see your doctor.
laura48798 Guest
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Thanks Drutter, feeling ok right now.
Part of my anxiety means I look into every pain, twitch, odd sensation that I get and it triples my feelings.
I had a huge panic attack tonight where I was on the floor crying with fear because I had googled 'pins & needles' which set off my anxiety, after calming down and listening to some therapy videos I felt a lot better.
Guest laura48798
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Glad you're feeling a bit better, laura.
Anxiety is rotten. Sounds like you're hypervigilant about your body and anything happening with it. Stress causes symptoms, and symptoms cause stress.... vicious cycle. Knowing that at least gives us a chance to stop it.
One thing I do when I'm feeling that way is try to turn fear into love (as hippie as that sounds). I recognize my anxiety about my health as a sign that I value my life and want to live and be healthy. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to live and be healthy. In fact, loving oneself is VERY healthy. I focus on that positive side of it as much as I can, leaving less and less room for the fear and anxiety. Sometimes that works.
Anyway, I don't think you have MS. You know for sure you've got anxiety, and you also know for sure that anxiety can cause all sorts of physical symptoms, so the most likely explanation is your anxiety is responsible for the pins and needles. It definitely happens.
There's nothing wrong with seeing the doctor sometime soon, letting them know about the symptom, and seeing if any tests or assessments should be done. Maybe you're low in a vitamin or electrolyte, which is usually easy enough to fix.
Stay as positive as you can. You got this