Hi Everyone, I’m a newbie to all of this and my background is in healthcare. As such I got the AZ jab early. Since then life has been debilitating and scary.
In the past 12 weeks I have had all sorts of strange sensations, but mainly continual pins and needles in one arm and hand, with facial tingling on one side. When I’m stressed, I develop a body numbness which is similar to shock following a car accident etc. I wake every morning to tremoring in my arms and buzzing in my back. I get little stinging sensations all over randomly throughout the day.
My problem is that after the jab I faced into a gruelling 6 weeks at work with little sleep or food with high adrenalin, which probably exacerbated the initial symptoms of numbness and pins and needles all over. I had just presumed it would go away, and was advised the same by the GP.
After not being taken seriously in accident and emergency, I eventually got referred to a neurologist who did a crude exam and is sending me for a MRI. As with the vaccine circus, the neurologist as well as the other doctors wouldn’t discuss the vaccine and have put it down to stress. Previously I would have easily been able to tolerate this stress even if gruelling. Now it feels like my stress system is gone haywire. I’m not here to talk negatively about vaccines etc and sorry if that upsets anyone.
What I wanted to ask is. I am at a crossroads with work. I took sick leave for 2 weeks but find the stress is causing more relapses. My thinking has most definitely changed. I am making lots of errors and forgetting easily.
I have read people say their MS began with a highly stressful event, and I am wondering if I should stop working and cut all stressors so as to give myself the best chance of recovery, even at this lateish stage 12 weeks on.
To be honest I am quite scared. I have also started to take some anti anxiety medication to help with the stress.
Can anyone please offer any guidance? Sorry to be a nuisance.
M
Stress can trigger so many things. from what i read you have had a ton of it. I think having the vaccine is just a red herring.
why not talk to your employers and see if they can adjust your working whilst you have less hours or something. You sound to me as though you need to just step back a bit so you can see the wood from the trees. Perhaps a holiday?
but why not also ring MS society help line and talk to them, also ACAS find out where you stand etc. MS can take a long time to diagnosis unless its obvious.
Is it relapses or exacerbations? face pins and needles can be anxiety and also low magnesium, B12 and even vitimin D.
whilst you are so stressed nothing will change not really. You need to step away from the MS label and look at other things too. how you eat, sleep, deal with issues. If it is MS it will show itself, but whilst you are so stressed its hard to decide what is causing what. but vaccine i think is a read herring or your auto immunse system went nuts and made you feel iffy.
try to calm down, do some deep breathing exercises, relax, listen to music, chill out day or duvet day. I was ill from 2000 i didnt have all those sym[tps mine has always been same left side.
also adrenalin can trigger a fright and flight reaction which can take time to go away. xxxxxx
It sounds as if you do need to be taking more time off work, as you are struggling. Doesn’t matter whether it is neurological or stress or both or something else causing it. Put your health first! Easy to say but often much harder to do if you are concientious, and when you don’t have a diagnosis either.
The vaccine is new. Most people are fine with it, but who knows with you. We are in new territory there. And doctors are unlikely to talk about it because they don’t know either. However put in a yellow card for your reaction to it. It is through that where patterns will start to show, if there is a connection.
Do think about your magnesium levels. Most people have too little even if they have a healthy diet (most food is depleted these days due to current agricultural methods). If sheep/cattle get put onto fast growing grass they develop staggers which is caused by magnesium deficiency, because the grass grows faster than it can take up magnesium. They get given magnesium licks. With human food the levels of fertiliser applied does exactly that to our food, but most of us are not taking supplements to deal with the deficiency. Stress also depletes it. Deficiency can cause all sorts of neurological sensations, very like those you describe. Sanjay Gupta (cardiologist) did an excellent video about it - with a focus on the heart (well he is a cardiologist!) but with some very useful general info.
Why magnesium is so good for you - YouTube
So yes, put your health first. If you feel you need to take time off, then you need to take time off!
Hope you do get some answers soon.
Thanks for the replies, I stopped working 3 weeks ago but no change in symptoms. I eat a very balanced diet including multivitamins and Magnesium but careful not to overdo it. The strange sensations are not going away.
Sensation of numbness from mid calf to top of left foot. Felt like it was spreading up and across my lower man parts a few days ago. Was gradual over 2-3 days.
My face aches and twitches randomly.
The morning seizures worry me a lot. I wake up to weakness in both arms and a shuddering happening inside the arms from the armpit down.
None of this ever happened before. It is going on for four months now.
Hi …I was wondering how you were getting on as you haven’t posted for a while. I too have had very similar symptoms since I got the 2nd Astra vaccine 6 months ago.
Numbness, tingling in the legs and fingers. The worst seems to be the leg numbness and stiffness spreading up my body at an alarming rate. Every couple of days I notice an increase in severity. I’m very worried.