Open road, numbness in the arms and legs can be symptoms of so many things.Some very serious, such as diabetes, neuropathy, heart problems and more. Could be back problems, etc. That's why I'm going to suggest, you guessed it, go to the doctor for testing.

I hope you get some answers soon. Keep us updated.

Yes, I do plan to go, it's just anther trip to one doc, then another, then another, and all the while my back and legs cry the blues as I move about from one waiting room to another. Fun, not really. I know I have to go but I'm just a man so I put it off for too long already. Thanks for the input though journeythru.

Sorry, but "thanks though" .... Made me laugh.

Yea, we get it, going to the doctor and the next doctor, to the next specialists... It all gets to be exhausting but we do it. Sometimes we, even women, too, just put it off...it's an arduous journey. Is it, not? We all do the best we can.

There's a lot if wisdom on this forum. You'll get some good feedback.

What are your current diagnoses? As Journey says there are many things that could be causing this, even medication.

Currently I suffer from bipolar disorder and an anxiety syndrome plus chronic lower back pain and fibromyalgia as well as asthma and now spots on my lungs. I have a second CT scan next week to see if it has spread. I take Clonazepam, carbamazapine, lyrica, remeron and abilify. I use three different puffers to breathe. at the moment the names escape me, sorry. I have other crap on my mind today.
The pam is for the anxiety, the carba and abilify are for the bipolar and the remeron is for the bipolar and to help me sleep. The lyrica is for the fibro. I've been having numbness in my arms and legs. Today my left arm is dead, I can hardly use my hand and cannot raise my wrist. It just hangs there. Pretty soon I'll be looking for a tall building. This symptom occurred once before and my doc said it was related to the lung problem I also have but my oncologist says no. I can see a line up of docs in my future. Fun wow. I'm currently suffering wicked anxiety and depression and it's hard to take. Next week is already booked with three docs as it is and I don't know how much more I can take you know?

Some of those meds can cause numbness. The carba and lyrica in particular. I remember trying them and finding that previously unaffected parts of my body were tingling and then numb.

If it is causing a problem, like falling, talk to your doctor. Otherwise I would wait until your next appt to see if it goes away. Keeping a diary of when you feel this will help you get a good idea of how frequent it is happening.

journey is right, there are so many things it could be. Another one is trouble with circulation. Please see the doctor as soon as you can. Hugs GB

open road, I have tingling in my hands and feet. I had to go to a neurologist to be told it very slight and was caused by my fibromyalgia. I can see you have a lot of health problems and many appointments. However that amount of numbness could be something very extreme. I don't know what insurance you have but if you need to tell your doctor. He needs to give you a high blood sugar, a fasting test and any test to rule out other issues that can cause this. If you need to go to a specialist. It is worth it to know why.

I live in Canada so the doc's are free so that's not the problem, it's just all the travel and pain of it. Oh well, what can you do? I see my doc tomorrow so I'm sure she'll bounce me to another guy for something.
Thanks for all the care guys.
J

My doc just wants to send me to physio. That seems kind of underwhelming to me really. No real diagnosis or anything just physio. I'm kind of unhappy with this response. What do you all think?

Maybe physio can at least determine if the numbness is caused by a trapped nerve? I had serious problems walking, tripping bc I couldn't feel my feet or recognize where my leg was in relation to my surroundings. A decent diagnostician finally figured I also had SI joint dysfunction and sent me to a good PT (as opposed to sportsminded no pain/no gain types that caused harm) and after a couple months found great improvement. But I've also had numbness as a side effect of meds so Tigg's idea to track symptoms and the timing of taking meds might be helpful. Hope u get answers and relief soon.

Did your doctor do blood tests?

I guess you physical therapist might get a better sense of what kind of weakness you are having and pass that on to your doctor.

Hi AnnNY,
I'm hoping that the physiotherapist will recognize something and do just that with my doc. I'm pretty upset with my doc for her lack of any real action and I can't wait to see my pain doc. Maybe he can set something up with a nerve related specialist to have my nervous system checked out. I understand that they can do conductivity tests that might reveal something that physio just won't fix. It seems to me that with numbness in my legs also that there is something serious happening in there and I want to know what it is. Just colour me unhappy with my docs lack of action and lack of testing of any sort.

Openroad, you have every right to be upset. You go to a doc to get answers and when they don't give you one, it is a great disappointment and frustrating to say the least.

While I am not a doctor by any means, I too have severe fibro and am well aware of the symptoms. I don't believe the numbness you are having is from the fibro. It's not from the med either, unless they are new within the past month or so. Side effects of meds typically present themselves fairly quickly.

To me it sounds like something to do with your existing back condition. Or there is another new underlying condition. Most of the nerves that send feeling in your arms are connected to your spine in the shoulder blade area. You could have slept funny (Which I have done many times) or there could be a pinched or irritated nerve that is causing it. Are you lungs swollen a well, or just have spots on them. Because if they are swollen too, it could be putting pressure on those nerves. Heck anything is possible. I am not a doctor, by any means, just have been around for quite some time.

If you don't like your doc's lack of an answer, you can ALWAYS get a second opinion.You are in charge of you care!

I hope this helps,

Gentle hugs,
Jenna

I have numbness in arms and legs, was ultimately diagnosed with polyneuropathy and spinal stenosis.