Left sided 'weakness'

[carol68]

HI Have similair problems, started with what I thought was scatica in March but it turns out its not. My right leg is totally weak and my knee aches. Under a neurologist, had an mri on brain and spine both fine, had vast amount of blood tests all negative. Then in Oct left arm started to ache,tingle, get like burning sensations in my left leg and my right arm is now aching. Had a crap year lots of stress could it really be that that is causing the aching im so tense its untrue and not sleeping very well. But coming on here and reading that other people feel the same and it could be anxiety is amazing. Back to see the neurologist in Feb for a nervous conduction test.
Am willing to try anything as hate taking medication, oh and the neurologist his advice was to Vit b12.
Thanks for listening

[lesleya]

Hi
After reading your posts i think you could have written it for me.
Ive had all the same symptoms as you too and my gp has made an appt with a neurologist in feb 09...which im terrified of going too.
But i also get slight numbness to on the left side of my face and arn too sometimes...not really numb but a numbish feeling (sorry its hard to explain)....but this seems to subside too when im more relaxed and when ive managed to take my mind of things somehow it goes away a lot.
Take care

[agent orange]

i have odd sensations like the one decribed by milly54, i have had an mri, blood tests and nothing-all clear.
i think it therefore must be anxiety.
tony

[itoldyouiwasill]

I think pretty much every poster who has this worry regarding weakness is using the term of 'feeling weak'!

The physical sensation of feeling weak is an incredibly common sensation that is often somatic in nature or the result of physical anxiety. Both of these scenarios obviously mean that you do not have an organic medical complaint.

Regarding ALS & MND, we may be scared that a feeling of weakness is the first sign that we are developing this disease but the GP and/or neurologist is not really in the least interested in your 'feeling' of weakness. If you are suffering from anxiety and/or somatic ailments your perspective and judgment on such bodily matters is totally out of kilter.

The GP/neurologist is looking for objective clinical weakness and this sort of weakness is easy to spot...it involves the inability to use motor function and it is not a vague wishy washy 'I feel weak' sort of thing, it is the inability to pick up your car keys, do up your buttons or open the coffee jar...most neurologists will suspect an ALS diagnosis within a minute or two of the patient presenting as the loss of motor function and subsequent weakness is so marked and so obvious.

Another thing to bear in mind. Physical anxiety effects all of our nervous system whilst MND/ALS & MS actually effect different nervous systems. ALS/MND is a disease that is defined by the death of muscles horn cells and the result is clear and marked CLINICAL OBJECTIVE weakness, issues such as buzzing, vibrating, parathesia and all that other weird and wonderful sensory stuff is exactly that, sensory and is in no way equatable to an ALS/MND diagnosis.

Hope that helps.

[Dooges]

Thanks for that Itoldyouiwasill, YOur posts are usually very reassuring...

I have been through, still going through I would say the muscle twitching. This doesn't realy worry me anymore after reading your posts also. But Now it has progressed, well I'm hoping it is only the progression of my anxiety symptoms to left sided weird feelings. No real weakness or pain , but just feel funny on my left side. Mainly in left side of face and shoulder, and left leg with very tight lower left back muscles. ( Lumbar region i think they call it ) So if it's no tthe degenerative stuff like you say, it leaves me thinking what is it. Just anxiety, I hope so. But saying that isn't really acceptng it as anxiety thus is a road block to my recovery.

I think what a lot of ppl are trying to figure out is what are the early signs of MND or ALS. It's not like you wake up and all of a sudden you cant use your hand etc.. Or does it work like that. It's the limited knowledge we have about these diseases that probably scares us the most. The unknown aspects.

When i think about it, no where have i read, ( when i was googling ) that an early symptom wil be weird feelings or sensations with percieved weakness followed by actual weakness and atrophy.

But suffering frm a health anxiety and my sensations being one sided I'm also thinking brain tumor now.. Stupid really, but you know what it's like.
Could just be bad posture at home and/or work.. Who knows....

I sent you a private message also

Thanks
Brad

[carol68]

Thank you for the replies, been to the doctors over the xmas break, due to burning in my hands, she advised me it is caused by tension, and to take NSAID and to hold my head and place my chin on my chest for a count of 10 and to hold my head first to the left then to the right. It works and has reduced the burning to almost nothing. So would recommend it.Just wish they would sort my leg, I think this again is caused by anxiety and holding it funny when I walk causes the rest of my body to tense.Go myself a set of mini bike pedals trying to use them daily to keep leg mobile.Got to stay postive.

[j2]

I know this is an old post but I have been having all the same symptoms and fears as many of the people that have posted on this thread. I keep telling myself that I am fine and this is anxiety but I would love to hear from any of the posters to see how things turned out. I keep having left sided weakness and an odd tingling on part of the left side of my face. I am quite worried and would love some reassurance. Thanks

[dawnjo]

I believe when you have been right handed all of your life and I am 51 years old, it will cause your left side to be weaker. I have started trying on purpose to use my left hand to brush my teeth, pick up things, open the door left handed, etc. I try to let my right hand just rest and relax. I believe the left side of your brain controls what goes on when you use the right side of your body and vise versa. The muscles in my left neck and all the way down to my left knee are more tense than the right side and harder to get relaxed. Using my left hand on purpose has made a difference for me. I hope I can be persistent in trying to train the muscles in my left side to be more useful. It will feel weird to start with and it is even more weird trying to write left handed when you have been right handed all of your life. I also believe this will also balance both sides of the brain to work together in muscle coordination and function.

[Star 52]

Hi,
I'm so glad I've found this thread. On Nov 14th I felt my left foot go icy cold and then my left leg get tingly and shaky, then I collapsed. Since then I've been off my work, I'm totally exhausted and sleep all the time. Now I seem to have weakness in my right arm and leg, then sometimes my left. I'm so scared. I've seen my GP and she says I should take anti depressants, but for the first time in my life I was feeling good, as I just got engaged 3 weeks before this happened. I saw a neurologist last week who says she thinks its severe exhaustion but that she wants to rule out anything with an MRI scan from top to toe. I'm terrified as I'm really chlostrophobic as I got stuck in a scanner about 20 years ago and I can't imagaine I'm going to be able to get the scan done without major panic. I can't believe this weakness is due to stress but now I've read these replies, looks like it might be. This morning I thought I was having a stroke and was terrified. Has anyone got advice how to get this scan done without major panic. I feel so alone. Thanks for reading this.

[limmil]

I have left foot and left hand paining moderately since about 8 months. Also all left side from forehead to the toe feels weaker... I feel there should be no worry after reading above responses.. An year and a half before, I underwent all the tests CT-MRI etc, all of them negative. These tests were done when I fell unconcious once. I took homeopathic medicine and stopped worrying.