Tingling and pins/needles in feet [Archive]

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Stu1980

19-04-17, 15:30

Hi All :D

I'm wondering if anyone can offer any advice. After moving on from enlarged lymph nodes, testicular cancer and melanoma, this seems to be my latest HA flare up!

About a week ago I started to suffer from tingly legs and pins and needles in my toes and feet, sometimes my fingers. This has been fairly consistent over the last week and seems to be worse first thing in the morning. I've read that this can be caused by:

Anxiety
Diabetes
Vitamin Deficiency
MS
The 'C' Word !!

I know I need to go to the docs but my anxiety is so bad that just getting through the door sends me into meltdown. I am probably the opposite of people who push for every test under the sun, I tend to leave things in the hope that they clear up by themselves and only go to the docs if I REALLY need to as I find my anxiety levels sky rocket as I am always expecting the worst outcome. I know this is the wrong thing to do and I'm ashamed of myself because of it.

Just a bit of context, I take 20mg Fluoxetine for depression, vape quite heavily (18-20mg) and my anxiety and stress levels have been high recently due to HA (anxiety of health, stress of work and home life).

I've read that too much nicotene can constrict blood vessels making extremities tingle but I've been vaping for quite some time.

To add to this, I've had this on/off twinge in my testicle for a few months which seems to coincide with my foot pain (sometimes if I touch it, my foot twinges). However, I'm not as freaked out by this as I had a small lump looked at under an ultrasound a few months back and was told I 'had a lot of veins' so in this instance I'm not thinking testicular cancer. Maybe nerve disruption somewhere.

A lot of people with these symptoms seem to be deficient in B12, potassium, magnesium and / or Vitamin D so I've been taking all of these supplements in the hope that something tells these things to naff off!

If this was anxiety related, would it really be constant for a week?? I've suffered with anxiety, depression and OCD for most of my adult life and this is a new symptom.

I wish I could banish my HA for good. So many people I know are so relaxed about things like blood tests and scans etc, yet I seem to panic at the thought!

Sorry for the long post. I'm a mess at the moment :-(

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Ben1989

19-04-17, 16:00

I used to get tingles/pins and needles in my feet and hands every day for about 4 weeks straight with my Health Anxiety. This was during my MS fear also.

I ended up having a brain MRI to reveal no MS. I just accepted that it was just anxiety (it's a very common symptom). It went away for six months after that period.

It's recently come back in my feet and my middle finger of my right hand (of all places). My good old pins and needles anxiety friend. Annoying but a very common anxiety symptom :)

Stu1980

19-04-17, 16:06

That's reassuring to know Ben, thanks. I thought I had suffered from all of the symptoms brought on by anxiety - this is definitely a new one for me!

Did you wake up with it in the mornings too?

axolotl

19-04-17, 16:12

To cut a long story short, one of my first big health spirals was about tingling, and after a lot of tests it was "just" anxiety (and a possible slight B12 deficiency).

My symptoms, at the time, were terrifying, and I was convinced I had one of your list above (I'm not going to trigger you by specifying which one). But tingling is a very common anxiety symptom, and gets worst the more you dwell on it and think about it. I still get them now and know it's just an indicator I need to de-stress a bit, rather than worry about it.

A general rule is because it's bouncing around your body in random places, that's much more likely to be anxiety than anything else.

Ben1989

19-04-17, 16:14

I never woke up with them. They would develop throughout the morning for the rest of the day.

At night however, they were nonstop in my feet. Buzzing like crazy. It took me a while to accept that they were just anxiety and they went eventually.

My HA is flaring up quite a bit at the moment and it's no coincidence that the tingling has returned

Stu1980

19-04-17, 16:32

Thanks for taking the time to respond both of you. I really appreciate it :yesyes:

I immediately feel better about things. I'll see how the tingling goes. If it is a b12 deficiency, the high dosage sprays I'm taking should take care of it. I had anemia some years ago when I was vegetarian and couldn't make it up the stairs without getting out of breath. I remember googling like crazy back then and coming up with alsorts. Good old Doctor Google eh?

axolotl

19-04-17, 16:40

Stu1980

19-04-17, 16:42

If it is B12, it's a three-monthly injection at the doctor's surgery for me and that's all you need.

Thanks Axolotl. I'll try and chill out about everything and hopefully the tingling will do one! :D:D

Stu1980

24-04-17, 12:58

Just thought I would post an update on this as I've noticed a few people have this tingling associated anxiety. This is more common than I realised. I thought this might be useful for people to read who are having anxiety over tingling, pins and needles and pains in the feet etc.

I've definitely noticed that this has been subsiding but have also noticed that it occurs in random places on my body... head, arms, back, even my lips had been tingling. I also get chest pains but know the signs of anxiety related pains so tend to take a deep breath and let my body do it's thing. I've also noticed that I although I may not be feeling textbook anxious 100% of the time, my body is always tense and I find it hard to relax.

It's not completely gone but the severity has calmed down and as a result, so have I!!

I got into a bit of a HA cycle last night, checking my moles, man bits, etc and for the first time in forever I was able to stop, tell myself that it's just my mind playing tricks, laugh at myself and carry on! Bit of a turning point for me.

Still petrified of the docs, but I'll get there :yesyes:

axolotl

24-04-17, 14:09

I've definitely noticed that this has been subsiding but have also noticed that it occurs in random places on my body... head, arms, back, even my lips had been tingling. I also get chest pains but know the signs of anxiety related pains so tend to take a deep breath and let my body do it's thing. I've also noticed that I although I may not be feeling textbook anxious 100% of the time, my body is always tense and I find it hard to relax.

You could have literally written that to describe me about 18 months go, word for word. I think the part about not being what we think of as "anxious" is very important, because that's what kicked off my first big bout of HA - getting anxiety symptoms but not thinking I was actually anxious about anything, making me think it must be something physically wrong. Looking back I had loads going on nibbling at my subconscious, I just wasn't consciously fretting about it.

Stu1980

24-04-17, 15:14

You could have literally written that to describe me about 18 months go, word for word. I think the part about not being what we think of as "anxious" is very important, because that's what kicked off my first big bout of HA - getting anxiety symptoms but not thinking I was actually anxious about anything, making me think it must be something physically wrong. Looking back I had loads going on nibbling at my subconscious, I just wasn't consciously fretting about it.

Well said Axolotl. I think also that our state of anxiety becomes common place and the norm for us and we kind of get used to feeling anxious all the time - almost like we are in autopilot but the symptoms of anxiety still present in the forms of chest pains, tingles etc. Good to hear that I'm not the only one and it seems that many people experience the good old anxiety tingles, aches and pains!