Weakness on one side

[springblossom]

I have had this problem on and off for the past year or so.

My left eye, cheek, arm, hand, leg and foot all feel numb and vague. I have had an MRI scan which reported ‘nothing serious’ and my GP says he’s at a loss but thinks it’s ‘probably mechanical’.

My worry is that it’s related to something happening in my brain or my nervous system but my GP says he does not want to go down the path of further tests.

I am very worried and looking for other members with similar experience. Any comments welcome :)

SB

[Clairalou]

hey, i think if your gp says your fine and your mri was clear then you have nothing to worry about! if you had a brain problem they would have noticed it on the mri i suspect!
I know when in the past i have been in a complete panic i used to go completely numb down one side it was awful! but i realised the more time i spent focusing on it the more it would bother me and the more stressed i would become but when i started completely accepting it and ignoring it, it slowly went away and it wasnt always an over night thing i would panic and the numbness would stay for days but the longer i tried to accept and ignore the fewer times it would happen! now when these symptoms occur i just ignore them and they go away almost straight away!

Claire xxx

[Vixxy]

Hi there. I get this problem too. Its not a constant weakness, it tends to come on when I do something that tires me out. So I can only assume its related to physical exhaustion. I also get it down the left side and it affects the same areas as you.

[springblossom]

thanks guys, please provide as much detail as you can

[oldtime]

Hi,

I get periods of numbness down the left hand side similar to you. It is in my left cheek, eye, neck, flank, arm, lower back and leg. It is worse in the morning sometime lasts all day. But it is not really numb as the doctor did a sharp / dull touch test and I could feel the difference. It just feels numb and odd and fatigued. The doctor also tested muscle strength and this was normal so it seems to be a perceived feeling rather than a physical problem. I have had head and spine MRI, showing a small amount of nerve compression on the Left but not significant enough to cause such widespread symptoms.

The doctor believes it is due to Hyper-vigilance, ie. I'm anxious and my nervous system is amplifying minor problems completely out of proportion to how bad they are. It is hard to accept but after nearly 2 years of this coming and going, and several doctors telling me that there is no known medical condition that causes these symptoms I think he might be right.

I try now to ignore the feeling as much as possible, it tends to settle down in a few days, although it keeps coming back again. It is not going to harm me its just an odd feeling.

[mark1980]

Hi, With me the health anxiety always manifests on the left side of my body - it's become so much so that I actually sometimes think it's comical! Every 'symptom' is always related to the left of my body - left arm, stomach, lower left back, left sided headaches, left ear ache and left knee/ankle even!
For me it all links back to where all this health anxiety stems from, which I now believe to be when I was 12 and found a cyst on my left testicle - consequently spending about 2 years scared to tell anyone and thinking I may have cancer!!
Hope this helps a little anyway - I'm sure there is nothing serious wrong - especially as you've had good tests
x