Constant tingling in legs

Hello everyone,

I don’t really know where to go from here.

Last year I suffered from severe chronic pain due to endometriosis and had a surgery. I was also in chronic stress , crying every day and I really thought I was dying. I think i have PTSD.

After the surgery my mind got crazy thinking I might have MS, and I developed severe tingling in legs, arms and face. I was in the hospital. Did all sorts of tests, nothing confirmed neuropathy or the cause.

I was doing a lot of pelvic floor therapy that helped me to get rid of pelvic pain (yeeey), but I still suffered from chronic stress. Tingling remained in legs for about 20%, while it went away in my face and arms.

Then I got Covid and mycoplasma pneumonia and the tingling/ burning in legs reappeared and never left. I was still in a lot of stress.

It might be neuropathy, but is there a chance it’s a neuroplastic pain / mind-body related issue? Is my brain sending fake signals? Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night , the burning was gone. I’m not able to use a blanket anymore because my legs burn so much.

Also for a month I was thinking it can’t be neuropathy because my feet were never tingling. Then they started to tingle after thinking about it and now went away…

 

The short answer is: yes. It’s very likely that it’s TMS with that pattern and your history. It’s also one of my TMS symptoms among many others.

You need to show your brain that there is nothing to be scared of anymore. As a start, you need to get rid of the mindset that there is something structurally/medically wrong with you.

 

Thank you, dear. I don’t see a lot of people suffering with nerve pain around here. I must accept there’s nothing wrong with me medically… it’s so tough. I think chronic pain might have changed my brain

 

It’s the only way to heal, love ❤️ You will learn that it really doesn’t matter whether it’s nerve pain, migraines, numbness, tingling, burning what ever… it’s all the same. It’s TMS.

I’m so lucky to have what the medical industry would call Fibromyalgia. All over body pain, with numbness, tingling, fatigue and many more lovely symptoms. But you know what. I’m not afraid anymore, because I know it all came from repressed emotions and stress. It’s just TMS on steroids.

You can heal, I can heal - we can all heal. But you need to give your body and brain a chance to rest and repair. You got this! BELIEVE is the keyword here. You “just” need to change the stubborn neural pathways in your brain.

You’re welcome to message me if you need to talk to someone that’s also pretty new to this journey. I wish you well.

 

I have peripheral neuropathy in my hands and feet, negative mri, diagnosed via EMG and NCS, although I don’t put too much stock into these tests. The neuropathy was noticed after pudendal neuralgia and subsequent stress, for all I know I could’ve had the PN for months or years, I went to a neurologist who asked if I had burning in my feet or hand, I said yes, never thinking anything of it. He also did some physical exam test with a needle and vibration thingy that showed some numbness. For a while it scared me, thinking this was the start of some auto immune issue, but it never materialized, that was 3 years ago now. It’s still there but taken a back seat to my other TMS sensations. I still get burning, still get the tingling and numbness, but it has no real impact on my life. IMO it’s all TMS, stress related, nervous system dysfunction whatever. And I imagine as I progress on this journey my PN will lessen, although as I said it has no impact on my day to day life at this point.

you did all the tests already, you can stay on the modern medical merry go round for a lifetime, but I think it’s wise to apply a mind body approach. There is nothing to lose.

 

Thank you. It’s so so hard not to be able to control your body. On top of my stress, I developed a fear of having a real nerve damage because it might never go away. I was diagnosed with neuropathy despite my negative tests. Since this diagnosis I’ve been doing worse. Also I hate blankets, beds, sleep, shower, because all of these things make my legs burn so bad….

Has TMS therapy helped you?

 

Guntta, welcome to the forum. I have something like that. It started when I was recovering from lower back herniated disc surgery. After the surgery I had severe anxiety that lasted two months, certain the surgery had gone wrong (later MRI confirmed it didn't). During this time my surgeon told me if I wasn't feeling anything on the legs, then I was probably fine. I started fixating on it, and two days later the tingling began. Looking back it's pretty obvious it was TMS.

What I can tell is that, even knowing it's TMS (and now usually not being a painful sensation, just a sensation), it's the one symptom that gets to my nerves. If you keep learning about TMS you'll get to know the symptoms are actually emotions expressing themselves through the body. That's the reason this feeling gets me, and probably the reason it does to you. It's a sensation that brings nasty unconscious feelings that escape from our cognition.

I can't give you an exact solution since I'm in the middle of my journey as well, but what changed the game for me was taking short and constant moments to just feel the symptom without trying to understand it. It starts really short because the mind is desperate for explanations, but you get better and better. EDIT: And be ok with the frustration. It's a hard situation. TMS knows how to get you. Don't be harsh with yourself thinking you should be doing better.

 

D

Thank you so much for your response, dear. I’m sorry you’ve been going through this. Surgery is tough but no one prepares you for what might come after.
Can you describe your sensation of tingling a bit? Does it burn? I had extreme tingling that went down and was replaced by burning. Now i can’t use blankets, which makes me furious.

 

It does sometimes. The nature of the sensations change a lot. The one that's always there is high sensitivity in the skin, like sunburn. Sometimes there's pain. Usually there's this strange nerve sensation. There used to be a lot of numbness. When I have tingling it's common to mirror itself on the other leg. And when I do somatic awareness (a sort of somatic tracking) it starts popping in different areas.

 

You’re right, it’s something similar to what I have!

My skin on legs also feels like sunburn or razor burn.

how do you sleep? Can you use a blanket?

The only time when my pain was reduced was after doing some breath work / meditation when I really got into it.

I’m happy you started your healing journey. I hope it goes well.