Numbness, tingling, electric shocks, paresthesia, allydonia, small fiber neuropathy

[TG957]

This is 100% right. My neurologists concluded that I might have Idiopathic SFN but he said that there is no 100% diagnoses including skin biopsy. He cannot exclude SFN with negative skin biopsy. As you said, there are many people with low density of small fibre nerves but yet they dont have any symptoms. It is our smart brain playing tricks. I have got hell lot of tests in neurology and all tests came normal except ulnar nerve entrapment which gives me tingling sensation in my pinky and ring fingers in my left hand. Still, I strongly believe that it is TMS and I will get better.

I had an EMG test showing, per my neurologist, irreparable nerve damage in radial and median nerve, all resulting from the nerve entrapment in carpal tunnel. The same neurologist told me the story how he once saw a patient with chronic pain in one hand. EMG test, however, showed much more degradation in the hand that was pain-free. When I inquired that it may bring in questions about value of the EMG test, he still insisted that EMG was the best indicator of nerve problems.

Guess what, I miraculously (to my neurologist, not to me!) recovered by taking the TMS route, doing emotional work and meditating. My neuropathy is long gone, along with all other terrifying symptoms in my hands. I would let you all make your own judgment about neurology tests.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

I would give you a % of how much better I am (and it would shock you) but I don't care anymore and that has made all the difference.

Awesome @Cincinnati_S! And, isn't breath work kind of miraculous? Even just remembering to breathe deeply and mindfully as often as possible has a noticeable positive effect for me.

 

[Sunrise]

Hello, I am the OP and am just checking in to say I very rarely get symptoms anymore. Sometimes I get some numbness in certain positions and such. But nothing like I had when I posted this.
I am living proof you can move on from this. Thank you Dr John Sarno and everyone on this forum who contributes.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Hello, I am the OP and am just checking in to say I very rarely get symptoms anymore

This is also so awesome @Sunrise, and I can't believe I missed this incredible thread back in 2020/21! (okay, the truth is that I was busy allowing a volunteer job to mindlessly overwhelm me, which was ultimately really bad for my health but that's another story). Anyway, thank you for checking in with this update. Which begs the question: did you ever write your Success Story? I should also ask @Cincinnati_S the same thing!

 

[krk_mindbody]

I had an EMG test showing, per my neurologist, irreparable nerve damage in radial and median nerve, all resulting from the nerve entrapment in carpal tunnel. The same neurologist told me the story how he once saw a patient with chronic pain in one hand. EMG test, however, showed much more degradation in the hand that was pain-free. When I inquired that it may bring in questions about value of the EMG test, he still insisted that EMG was the best indicator of nerve problems.

Guess what, I miraculously (to my neurologist, not to me!) recovered by taking the TMS route, doing emotional work and meditating. My neuropathy is long gone, along with all other terrifying symptoms in my hands. I would let you all make your own judgment about neurology tests.

@TG957 and @Sunrise : That's music to my ears. After all my tests came negative, I have decided to take TMS route. I still have to rule out with skin biopsy but after reading this thread, decided not to have skin biopsy. But part of my brain tells me that this TMS route might not work. My main symptoms are, 1) Burning, pins & needles and tingling pain in my left hand and left foot. 2) Left toes feel like they are on fire. 3) Dizziness only when walking 4) So much fatigue all day 5) Left Cheek burning (as per MRI, my left trigeminal nerve is touched by an artery).

My full story (Heads up: Long post and apologies for that.)
https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/weird-dizziness-tingling-fingertips-burning-left-cheek-feet.27517/ (Weird Dizziness, tingling fingertips, burning left cheek & feet)

I am not fully into TMS route but my thinking has changed since I joined this forum. I have just started 30 mins meditation. So I noticed one improvement, I am not getting this pain every day as before but four or five times a week. But whenever it returns, it returns with severe pain, that's when I am losing hopes that this TMS route wont work. I still need to start, journaling, reading Dr. Sarno's books, and any further advises by Dr Sarno.

Please give me some hopes.

Thank you

 

[Cactusflower]

@krk_mindbody
Take stock of how you feel in your body when the pain returns. How do those emotions feel: a heaviness or lightness, a color you might associate with that emotion, do you embrace and accept this is what todsy. Rings or do you try and push the feelings away…or do you hang on to them, obsess and fret. All of these things are similar to what I (and probably most tmsers) feel when symptoms return, flair up, or present themselves in a different way.
A change of mindset spin on these is to just simply feel how you feel. Accept it’s how you feel today. Remind yourself that not everyday is like today (progress), and that today’s success is the opportunity to practice “feeling” even when it sucks.
Being real with yourself: feeling the emotions, noticing possible triggers, reminding yourself of it being temporary gives your mind some balance between hanging out only in a dark place or glossing over everything with too much fake “it’s all right”. It’s self-compassion.
I think you are taking great steps to your wellness! Taking responsibility for yourself and choices, slowly working on your belief system about everything you are going through.

 

[krk_mindbody]

@krk_mindbody
Take stock of how you feel in your body when the pain returns. How do those emotions feel: a heaviness or lightness, a color you might associate with that emotion, do you embrace and accept this is what todsy. Rings or do you try and push the feelings away…or do you hang on to them, obsess and fret. All of these things are similar to what I (and probably most tmsers) feel when symptoms return, flair up, or present themselves in a different way.
A change of mindset spin on these is to just simply feel how you feel. Accept it’s how you feel today. Remind yourself that not everyday is like today (progress), and that today’s success is the opportunity to practice “feeling” even when it sucks.
Being real with yourself: feeling the emotions, noticing possible triggers, reminding yourself of it being temporary gives your mind some balance between hanging out only in a dark place or glossing over everything with too much fake “it’s all right”. It’s self-compassion.
I think you are taking great steps to your wellness! Taking responsibility for yourself and choices, slowly working on your belief system about everything you are going through.

@Cactusflower Thank you so much for kind and encouraging words. I am so grateful to you. Sure, I will follow your advise. Wish you good health.

 

[TG957]

@TG957 and @Sunrise :

I am not fully into TMS route but my thinking has changed since I joined this forum. I have just started 30 mins meditation. So I noticed one improvement, I am not getting this pain every day as before but four or five times a week. But whenever it returns, it returns with severe pain, that's when I am losing hopes that this TMS route wont work. I still need to start, journaling, reading Dr. Sarno's books, and any further advises by Dr Sarno.

Please give me some hopes.

Thank you

The most important principle of TMS recovery is to understand that your recovery will be slow and non-linear. It is not a magic pill that would work in 5 minutes. There will be setbacks, flair-ups (or extinction bursts as named by Sarno) and very, very, very long plateaus. What you achieved with 30 minute meditation is HUGE. It took me months to see results from meditation. But I was patient and I recovered. This is the only thing you need to remember and follow, with tremendous amount of patience. Doubt is your main enemy, it will kill your recovery.

Oh, and the last thing: If the magic pill existed, you would not be on this forum. Period.

 

[natalia65]

Neuropathy, unless it is caused by the actual direct physical damage to the nerves, is TMS. Neuropathy is caused by overstressed nervous system not being able to cope with the stress and sending out alarm. SFN is one of those many diagnoses that they give you if they can't figure out what is wrong with you. I had neuropathy, it all went away with emotional work and meditation. Dozens of people on this forum recovered from neuropathy by treating it as TMS. I am working with a woman who has been suffering from neuropathy, low blood pressure and elevated heart rate for over a year. With meditation and mindfulness exercises, all of the above symptoms are 80% better after only 2.5 months of practice. As soon as she gets stressed out, neuropathy returns, but a meditation session eliminates it completely.[/QUOTE
So with small fiber neuropathy, someone can have an initial incident, let’s say a surgery that possibly shocked the body or damages a nerve but then what we typically see is that it spreads body wide. In this case, do you feel that TMS could still work?

 

[natalia65]

I am reading The Great Pain Deception by Steve Ozanich and he quotes Sarno when he mentions that the pain moves up and "flares up" old injuries. I have zero nerve issues for the last 10 days, but my tinnitus has increased tenfold. All year, it has been so low, that I forgot I had it for the longest time. Now, my nerve issues are gone and my ears feel all sensitive to sounds and tinnitus blaring. Also, my IBS issues are gone. For the longest time I thought it was related to some damage/sound exposure or something, but now I am thinking it might just be so minor and exacerbated by TMS switching the sensations elsewhere.

Hi Sunrise,
How are you doing now?

 

[natalia65]

@DWA and TG957. DWA listen to what TG957 has to say. Been reading her book and is a great testimonial to what can be accomplished. In 2007, I too, started out with the slightest hint of numbness in my left big toe. It progressed to full blown pain and numbness in both feet and calves. In 2007, foot pain and numbness was really not an issue in the TMS world (at least I had never heard or come across it). It was something new that my mind was looking for to locate the pain, and I never put 2 and 2 together. Years later, I learned that foot pain and numbness are the new "back pain".

In a earlier post I had stated that I had a moment where all pain and numbness disappeared for 5 minutes, but came back. Needless to say, it broke my spirit. You throw your hands in the air and say "I give up". And that is kind of what I did. I was so frustrated, angry and negative that I had felt that 5 minutes of bliss, and then back to where I initially was.

Now, because of my wife's influence, I have recently visited the Mayo Clinic in Florida (against my beliefs and better judgement), and I come to find out that the doctor's are scratching their heads and ordering all these different tests. After awhile, you begin to have this "feeling" that all these tests are worthless. Blood tests that I have had before, and EMG tests I have had before! I have cancelled the tests, because the first round of tests all showed normal.

I have cured back and neck pain with no problem. The mind will find an area that will "confuse" you and make you think the worst. We must learn to recognize that most pain in the body is TMS related. It's how the mind is trying to distract you. While reading TG957's book, I was smiling and relating to what was being explained, and I started to feel sharp stabbing pains in my knee!! Never felt that before. Ever.

TG957 has some great advice. I have been paying attention to when when the pain and numbness escalate and thinking about emotions at that particular time, and it makes you focus on your thoughts and how you are feeling. For me, I'm begining to learn that I am easily frustrated. Frustrated by the simple things in life, and that leads to a quiet anger inside myself. I think guilt plays a big emotional roll in the TMS process. Think about emotions, like TG957 says in the book, and you will truly begin to see what emotions affect you most.

DWA, believe that you will get better. Attitude is everything. I'm not there yet, but after reading TG957's book, I am ready to fight!

How are you feeling now? Have you had a small fiber neuropathy biopsy?

 

[Pat97]

Hello, I am the OP and am just checking in to say I very rarely get symptoms anymore. Sometimes I get some numbness in certain positions and such. But nothing like I had when I posted this.
I am living proof you can move on from this. Thank you Dr John Sarno and everyone on this forum who contributes.

I was reading through this whole thread and to see you go from panicking and frustrated to see your updates and then to see youre feeling much better is genuinely amazing. I'm so happy for you my friend.

I've experienced dizziness for over a year and then 5 weeks I was massaging my jaw and sinus (got punched on my jaw and it feels off ever since), I pressed in my jaw just infront of my ear and then a few minutes later for weird puslsing/heart beat type sensation in my temple area of my head. I then got a dripping feeling going around the left side of my head almost as if I was bleeding. Of course this caused a lot of panick and stress. After a week I had lost appetite and went to hospital - got a ct scan was all clear for a bleed in the brain. Have had bloods done which have came back normal.

A day after the hospital I developed burning in my feet mainly but sometimes my hands aswell. Noticed it got really bad when I was attending my doctor's appointment (very upset and panicking). The burning comes and goes, the head sensations come and go. For a few days I had tingling, like spider webs all over my head, itchy on my forehead. For the last few days I've been experiencing nerve sensations which feel like rain drops hitting different parts of my body (hands, legs, arms, feet etc).

I'm writing my experience so others can relate hopefully and we can help each other. I know I definitely have tms as everything sarno describes is basically me. I stress and worry and have always felt pains as a child. I have been through a lot emotionally (very sensative).

I'm curious has anyone had these type of symptom's? I suppose this is feeding into tms by asking if people are similar (probably fear based). I am yet to try mediation for my symptom's but I definitely will. I am determined to over come this as I want to live my life to the fullest, for so long I've lived in fear of everything, not anymore.

I hope that all of you are feeling better and for anyone who ever comes across this in the future, don't lose belief that you'll get better. God it's hard and sometimes you feel so alone and trapped but don't give in to the fear. I hope to see this thread come back to life.

 

[Diana-M]

I'm curious has anyone had these type of symptom's?

Hi, Pat,
Yep. I’ve got the weird neurological symptoms. It really is strange and scary, but it’s TMS. Believe all the success stories on this thread. They are all proof we can recover.

 

[Pat97]

Hi, Pat,
Yep. I’ve got the weird neurological symptoms. It really is strange and scary, but it’s TMS. Believe all the success stories on this thread. They are all proof we can recover.

Hi Diana, lovely to speak with you. Thank you for the reply. Yes I fully believe it is tms and I'm ready to dedicate myself to healing. It's a wild ride and so difficult at times but it really gives you appreciation for the simple things in life.

 

[Diana-M]

Hi Diana, lovely to speak with you. Thank you for the reply. Yes I fully believe it is tms and I'm ready to dedicate myself to healing. It's a wild ride and so difficult at times but it really gives you appreciation for the simple things in life.

Oh my gosh, yes! That reminds me of a recent success story posted by @JohnDellatto https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/pain-free-from-hypermobile-ctd-fibro-dx-20-years-of-pain.29325/#post-155808 (Pain free from hypermobile CTD/fibro dx, 20 years of pain)

He went through quite the ordeal. But at the end, he said something along the lines of what you’re saying:

“Some people take a LONG TIME. At the 4th year I knew 100% I had TMS and it still took over another year. You're not doing it wrong. There's no such thing. There are no setbacks. It may be the most difficult challenge of your life but it'll be the greatest prize. You'll receive your entire life back and more. A limitless body. You wont fear getting older and having 'wear and tear'. You'll have the edge over 99.999% of the population. Don't give up just because it's taking a long time. It's everything you imagine it to be. All of my disappointments in life were overridden with this.”

I love reading stuff like this!

One thing I wanted to mention to you that has helped me a lot. It’s a little book by Claire Weekes, called Hope and Help for Your Nerves. The book made me realize that a lot of these strange sensations are being caused by Adrenaline overload. My nerves are shot. Dr. Weekes describes it all perfectly—and how to get your nervous system to calm down. About half of my weird sensations —water dripping down my back, tingling burning in my thighs, for example—have disappeared. But some still remain. I’m just working on calming my whole life down. I’ve gotten people out of my life who stress me. I stopped reading the news, because it stresses me out too much. I stopped myself from worrying about a lot of things. And it’s slowly working!

 

[Pat97]

Oh my gosh, yes! That reminds me of a recent success story posted by @JohnDellatto https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/pain-free-from-hypermobile-ctd-fibro-dx-20-years-of-pain.29325/#post-155808 (Pain free from hypermobile CTD/fibro dx, 20 years of pain)

He went through quite the ordeal. But at the end, he said something along the lines of what you’re saying:

“Some people take a LONG TIME. At the 4th year I knew 100% I had TMS and it still took over another year. You're not doing it wrong. There's no such thing. There are no setbacks. It may be the most difficult challenge of your life but it'll be the greatest prize. You'll receive your entire life back and more. A limitless body. You wont fear getting older and having 'wear and tear'. You'll have the edge over 99.999% of the population. Don't give up just because it's taking a long time. It's everything you imagine it to be. All of my disappointments in life were overridden with this.”

I love reading stuff like this!

One thing I wanted to mention to you that has helped me a lot. It’s a little book by Claire Weekes, called Hope and Help for Your Nerves. The book made me realize that a lot of these strange sensations are being caused by Adrenaline overload. My nerves are shot. Dr. Weekes describes it all perfectly—and how to get your nervous system to calm down. About half of my weird sensations —water dripping down my back, tingling burning in my thighs, for example—have disappeared. But some still remain. I’m just working on calming my whole life down. I’ve gotten people out of my life who stress me. I stopped reading the news, because it stresses me out too much. I stopped myself from worrying about a lot of things. And it’s slowly working!

Thank you again for your lovely comment. Yea being 27 I'm determined to get over this and live my life to the fullest, no more fear and worrying.

Yea it makes perfect sense what youre saying, I know I've walked around so tense and stressed, obviously that's going to wear our nervous system down tremendously but God created us and blessed us with an amazing body and one that can and will heal given its in the correct state.

Thank you for the book suggestion, I'll order that today. Crazy to say but healing back pain is about to be the first book I've read for aslong as I can remember lol a good book to start with I think

 

[Diana-M]

Yes! That’s a great book to start with. I’m glad you got the Claire Weekes book. It will help! Consider doing this free class on this wiki. The Structured Educational Program. We call it SEP for short. It is really amazing and it’s helping a lot of people.

 

[Pat97]

Yes! That’s a great book to start with. I’m glad you got the Claire Weekes book. It will help! Consider doing this free class on this wiki. The Structured Educational Program. We call it SEP for short. It is really amazing and it’s helping a lot of people.

Wow thanks so much, I wasn't aware of the free class, this will definitely help me.

 

[Diana-M]

Wow thanks so much, I wasn't aware of the free class, this will definitely help me.

 

[ficus]

Hi all,

I am a 29 year old male, otherwise very healthy.

Around 2 years ago, I started to notice an electric shock down my arm (ulnar nerve) when performing an overhead press movement at the gym. I went to the doctor who recommended a physio who assisted me with this and it was resolved. The initial reaction was a typical hypochondriac reaction, once the issue was resolved I was all good. Then, I started to notice the shock sensation move to my radial and median nerves. Then my arms began going dead at night in my sleep. Then my legs starting buzzing. I read Dr John Sarno’s Mindbody Prescription and found these forums.

My symptoms:

• Numbness.
• Tingling/pins & needles.
• Vibrations. Feel like there is a phone vibrating in my pocket, but there is no phone..
• Burning soles of feet - go from hot to cold and from over-sensitive to numb and back and forth.
• Clothing sensitivity.
• Stinging sensations.
• Neuropathic itch - I get a spontaneous itch and then when I itch it, it produces electric-shock like sensations which radiate up the limb that I’m itching.
• Positional numbness - if I cross my legs, sit on the floor or if I lean on something, within a minute I feel the numbness/tingling/pins and needles coming on. Even just crossing my arms, the pins and needles will begin shortly after.
• Pallesthesia - Brushing my hand across certain fabrics will produce a vibrating in my hand for a few seconds following. Similarly, using a hair dryer, lawn mower, or something that vibrates will produce an effect that continues after ceasing use.
• Electric shocks/zaps when I touch or scratch certain parts of my arm/foot. Or if it comes into contact with a rough surface.

Other issues which I believe to be unrelated.

• Tinnitus (likely headphone use)
• Hypertonic (overactive) pelvic floor -> resulting in chronic prostatitis, testicular pain, etc.
• IBS

The last 2 I truly believe are a result of the stress response experienced from these nerve issues and pelvic floor therapy has more or less resolved them.

Issues which MAY have contributed:

• Was given Ciproflaxin for an infection of the prostate which I didn’t even have. It was my pelvic floor tightness.
• Had my gallbladder removed due to polyp a few months before symptoms appeared.
• Moved out of home, started a stressful job and cut off a toxic relationship.

I have had MRIs of the spine and head, nerve conduction studies, blood tests and so forth. All clear. The doctor says I am a physical specimen. My resting heart rate is in the 40's - which is that of an athlete. I have zero fatigue, in fact, I have excess energy. I am able to jump off the couch at 11PM and run a half marathon, no problem whatsoever. Most of my symptoms disappear only whilst exercising.

What screws with me most in the cyclical nature - one symptom replaces the other. At any given time, there is a handful of those symptoms I’ve listed above, then they will disappear and replaced with a random bunch. It’s never all at once. Just when I think one is gone and I can move on from the stress it's causing me, it is replaced by another. I understand Dr. Sarno covers this in his book. I experience no pain - yet.. and I pray to God it never progresses to that but if we’re being realistic, just like every other similar instance I’ve read about, it starts with sensory disturbances and progresses to pain.

I don’t really know where to go from here. I am familiar with Dr. John Sarno’s book and I believe what he preaches - but I'm not so sure it applies to neurological issues. I believe the tension and stress about the nerves caused my hypertonic pelvic floor, which resolved after I realised it wasn’t prostate cancer or something worse. But, still, I am having a hard time accepting the fact that the nerve issue is anything other than classic small fiber neuropathy destroying the receptors at the end of my nerves, which is producing these sensations.

I had big plans for life. I had a lot of ups and downs. I had a spontaneous pneumothorax which probably set off my health anxiety, then a few years later I got chronic Tinnitus. Shortly after resolving the Tinnitus, I had to get the gallbladder surgery. Finally! All of this behind me - time to look forward to life and health... And then of course came the onslaught of neurological symptoms.

I have completed a masters degree, I have a career, my own home over my head but I would trade all of that in a heart beat and live on the street eating out of bins just to be able to sit down without numbness, tingling, electric zaps, burning feet, etc.. I have seen 5 or 6 psychologists, I have tried Prozac, Lexapro, CBD Oil, Smoking marijuana, Valiums, etc. I sit with my girlfriend at dinner and all I can think about is the uncomfortable feeling of my jeans touching my quadriceps, driving me absolutely insane. Neurologist told me it’s all in my head, we don’t have a skin biopsy test in Oz and to move on and “Call us if anything changes”. How can “My head” dictate the fact that if I cross my legs they go completely numb? I look at literally all my friends enjoying life with no fears or ailments and I am filled with depression as a result. My family is sick of hearing it and I have nothing to talk about with them but this scenario which has plagued me for 2 years.

In Australia we do not have the means to test for small fiber neuropathy by the gold standard “skin biopsy” - we have a QST and QSART test which I am hoping to have done in December - thanks COVID lockdown. I have heard they are very unreliable. So, even when I do get them and if they come back OK, I'm not at all in the clear. Or if they don't come back OK, what can one really do for neuropathy? Just pain suppressants. I am not even experiencing pain yet and they're pushing Cymbalta, Lyrica, Gabapentin at me. Wtf?

I guess my question here is, has anyone overcome this sensory neuropathy using the methods outlined by Dr. John Sarno? There is nothing but doom and gloom when it comes to SFN. At least with Tinnitus, there were tons of success stories of people adapting and moving on. SFN is literally all doom, gloom, suffering.

If you made it this far - thanks for reading.

Hello - wanting to see now a few years on how you are going. ? Also living in the same place as you and know the testing is not done here to really confirm sfn - but looking for some hope as I feel in a hole a bit with all the symptoms. I went offline for some time and did so much mindbody work - but still it is there