Help - strange sensations - tingling and cold feelings

[greenflower]

Can somebody PLEASE tell me they know what I am going through....

I had my daughter 9 weeks ago and also have a 2 year old son.

I am very stressed out and finding it particularly difficult to keep my patience with my son. I am feeling very scared and the future seems a bit bleak.

To make matters worse I have developed strange sensations, like drops of cold water hitting me - this happens all over my body. I also find that cold things feel wet, and I have to keep checking things aren't damp.

The doctor thinks this is peripheral neuropathy - but none of the websites mention the cold/damp sensations.

I am going out of my mind worrying, so please - NO suggestions of MS/parkinsons/chronic degeneraive conditions as that is exactly what I using all my energy NOT to think of.

Just want somebody to tell me they've heard of this before, instead of saying 'that's weird'...

I get this too and it started just after I had ds. I went to the GP and she said that it was some form of neuralgia (sp?). Initially I just had the tingling sensation on my back I asked the GP if it was anything to do with the Epidural but she said definitely not. The damp feelings started about 1 year after I had ds, I keep thinking I have a hole in my shoe as my feet feel wet. It is very strange .

Oh no! I have just googled peripheral neuropathy and I am scared now!

It is VERY wierd. If I was in a happy frame of mind, I would probably shrug it off, but it just frightens me at the moment.

Every time I change DDs nappy I think it has leaked onto her babygro, and have to get someone else to tell me whether it really is wet. Also, when I get out of bed in the night, I think I can feel a drip running down my calves, but it is just cool air. I'm wondering if it's nerve damage caused by some kind of vitamin deficiency as I had bad morning sickness so this time last year ate practically nothing for three months.

Thanks for your post

By the way, did these sensations come and go, or have they been there non-stop since they first appeared? Also, were you particularly stressed out at the time?

I think I have this too - certainly the wet foot feeling is very very familiar to me!
I often take my shoe off and expect a wet sock, but nada, all is dry

I also get teh feeling a stray hair is brushing my cheek even though I have tied my hair back and when I check in the mirror there is nothing there! I often ask dh 'is there a hair in my eye/ear/face. The answer is always no!

I also sometimes get icy cold patches on my legs, specifically the inside of my thighs. Despite being in warm clothes, indoors, and the rest of me feeling nice adn warm...

I have not gone to the doctors with this, I just put it down to 'one of those things'...

I am so sorry!

You have made me feel better, and I have made you feel worse.

Stop googling!!!!

My symptoms come and go, I wasn't particularly stressed after I had ds but I have had a very stressful few years, a family bereavement and my mum and sister were both seriously ill. My nutrition is not as good as it was before I had ds, I think it is time for me to get on top of my diet now! Another weird thing that I have which I hadn't linked to the other symptoms before is in the mornings sometimes I feel my nipple is leaking, I had been worrying myself about breast cancer but there is no sign of discharge so maybe it is linked to this too.

On the upside it is only recently that my symptoms have reappeared they did disappear for over a year.

I think stress is responsible for a lot of things. The body seems so complicated that doctors only know about a small percentage of things. Sometimes it is impossible even to describe the symptoms so there is no hope of a diagnosis.

OMG, yes, I get the leaking nipple sensation too - but in the evenings. My youngest is now 6, so no chance of leakings breasts anymore!
I also often get the sensation there is something crawling around deep in my ear, even had a doctor look down them, nothing in there.
This is getting freaky...
I have always put these symptoms down to tiredness, stress, anxiety.

Well at least we know we are not alone!

Just wanted to say that I went through a year of these symptoms and I was convinced I had multiple sclerosis or worse. In the end I read about a woman who had experienced the same things and worked out that it had something to do with her pill - I was on Dianette on the time. I came off the pill and the symptoms went. Never had the same on any other pill, just that one.

ah, am not on the pill, so that theory is out for me.

greenflower - what you are describing is down to anxiety, i have had it all - the thingling, pins and needles the lot, cold feelings you name it - i was suffering from PND and severe anxiety. I had tied myself up in absolute knots that it was MS, went to the doctors, before i even sat down she told me that it wasn't MS and by the time i left the surgery she was convinced there was no neurological defects - miracle cure!! I will probably get tingly fingers now after reading this - its anxiety. Google anxiety - i think you will find all those things in a list of symptoms. Anxiety can produce real physical symptoms, it is very powerful.

From what you tell me you really do sound like you have PND, don't leave it, go and see your doctor again, see about getting some help - mine was missed for two years and i ended up in a right state!

I am so grateful to everyone for replying.

I am not on the pill either, but then, I'm sure there are a lot of powerful hormones involved in the breastfeeding process which could be playing a part.

Also - had the results of a bloodtest back and my iron is low. Doctor says this can be a cause of these symptoms, so next stage is to take iron supplements and see if there is any improvement over next two to three weeks.

Symptoms have got worse today - lots of tingling all over like needles, but I'm happier after seeing doc. He also said it was highly unlikely that MS would present symetrically like this...

I have suffered badly from anxiety in the past, but not for around 7 years. I know how awful it is and how it seems very physical at the time, but these symptoms seem different. LucyEllensmummy - when you say anxiety gave you tingling, was it as a result of hyperventilating, or did it come on when you were breathing normally?

I recognise that I am depressed but not enough to want to go down the medication road. One GP I spoke to said he thought that all mothers experienced PND to some degree - it was not whether you had it, but how severely, and this obviously impacts on physical health too. Seems strange to think that nature has designed us to suffer this at the time when we need all our strength.

grrenflower - lots of people who hyperventilate with anxiety type symptoms don't know they're doing it - no heavy breathing or gasping or panicked breathing - just regularly overbreathing.

So you never know there may be an issue with you there too?

If there was an element of hyperventilation I would imagine it would never be there when you get up in the night for loo/baby etc as being asleep would re-regulate the breathing and disordered breathing would only happen when awake.

it wasn't as a result of hyperventilating, it was either all the time, or it came and went - had it in my hands (put that down to RSI), face and legs.

You don't have to go down the medication route, i had long term issues with anxiety but the PND made it worse. I am still on ADs and would rather not be (two years now). But i think it is good to recognise that you could have PND and ask for some counselling maybe? To give you strategies to cope with all the unwanted thoughts. You don't have to have drugs, indeed for some people these are counterproductive. I know a woman who managed her PND herself with good diet, St Johns wort (check about this though - i think it can give you tingling sensations - incidentally, do you take any B vitamins?) The thing with anxiety is it can be self perpetuating. I had palpitations about a year before DD was born. I of course thought i was going to die, i had to have a 24 ecg trace. When i was rigged up for it, the nurse said "these are a miracle cure you know - when the results come back as nothing serious, people tend to stop having (or noticing) the palpitations". Mine went. I have had a horribly stressful weekend, had some horrid palpitations, a full on panic attack and felt physically sick. No tingling - um, until just now when i started posting on this thread

greenflower i had periph. neurop with mild anaemia and low iron stores.My toes were numb and ny fingertips also.It got better when iron and anaemia corrected.
The cause of my anaemia was c.section/childbirth.
Don't worry!
Doc has prob done it but check throid function.

I wondered how long it took for others breasts to return to normal? Stopped expressing 2 months ago and still get odd tingling sensation and leaking milk VERY occasionally. Obviously always convinced that there is something more sinister but I always suspect everything is terrible and usually very simple explanation:) Wish I could stop worrying about everything..brain works overtime sometimes.

I am hypothyroid and my iron levels are low and I have been suffering with tingling/ pins and needles in my hands and feet too.
I have seen physio who has dismissed ms and have upped my iron and thyroxine, I have been taking new tabs for just over a week and am already noticing a change in the severity of pins and needs. Get going on the spatone/floradix/iron tabs and see if you feel any better ;)

Hi I have had this for a couple of years, its horrible, I also feel if someone is touching me with ice cubes. I also experience crawling sensations. I believe the name for it is called formication, and is common in menopause and a range of other endocrine conditons or hormone withdrawal. I believe mine is due to fluctuating hormone levels, I have been breastfeeding for a couple or years or maybe I am just perimenopausal. Get your endocrine system checked.

My son is 3.5 years old and I also experience similar sensation of the feeling of water running down my leg. I also had an epidural with an 36 hour labor. I have been to my regular doctor, chiropractor, PT, have had ex-rays and and MRI on my spine (all normal) and they still don't have answers for me besides keep up PT. Have you figured this out? Google told me it's Arachnoiditis which can be caused by epidural. Have you received any answers if this goes away on it's own or gets worse?

I had symptoms resembling peripheral nerve damage, bad enough that I was referred to a neurologist and to an MRI. This happened twice 10 years apart and yes, both times, all due to extreme stress.

Hey, I’m going through the same symptoms. Did you find out what was wrong and are you better?

I had a baby 12 weeks ago normal delivery with epidural 5 weeks post partum I had back pain and 2 days after I woke up to feed my baby with wet cold sensations almost like when you eat a mint, down my neck spine buttocks arms head thighs and really cold feet. Sometimes it feels like it’s damp on my shoulders too. I’ve had MRI’s on my whole spine and brain and blood work and all are normal. I wake up with muscle aches like I’ve ran a marathon. I’m stuck being anxious and stressed about this, feels like I have something seriously wrong with me. Help?

I had similar symptoms of tingling and cold water being poured in my head as well as increased anxiety - turned out I was hypothyroid.