For the past three days, I've had intermittant tingling on my nose and a little bit above my lip. I also have what I can only describe as a "tired" feeling in my face. I'm not tired, but I look like I am - kind of a squint to my eyes, a heavy feeling in my cheeks, etc. It's not debilitating or painful and I haven't lost feeling (tingling but not numb) or anything...just weird. Kind of like when you have that 3rd glass of wine and start to feel a little disconnected, but I'm not drinking. I don't have a cold or any allergy flare-ups. And because I'm thinking about it, I seem to have light pins and needles in my fingers and hands but I might just be imagining that.
Anyway...I called my doctor's office and they said that if I was still feeling weird to call back next week and they'll schedule an appointment. So I'm not worried...just wondering if anyone else has had this feeling and what it ended up being. Dr. Google tells me anything from a cold to a mineral deficiency to a tumor, stroke or MS but I seem to get roughly the same answers to every odd symptom I ever look up (you're having a heart attack, or you're fine LOL). Just wondering if anyone else has had this.
My mom had a sensation that bugs were walking across her forehead for a couple of weeks. She ended up with shingles. I hope it is not that. Feel better.
I was going to say Bells Palsy. Go to the doctor. After 72 hours, its time to get it checked.
Go to a better doctor than the office you called.
Look in the mirror. Smile. Is your smile lopsided? Is your speech affected in any way? If everything is fine then it's probably not a stroke. But if you happen to have a BP machine or are near a drug store with a BP machine then take your BP.
If you don't feel better tomorrow then go to a good doctor. These are significant symptoms and it's best not to ignore them.
I'm not sure if it is the same thing that I experience when I am coming down with a sinus infection. My nose will feel funny and the sinus pressure just makes me feel like closing my eyes and going to sleep.
If you have allergies you might be familiar with what I am talking about. If this sounds similar than try taking an antihistamine (allergy medication) and zinc.
Just had this happen to me - I had tingling on my nose, space between nose and lips, lips, and right side of face. I had a little bit droopy eye that watered, and I lost some control of my lips. It lasted for 2 weeks, but on the 3rd day I went to the doctor suspecting Bells Palsey and that is what it was. Google it and you can find out some interesting things about it. I think mine was stressed induced. It was totally gone by the 3rd week and I had taken steroids too to help it go away. I actually tried to do lots of face exercises to help it go away and I rubbed by face a lot to try to stimulate circulation. The doctor didn't tell me to do it and not sure if it helped it go away but I felt like i was helping myself anyway. Hope you feel better soon!
I have two quesses. One guess is that shingles is starting--maybe. It affects the nerve endings in the skin. I have known a lot of people who've had shingles in their later years (they had chicken pox as a child) that they seem to have it in their face/head, etc. Shingles commonly affects the skin from the abdomen down to the navel, vaginal tissues, and the inside of the mouth, although it can affect anywhere on the body. My mom broke out on her back when she had it. If you do break out with shingles in this area (the face/mouth/head), make sure it doesn't go near the eyes; if it does, you need to get to the doctor immediately. Not to be an alarmist, but the doctor will need to give you something so you don't go blind or have severe complications.
If you've had/contacted chicken pox as a child, the varicella-zoster virus, which is what causes chicken pox, lies dormant in your body and usually never causes any problems unless it is activated--as an adult, that activation usually happens because there is a weakening (temporary or permanent) of the immune system. An estimated 90% of adults who had chicken pox as children are at risk of developing shingles.
An attack of shingles is often preceeded by 3-4 days of chills, fever, and achy feelings, maybe pain in the affected area. Then tiny fluid-filled blisters surrounded by a red rim appear. Other symptoms can include numbness, fatigue, depression, tingling, shooting pains, swollen and painful lymph nodes, fever, and headache.
If shingles is caught in its early stages, using an antiviral like acyclovir (from a doctor) can help with the severity of the symptoms and help decrease the amount of time the shingles will run its course.
There are also lots and lots of nutritional ideas, supplements, and herbs that will help with the symptoms and help curb the time it takes to get better if you actually do have shingles. I find the book Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Fourth Edition, A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs, and Food Supplements by Phyllis A. Baluch, CNC to be an invaluable source of information and ways to naturally help oneself. I found my copy at Whole Foods.
A second guess would be Bell's palsy. Do those areas of the face feel numb at all? Bell's palsy is a result of damage to the 7th cranial nerve and is characterized by weakness and paralysis of one side of the face. 40,000 Americans develop Bell's palsy every year. The facial paralysis usually leads to an inability to close the eye on the affected side. Other symptoms: pain, tearing, drooling, hypersensitivity to sound in the affected ear, and even impairment in taste. Many cases of Bell's palsy are believed to be caused by viruses, especially those in the herpes family such as the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores and canker sores. You can find nutritional support for Bell's palsy in the book I've mentioned above.
And, of course, it could be neither of these and you could be fighting off a cold.
Good luck!
sort of sounds like my sinus infections...although could be shingles (and you're never too young for shingles -- my cousin had 'em 2x -- once when she 29 and then when she was 60)....Go to your doctor, a different doc, or to an urgent care/walkin ....hope you feel better soon
This could be SO many things, and at least a few of them could be serious. The easiest, and least likely to cause ongoing problems, is an irritation to a nerve from pressure (do you ever sleep on your face/cheek?).
But my husband has had Bell's Palsy, which he described very much like your symptoms as it was setting in. He had a sever case that completely paralyzed one side of his face for a few months (he gradually came almost back to normal). But he complained about his face feeling "tired" during onset, which in his case took only a few hours.
One other possibility is called claudication. It's apparently largely inflammatory, and can strike other body areas as well. My sensation is of a certain muscle group "hitting the wall," very suddenly experiencing total exhaustion, or nearly total, to muscles in face, arms/hands, or legs. In my case, this is apparently connected to diabetic nerve injury (I was probably diabetic for several years before I knew about it). It's considered to be a rheumatic disorder.
Chances are that you'll be okay if it hasn't gotten any worse over 3 days. But you're taking chances if you wait and see. If you can get to a doctor, probably a good idea. Could be shingles, mild stroke, toxicity to something in your environment…
Wishing you the best.
My first thought (which has been mentioned already) was Bell's Palsy. I had it right after I had my first dd. But it came on acutely and strong, paralyzed half my face, and was mostly gone in a matter of weeks. Maybe it can occur slower and less acutely?
For three days, I would go to the doctor. Are you using a new "age defying" moisturizer? Some of those make my face numb. I have a friend who gets facial paralysis with pregnancy. I'm not sure of the name, maybe Bell's Palsy? Are you taking any new meds? If so, read through the side effects list again.
A very good lifelong friend described a very similar feeling to the onset of her Bell's Palsy, which lasted two years and then went away.
It could be a food allergy or any other number of things. Do you take a daily multi-vitamin? Do you eat a varied diet? Do you drink enough water?
Keep a journal of your symptoms and when you notice them the most. Make the journal very detailed, as detailed as you can possibly make it. That will help when you talk to the doctor so that you don't have to rely on your memory and possibly forget anything.
My thought is Bell's Palsy. I had the same symptoms a little over a year ago, my son had had it a couple of months earlier. We presented a little differently, his seemed more severe sooner. What I read was to try and smile and if your smile looked crooked it was a good sign of needing to be seen, to get to the doctor or ER, as the meds needed to be started in a couple of days or so. It wasn't crooked that afternoon or evening but first thing in the morning it was so I went to the ER, I was put on Prednisone and an anti-viral. It may be too late to start the meds but they can give you facial exercises to help as physical therapy, and know that some people heal completely with no meds or exercises at all, my Mom did about 10 years ago :)
I get that when I eat MSG in chinese food because I am allergic to it. I also feel that way when my blood pressure is really low. I would check blood pressure (I bought one of those Omron home bloodpressure machines at CVS) and check to see if it is low (or perhaps this feeling comes with high BP as well?).
Go see a doctor.
This will sound totally "out there" and I certainly am not sharing it to make you paranoid or anything, but I came across a page online the other day dedicated to people dealing with allergic reactions to titanium. I think it might have come from a link from a response on this board about earring/metal allergies.
Anyway, lots of people, apparently, have reactions to titanium, which is supposed to be impossible to have an allergy to. But upon further reading it isn't a pure metal they implant in surgery. It is an alloy mixed with other things, sometimes nickel (which lots of people are allergic to).
So, with that in mind, have you had any recent devices implanted? I found the information interesting because my husband had a dental implant a couple years ago and they use titanium to fuse into the jaw bone. He hasn't had any problems, but apparently there are a rare few who do and it isn't widely acknowledged in the medical community.
Other than that, when I took prednisone for a foot issue a few months ago, I had some weird stuff go on with my body. Partial numbness/tingling in my left hand was one of them. It went away within a week or so of being off the medication.
I know that one person's similar symptoms do not a diagnosis make, but here goes anyway. One of my friends had symptoms like yours (tingling and numbness in face and extremities, feeling of disconnection), and it turned out she had sleep apnea, which was causing peripheral neuropathy. Do you wake up feeling unrested? Do you wake up with a sore throat frequently? Do you snore? Do you find yourself suddenly awake in the middle of the night without knowing why? If any of that sounds like you, it might be time to talk to your doc about a sleep evaluation.
The good news is that once she got treated for apnea (she now uses a C-pap machine) the neuropathy symptoms vanished completely.
I have a migraine disorder that does that, I also have nerve flare ups from shingles(you can get it without the rash). I have been trying to power through it, as I cannot afford the bloodwork so I can get put on medication for the pain.
If it is causing you stress and discomfort, talk to the doctors office again(as if it IS shingles, it will get worse over the week. My Uncle's doctor is in the process of firing his whole staff for ignoring my Uncle's calls(he has a rather bad case of shingles and is on steroids in addition to pain medication, which he is really not liking).
My migraines got so bad, it mimicked a stroke(enough to scare my brother into dragging me into the doctors office and muscling his way past the receptionists, right to a nurse to have me looked at. Our family doc saw me, grabbed a sample prescription, and stuck me in a dark room to let it take effect.). He applauded him for not letting me wait it out, as second-guessing it is never a good thing.
Just try to relax, and call the doctor later, and insist on an appointment ASAP. relaxing and reducing stress is the best thing you can do right now.
Take care Mama!
