Hi,
I am a female in her late 20s. A few weeks ago, I started experiencing some similar symptoms as your posts. Basically, it's left-sided arm and leg numbness, tingling, and slight pain/discomfort.

It started off as numbness and slight aching in my upper arm and wrist and numbness/tingling in my fingers--sounded a lot like carpal tunnel, except no involvement of the thumb or pointer finger. I was also experiencing pain/tightness behind my shoulder blades, mainly the left but a bit the right (since my early 20s, I've occasionally had similar left shoulder pain upon waking up after >8 hrs sleep). Additionally, I was having localized tightness in the sternum whenever I laid down. Then, 1-2 wks after all that started, I started having numbness and discomfort in the buttock and slightly in the hamstring, plus numbness & tingling in the left foot--sometimes the toes, sometimes on top of the foot. With the leg, I would feel it all day, but it seemed to worsen on sitting or bending the hip. Once in a while over the past couple yrs, I've had momentary shooting pain in the buttock, which I attributed to wearing heels. I've experienced this also a couple times in the last week or so. In the past couple yrs and recently, I can often feel something "click" with every step in the left hip and buttock if I place my hand there while walking.

I went to my doctor last Friday. She did a quick neurologic exam, which I passed, and noted that my upper left back muscles were really knotted. Under the initial hypothesis that my symptoms are due to upper and lower back muscle tightness, she prescribed 400 mg ibuprofen 2-3 times/day x 2 wks. I've been taking the ibuprofen since Friday. My tingling in the extremities and pain in the sternum seem to have gone away, but the numbness, discomfort, and slight pain in the upper arm, wrist, shoulder blade, and buttock have remained. All on the left side, and waxes/wanes but never fully disappears. Sometimes there is a deep ache which feels like it's in the bone. Right now, my left leg and arm just feel tired. I will try to go in for a massage this evening to see if that helps.

History: I am of normal weight, usually active but not recently--actually out of shape at present. Rather stressed from finishing grad school and starting a new job. Fair amount of computer work, but not exclusively. Not vegetarian, but struggle to get enough animal protein in my diet. Lyme antibody negative and normal sed rate last week. No history of car accidents or traumatic injury, other than cracking some floating ribs on the right side last fall (I wonder if the impact causing that could have messed my back up too, leading to pinched nerves).

Coincidentally, a co-worker told me a few days ago that she has been experiencing similar symptoms on her right side, over the same time period. We also independently noted all-over "skin aches" last spring. I doubt these symptoms are infectious in nature, however.

I am hoping this is just muscles compressing nerves, as my doctor thinks, but am very worried about other possibilies...MS, bone cancer, diabetes, disc problems. My doctor plans to do x-rays soon if the symptoms don't dissipate.

Thoughts? Advice? Thanks for reading my long message!!
Take care,
Melissa

hi-
I can't tell you what your problem is caused by, but I find it odd that while you've ruled out many serious ailments as the reason for your condition, and muscle tension seems to be the only recurrent theme here, that you wouldn't spend a little bit of money on a massage.

I think you are underestimating the benefits.

I had a totally different problem from yours, so feel free to dismiss my advice, but I avoided getting a massage for almost a year after I developed pain in my foot (which no doc could find a cause for). I avoided it for similar reason as you. then ,when I finally did go, the very next day after the first session, the pain was 95% gone.

I can't imagine that ~$70 or $100 or whatever would really put you in serious debt, and even if it would, I think it's worth a shot.
(I'm talking about a therapeutic massage by a therapist who specializes in sports injuries.)

muscle tension has been known to cause many problems for people. I don't know how long you've been a runner, but tension builds up and builds up when you do the same acivity for a while, especially if you've never had a real massage. tension like this doesn't go away on its own.

good luck!

I had something similar. It was a sudden tingling in the left leg that happened first at the top of a 10 mile bike ride up Mt Diablo. It was just as I got to the summit that my left leg tingled like "pins and needles". I walked it off and figured it was just something got pressured or pinched, maybe from the saddle. It was ok after a minute or 2. The last 200 yards are really steep and I was trying to stay in the saddle. Then it happened again a few weeks later while I was sitting in my office. I may have been scrunched up a little bit or something, I'm not sure. Maybe poor posture. But this time, it seemed to affect both the left leg and the left arm. The more I thought it might be a stroke, the more other things started tingling, like my face. I walked it off and it was ok, but came back again a few minutes later. I'm a 55 year old male and have been running and biking for 40 of those years and this is the first time I have had these symptoms. My flexibility is very poor and I'm guessing it has something to do with that. Any suggestions would be helpful.