numb face - why?

[sleepy237]

My face on left side around chin and mouth and cheek has gone numb again for about the 50th time. This was one of my earliest symptoms and one that made me call out of hours so many times. Two out of hours doctors mentioned MS, but both my GP and Psychiatrist told me I DO NOT have MS. They must have X RAY vision I guess. So again I sit here with numbness and feeling slightly off balance waiting for it to pass, and hoping it doesn't get worse. I jumped out the MRI machine a couple of years ago so I would need rerefferal to neurology. In the meantime is numbness part of this dreaded illness?

 

[Wonko]

no idea what it is but i get it in the area's you mention + up past the temple and occasionally on part of forehead - it comes and goes - hangs around for a few months and then disappears for a few - very distracting - no visual indication of a problem just numb - however it's recent in my case - last 4 years (had ME for 25)

 

[Dainty]

To the best of my knowledge, numbness is not part of this disease, aside from the normal things of if circulation is hindered then an appendage falling asleep.

I think you will find this link helpful, a doctor's answer to someone with a similar symptom long-term.

 

[CBS]

I used to get numbness all of the time on the lower right side of my face, just as you describe: chin, jaw and lower cheek. It may be your trigeminal nerve. It's a form of palsy. I've actually lost all muscle tone on the lower side of mt face for a couple days. These symptoms have cleared up (along with many others - ie. stabbing headaches, ear pain on that same side, etc.) since I started treating my HSV-1 co-infection with anti-viral meds. HSV-1 infects the trigeminal nerve. Hope this helps.

 

[sleepy237]

Facial numbess is common in FM. Several structures including the head (scalp and brain), neck, TMJ, and facial/jaw muscles all have nerve branches to the face that can lead to pain, numbness, and altered sensations (called dysesthesias).

 

[Mithriel]

Cranial palsy is one of the symptoms mentioned in descriptions of the ME epidemics in the fifties.

Mithriel

 

[richvank]

Hi, sleepy and the group.

I think it would be worthwhile to consider vitamin B12 and/or folate deficiency or functional deficiency. This can impact the nervous system, and there is good evidence now that a partial block in the methylation cycle, which involves functional problems wthe B12 and folate, is present in most cases of CFS that have been tested using the methylation pathways panel from Health Diagnostics and Research Institute, formerly Vitamin Diagnostics, Inc. For more information on the Glutathione Depletion--Methylation Cycle Block hypothesis for CFS and the treatment based on it, see www.cfsresearch.org Click on CFS/M.E. and then on my name.

Best regards,

Rich

 

[Levi]

Bell's Palsy

A common CFS/ME symptom. Probably will come and go, but diminish over time. Somewhat annoying symptom, particularly if you start drooling out of the corner of your mouth. Good luck.

My face on left side around chin and mouth and cheek has gone numb again for about the 50th time.

 

[Athene]

I've been reading up a lot about Lyme diseae lately and numb face/palsy is a very common symptom of Lyme, apparently. I'm pretty sure it's not mentioned in the Canadian criteria for CFS, even though the symptoms of the two illnesses are so similar. So I would look into getting a good Lyme test if I were you.

As you're in the UK, I think your best bet is the centrum Borreliose Augsburg in Germany. In England they'll just do an Elisa test and tell you it's negative and that anyway Lyme disease doesn't really exist.