# Pins and Needles and Bubbling Sensations in 6 year Old



## CarricksMom (Feb 15, 2007)

I hope someone can help me figure out what is going on with DS. He is having random stinging, pins and needles sensations all over his body. They started out maybe 10-20 per day a few months ago and now they are literally every few seconds. Sometimes he also has bubble sensations and once in a while he says he feels a cool sensation. There is no rhyme or reason to the pains. Can occur anywhere and at any time. His GP said she did not have enough info to go on. I new we had to do something so I thought it could be related to nerves, so I got a referral to a neurologist. She did an exam in her office and said he seemed fine to her. She did blood tests for celiac, thyroid, vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and iron. She said his ferritin level (blood stores - different than amount of iron in the blood from what I understand ?) was low. It was 22 and they like to see it above 50. He has been on an iron supplement (Floradix - about 45 mg per day) for about 10 days and I see no difference. Dr. said it could take 2 weeks, but I honestly don't think that is the problem because he has no other low iron symptoms (not tired, pale, etc.)

Has anyone else had this type of problem? I really don't think he is making this up, it is too random and he has never been they type of child to make things up like this.

I am so sad that he is hurting all the time and so lost as to what to do next  Thanks in advance for any advice!


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## BellinghamCrunchie (Sep 7, 2005)

Low B12 would have been my first guess.

Is there any chance he is being exposed to low levels of pesticides, lead, fertilizers, or other contaminants in his environment? I know pesticides and some fertilizers can cause neurological effects like this. Did it get worse or better over the summer (if there was a change, it might indicate that environment is the cause since he is presumably not in school for the summer)? Do you use a ceramic milk or juice pitcher? Is he the youngest in the family (children show symptoms before adults usually if there are environmental contaminants)?


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## CarricksMom (Feb 15, 2007)

Yeah, I was sort of thinking B12 too, but I guess not according to his blood test. The Floradix has B12, so even if the blood test is wrong, he is getting some 

We eat mostly organic foods and I don't know of any other pesticides. Our neighbors are not as "green" as we are, so I'm sure they sometimes use pesticides, but he rarely goes in their yard. Wonder how close he would have to go to be affected by that? We are homeschooling so no change there. It did start in the summer though. Will think about anything that we started doing differently. I did think about lead, but our house is pretty new (2003) so don' t think that would be an issue. Still trying to think if there is anywhere else he could have been exposed to it.

No ceramic that I can think of, will think more about that, too.

He is an only child, so yes the youngest in the family! Thanks for the ideas. Maybe I'll ask the Dr. about tests for lead and other chemicals in his blood. We try to be so careful with things like that, but sometimes there are things that are out of your control.


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## BellinghamCrunchie (Sep 7, 2005)

If its an environmental toxin my guess is that its not an ordinary one; in an ordinary place that you would commonly think of, given his symptoms. I don't even know how you'd test for something like that. I mean, it could be that the previous land use involved something with chemicals; something you might not think of, like was in the path of runoff from some asbestos plant in the 70s or something and now there's soil contamination. Or a previous owner spilled a gallon of fertilizer on the spot where the sandbox is.

It sounds like the symptoms are slowly worsening but if there is an on-going exposure to an environmental toxin I would think you would start to see additional symptoms, such as muscle pain, seizures, headaches, eye pain, blurred or dim vision, numbness or tingling in hands or feet, nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, tissue swelling, anxiety, irritability, angry outbursts, disturbed sleep, learning disabilities, fatigue, dizziness, unexplained fever, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood pressure... so with nothing else showing up it would seem an environmental toxin is unlikely. But still.

You can research previous land use online. I used to have to do that for our HUD-based programs. I can't find the links; they were actually pretty hard to find but with some effort you might be able to find out what was on and around your property back 50 years. The biggest thing we had to make sure of was that there were no buried tanks (e.g. old gas station; farmland; etc). If you have money to spare you could have an engineering company do a Phase One ESA with mold, asbestos (soil), and lead (soil) addendums. The Phase One includes extensive previous land use, including surrounding acres; our Phase One cost $4k.

Celiac can sometimes cause these symptoms. Oh I see you already tested.

MS can cause pins and needles sensations.

I'm sure Dr. Google causes more stress than benefit . I'll stop.

Anyway in the blood tests did they check for inflammation? When my DD was having a great deal of insomnia they did a battery of tests including WBC and inflammation, as well as iron, b12, and lead.


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## Ethelpea (Mar 3, 2010)

Pinched/entrapped nerve(s) somewhere in his body?

That is my only guess. You said you saw a neurologist so that's probably not it.


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## CarricksMom (Feb 15, 2007)

I don't think they checked for inflammation or WBC (is that white blood cells?)

Our land was partially a tree farm many years ago, but seems like any chemicals used would have been gone by now.

Could a pinched nerve cause random/all over body pain? Or would it just affect the area that the nerve is pinched in?


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## BellinghamCrunchie (Sep 7, 2005)

It's possible that if they used chemicals there could have been a spill and there are still chemicals present. I do think environmental toxins are a long shot, but still a possibility.

I'm surprised that they didn't check for inflammation and infection with the blood tests. Such a simple, yet obvious, and not very expensive, first choice for rule-outs when dealing with an unknown condition. At least that is how it seems to me. I mean, I could see not doing it if you weren't doing ANY blood tests because of the trauma of drawing blood for a child, but since you're taking blood for iron and b12 anyway, why in the world wouldn't the doctor test for those things.

I agree that a pinched nerve would only affect a portion of the body.

Is the neurologist saying its not neurological? If the neurologist is done, then I guess next step would be endocrinologist.


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