Pins And Needles In Body, Pain In Chest, Neck. On Minocycline Medication. Low Vitamin D Detected. Pain Management?

Posted on Sat, 16 Jun 2012

Question: For over 10 days now, I have been getting feelings of pins and needles throughout my body and now in addition I am getting severe pain in my chest, neck, face and arms. Almost like I am sunburned and I can't let anything touch my body. I am a 41 year old female that has worked out for 22 years and am 5'8 and 121 lbs. On Oct. 16th I stopped Minocycline after 13 years. Could this be related or not. I did taper myself off of it. I went cold XXXXXXX off of it after I found out I was pregnant twice, and had zero issues with it 5 years ago and 3 years ago respective to the pregnancy. I just had a CBC done, SED RATE, FANA, a B12, B6 and Vitatmin D blood test done. The only thing I was low on was the Vitamin D. I am a vegetarian. I recently was on a Medrol Dose pack for a terrible URI. I finished that on Nov., 19th. It seems to progress at night, with the symptoms and burning and tingling situation. Its better in the a.m and as the day works it way, it gets worse. Am I missing some underlying entrance into a diesease that I should be focussing on. I just read some really negative things on Minocycline and long term years of use. It said that it can make the body confused because it was use to fighting other infections, like acne and now the body is getting mixed signals. I am to have a Chest, Stomach and Pelvis CAT scan on Tuesday the 29th. Am I missing something here or should I be focusing on another issue

Answered by Dr. Rohit Batra (4 hours later)

Hi,

Thanks for your query.

The complaints of pins and needles in upper torso or for that matter at any part of the body might occur due to a drug side effect, decreased Vit-b12 levels or any nervous system problem.
Shingles as suggested by you do give a similar picture in initial days and after the pustules and vesicles have subsided. But the characteristic lesion of shingles is restricted to one dermatome- i.e. it never crosses the midline and is confined to a small area of the body.

Going by your history, shingles is ruled out as the extent of involved area is bilateral and extensive.

Vitamin B12 levels are normal and hence the problem seems to be a result of an adverse effect of a drug which you took in the recent past or a neurological condition.

So the next step would be is to consult a neurologist who can evaluate for neurological conditions. Meanwhile simple measures like local application of calamine lotion and antihistaminic which you are already taking should give you relief.

Hope I have answered your query. Please accept my answer in case you do not have further queries.

Regards
Dr.Rohit Batra

Note: Hope the answers resolves your concerns, however for further guidance of skin related queries consult our Dermatologist.Click here to book a consultation

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad