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What Causes Muscle Weakness Along With Numbness In The Arms And Legs?
patient, 35 year old male comes to the clinic complaining of muscle weakness in his face and numbness in his arms and legs. He denies being sick, stating the last time he felt ill was 4 weeks ago when he contracted food poisoning. He also states he has back pain, but attributes this to his occupation, which is that of a carpenter. His body temp is 37 degrees C, his pallor is normal, his last bowel movement was that morning, and his diet an fluid intake are appropriate. The only striking thing about his examination was his reflexes where sluggish or absent in both his arms and his legs
Mon, 30 Jan 2017
Hello,
I read your message and understood your problem.
Before I conclude my opinion I would like to know what kind of poison did the patient contracted. What kind of food was it? which was the suspected toxin and how the case was managed?
Food poisoning may happen due to bacteria, viruses, natural toxins, parasites, molds, chemicals, pesticides and many other causes. It is important to distinguish the exact nature of the causative toxin and how it affects the body.
Some poisons affect the nervous system more than the other parts of the body. Sometimes these effects are long-lasting leading to nervous deficiencies even after the intoxication has been resolved. In this case, if it proved that the toxin is the exact cause of the muscle weakness and numbness of extremities, usually the only thing needed is to wait some time till the metabolites of the toxins get eliminated from the body.
If the toxin has been too dangerous and has potential to cause permanent damage to the nervous system than the situation needs to be monitored closely and further investigation is needed. The exact localization of the lesion is very important to plan the further treatment.
Numbness of the legs maybe is due to lumbar spine compression or disc degeneration which is related to the patient's occupation (he is a carpenter). Numbness of the arms and weakness of the face muscles at the same time do not look to be related to each other.
Troubles with the cranial nerves that are responsible for the face muscles can be one cause. A full neurological examination of cranial nerves (especially trigeminal and facial nerves) is needed.
Also, taking into account the age of the patient (35) Guillain-Barre syndrome. In this condition, symptoms develop and progress fast within days and they follow a recent disease.
My advice is to follow further investigation(if they are not done): ECG, EMG, nerve conduction velocity test, spinal tap and even pulmonary function tests need to be done.
In the end, I would like to add that maybe the cause is laid in the muscle functions. The patient maybe is exposed to something or has another chronic disease yet unknown which causes this symptom for the first time.
I hope this was helpful for you and please if you can send me all the medical papers you have and some more details about the intoxication 4 weeks ago.
Wish fast recovery.
Dr.Albana
I read your message and understood your problem.
Before I conclude my opinion I would like to know what kind of poison did the patient contracted. What kind of food was it? which was the suspected toxin and how the case was managed?
Food poisoning may happen due to bacteria, viruses, natural toxins, parasites, molds, chemicals, pesticides and many other causes. It is important to distinguish the exact nature of the causative toxin and how it affects the body.
Some poisons affect the nervous system more than the other parts of the body. Sometimes these effects are long-lasting leading to nervous deficiencies even after the intoxication has been resolved. In this case, if it proved that the toxin is the exact cause of the muscle weakness and numbness of extremities, usually the only thing needed is to wait some time till the metabolites of the toxins get eliminated from the body.
If the toxin has been too dangerous and has potential to cause permanent damage to the nervous system than the situation needs to be monitored closely and further investigation is needed. The exact localization of the lesion is very important to plan the further treatment.
Numbness of the legs maybe is due to lumbar spine compression or disc degeneration which is related to the patient's occupation (he is a carpenter). Numbness of the arms and weakness of the face muscles at the same time do not look to be related to each other.
Troubles with the cranial nerves that are responsible for the face muscles can be one cause. A full neurological examination of cranial nerves (especially trigeminal and facial nerves) is needed.
Also, taking into account the age of the patient (35) Guillain-Barre syndrome. In this condition, symptoms develop and progress fast within days and they follow a recent disease.
My advice is to follow further investigation(if they are not done): ECG, EMG, nerve conduction velocity test, spinal tap and even pulmonary function tests need to be done.
In the end, I would like to add that maybe the cause is laid in the muscle functions. The patient maybe is exposed to something or has another chronic disease yet unknown which causes this symptom for the first time.
I hope this was helpful for you and please if you can send me all the medical papers you have and some more details about the intoxication 4 weeks ago.
Wish fast recovery.
Dr.Albana
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