Hi all.

I've have been having some symptoms, such as tiredness and aching in leg muscles. The main symptom is that the right side of my face (top lip, palate and tip of nose) has been feeling numb since about last June. It's not something that's gone into remission and although there's no palsy, it's bloomin' annoying.

Had a head MRI in Aug- no lesions, and all bloods OK with slightly elevated bilirubin level (whatever that means?). Went to see a neurologist who def said NO! MS. I asked her how she could diagnose that just by using a few pinprick and basic balance tests. She asked if I was stressed and I said no. She didn't order any more tests.

Went to see an ENT specialist last week as I'm having difficulty swallowing because of the numbness on my right side. He put a camera up my nose to chack my sinuses, which were ok. He didn't think that there was anything serious wrong and put it down to something post-viral which has damaged the trigeminal nerve.
He's ordered me a CAT scan and I had to have a blood test to check my calcium levels.

My questions are:
The sensory feeling of numbness on one side of my face hasn't changed for a long time, but would anything show up on an MRI?
Also, has anyone had a CAT scan after an MRI and did it show up anything?

I'd like to get a spine/head MRI (on the NHS this time) but as I had a negative one in Aug, do I have to wait for a while before my GP will order a new ones?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

If you haven't figured out what is wrong with you yet, it is a long shot, but you might look up the symptoms for Tolosa-Hunt Syndrome. I had the facial numbness, along with some of the other symptoms, and that's the diagnosis I I ended up with after about six months. They tend to diagnose by process of elimination, although my neurosurgeon mentioned it was a possibility pretty much from the beginning. Nothing shows up on CAT scans or MRI scans so they do all the tests to rule out tumors, aneurisms, etc. and go from there to treat what they can. Good luck.

I posted earlier with left face and head numbness so I'll tell you what I've found out so far. No. one the ENT said what I had was not numbness put PARASTHESIAS....My face, one side, is not so much numb as has a tight feeling. Just like you cut my head in half. From my forehead to my chin and behind the ear. I just had a CT scan and my sinus's were clear and no sign of tumors. I'm off to an Neurologest for an MRI. The tests are different and will show different things. The MRI is better for brain tissue. I have NO pain. This started after some sort of a viral infection which was misdiagnosed as Broncitis. I had a lot of fatigue and little else. Some congestion but not many more symptoms. Just fatigue and then the parasthesis hit. It's been three months and from all my reading I think I have a nerve irritation caused from a virus. It's effecting the trigiminal nerve and hopefull will go away eventually. It's more pronounced and feels worse when my heart rate is elevated as in exercise. I get a bit of a headache but nothing one Tylanol won't cure. It may just be a fluke. I also went to the dentist and had an extensive exam of teeth, jaw and roots of teeth....Good luck...My husband says I'm a half wit. :jester:

You might want to see a neurosurgeon and see if he/she has any ideas, it could be brain or it could be spine. Spine probs can cause all kinds of numbness and tingling, but I know brain stuff can too and neurosugeons deal with a lot of that and might be able to direct you.

Wait! I just remembered, I had an MRA of the Carotid Arteries done recently because of facial numbness just as a precaution.. to rule out if something was wrong with my carotid arteries... if you have carotid dissection going on it could be prelimary for some very serious problems like stroke (i think)... maybe see about haveing that checked out too.

Im also haveing these probloms im a 23 male
For the past 5 days my neck and whole right side of my face has been numb there is no pain just numbness and tightness and it makes it difficult to swallow ??? i dont understand i dont know if iv strained it an its causing this? of if i damaged a nerve? or what? but its very scary! and frustrating i cant feel myself swallow on that side and when i move my jaw its like its very stiff and numb on the whole side if my face im also lightheaded and dizzy when i bend my head side to side And i feel like im in a fog or a dream or something im very out of it all day i dont know what this could be i know iv been to the docs before for this a long time ago but it was not as bad and they said it was nothing they ran test and everything so I have no clue what this could be ?? I know I lifted something heavey about 4 days ago and after that all this started happening so that could be what it is but still i dont know how to treat it? i dont have any pain at all just severe numbness in the whole right side of my face,neck,ear,jaw,throat,nose and head along with lightheadedness and dizziness and hard to swallow!?????....Somebody please tell me what this could be?

i really do think the both of you should really get a c spine MRI done.generally whenever they do an MRI of the brain,they tend to also get part of the c spine as well,but no real in depth study is actually done.nothing would be noted unless it was a very obvious type of issue.it wouldn't get into the cord area at all.i have had facial parethesias ever since i suffered an SCI from a spinal cord surgery that was done to remove a glob of blood vessels from within my cord.the most significant damage was done at around the c 8 nerve level.the thing is,you do have some cranial nerves that start in the head area and then go down into the c spine and then loop back up into the head again.this is what makes it possible to suffer facial symptoms from a c spine problem.there is kind of a 'junction' around the c7 t1 area(it varies a bit from person to person but still in that general area)where the SNS crosses over and a few other nerves all come together.this area could be the suspected area there for you too.a contrasted MRI would at least let you know either way if something is not right there,which could be many many possibilities.your c spines should just really be fully evaluated.this is what i would do at this point anyway.i wish you both luck with this.please keep us posted as to what you find out.marcia