| Touching cold things or drinking cause pins/needles sensation
Hello. I am 23, male and need help. I can't find answers on any board or from my doctors. While reading this, please note that I use the word "numb" but the sensation I feel is definitely not "numbness." It's more like pins/needles, like when your leg is asleep, or like being midly electrocuted. A better way to describe it would be to say that my nerves feel over-stimulated, instead of under-stimulated (numb). I use the word numb for simplicity's sake.
I have never had any nerve problems, injuries or diseases. A few years ago, I had a frenectomy (minor surgery). The numbness from the novacaine (anesthetic) lasted about two weeks. After that, I've never had any other "nerve" problems.
I went to the dentist last year. I did not want novacaine again, so he gave me nitrous oxide. It made my entire body numb for too long, the next day I went back to him. He didn't know what caused it, saying this is unheard of in healthy people, and told me to take vitamin B12. I don't know if the B12 helped or not, but I slowly came back to normal after about three weeks.
Everything was good for a few months. Then I woke up and my entire body was numb again (I had not consumed any drugs). Went to my doctor, blood work came back fine. That's all he could do for me. About a week later, the numbness faded away completely.
Then I started realizing that anytime I drink alcohol, I get numb again. The more I drink, the worse/longer lasting it gets. I know alcohol is a nerve toxin, but I've never been much of a drinker (only drank a few gallons in my entire life). Being sober for a year, then drinking a beer, will cause me to become numb for a few days. Alcohol had no such effect on me in the past. This was new. I also felt numb when I touched cold things.
I went to a neurologist, she looked at my blood work and my history and told me that it's just in my head, caused by excess anxiety.
This is where I stand now. The numbness isn't that severe unless I drink alcohol or touch something cold (taking something out of the fridge, etc). Slight "breezes" of cold air also cause the numbness/tingling, but not for long. For example, when I take off my pants, my legs feel numb but it quickly subsides.
Washing my hands with cold water also causes a pins and needles sensation, but it's not as bad, probably because of habituation because I do it often. Although the sensation is pronounced when I'm drying my hands on a towel. The texture of the towel makes my hand feel like it's asleep.
Around the time I began feeling numb, I was doing back exercises, back stretches, and standing up straight as much as I can to fix my posture. I'm generally fit, but work as a computer programmer, so I'm sitting leaning forward a lot. I stopped all the exercises when the numbness began. It doesn't seem to help.
Please help! Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!
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