RA and face numbing
Anyone else experience face numbness?? This has been happening to me going on 3 years. My RA dr sent me to a neurologist to rule out MS and he said it's all in my head! He said I should see a psychiatrist maybe I'm stressed!!
Hi
. It is terrible that your issues were seemingly dismissed cavalierly. Too often we hear of RA patients and autoimmune patients in general being told some symptom(s) are just in their head - you deserve to have your issues heard and taken seriously. I say this not to diminish potential psychological impacts of living with a chronic conditions like RA, but simply that, given the nature of autoimmune conditions, potential physical causes of new symptoms should be examined first before being dismissed.
While rare, there are potential autoimmune related causes of facial numbness, such as trigeminal sensory neuropathy (see: https://academic.oup.com/rheumatology/article-abstract/40/7/832/1787988) or other forms of neuropathy (see: https://www.healthline.com/health/tingling-in-face) or allergies to medications/treatments. I am not, of course, saying that any of these are the cause of your numbness - only a doctor can do the proper diagnostics, but rather to illustrate that there are possibilities, including RA related ones that could be investigated.
Have you had a chance to speak to your rheumatologist about your experience with the neurologist? Maybe they will have additional avenues of investigation or could suggest a different specialist. Hoping you can gets some answers and relief soon. Please feel free, if you like, to keep us posted on how things are going and to ask additional questions. Best, Richard (Team Member)
So sorry to hear you're dealing with this and having no clarity. Can you ask your RA doctor for another referral to get a second or even third opinion from other doctors? I can't begin to tell you how many people on this forum have been told that symptoms are all in their heads, when it was actually something. Stress does cause a lot of problems too but if this has been happening for a few years now it doesn't hurt to keep digging for answers. Some people with RA are more prone to getting shingles and numbess can be a symptom as mentioned in this article: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/clinical/shingles-basics though we aren't medical professionals so it's best to follow up with the RA doctor to see what else they can do to help. Hang in there. -Effie, team member
