Wonderful New Symptom: Buzzing — In My Leg!

[MattS]

Well, this is a new one: now I've got an electrical current feeling buzzing on and off in my *right shin*. Feels like I've been hooked up to a TENS machine and am getting treatment. Once every 2 minutes or so it buzzes for about 5 seconds. Doesn't hurt, but I'm sure you can imagine pretty annoying!

My guess is this is a stress response, manifesting as some physical malady in my body. I'm handling the stress of tinnitus better than some, but early on in my tinnitus journey I was as stressed as anyone else, and even now I can't deny having pangs of stress here/there that I wouldn't have previously had. The effects of stress can be Willy Wonka creative, and can often delay the peak stress event...so my guess is I've now manifested some nervous tick...in my shin. Sigh.

The good news is it's likely to go away as suddenly as it appeared. The bad news is it could take 1 week or 6 months to do so. Who knows, right?

Alternately, my tinnitus and shin could be connected, and could actually be the result of some broader electrical misfiring in my body. But this seems unlikely, and not something I'd worry about until I got a third or fourth symptom. For now, I'm truly just assuming this is a stress response (and so not getting additionally stressed over it). But it's still pretty darn annoying.

Why am I posting it here if it's not actually related to tinnitus? Well, I just thought it might be helpful for others going through the stress of trying to cope. I am well aware that some are considerably more stressed than me, and are also probably less informed re the wonderful world of what stress can do to the body. So maybe by reading my experience someone else down the line will get a little less worried when they experience a strange tick, or an odd buzz, or a patch of numbness here or there, or who knows what else.

Cheers,
M

 

[Tybs]

Quite an interesting development indeed. How constant is it? Can you literally time it, or does it happen roughly in the same time span?

 

[MattS]

Quite an interesting development indeed. How constant is it? Can you literally time it, or does it happen roughly in the same time span?

Hmmm, interesting question.

I just took out the stopwatch on my phone and measured a few intervals:

1:28
0:33
1:02
0:53

So, I guess faster than every two minutes. More like every minute, though with considerable random variance. The feeling is halfway between an electrical buzz and just having something brushing my leg hairs. Nowhere near painful... just noticeable.

You have other thoughts re what it might be?

I'll keep the community posted, should there be any developments (I don't really expect any though, but for it to eventually go away).

 

[Tybs]

Hmmm, interesting question.

I just took out the stopwatch on my phone and measured a few intervals:

1:28
0:33
1:02
0:53

So, I guess faster than every two minutes. More like every minute, though with considerable random variance. The feeling is halfway between an electrical buzz and just having something brushing my leg hairs. Nowhere near painful... just noticeable.

You have other thoughts re what it might be?

I'll keep the community posted, should there be any developments (I don't really expect any though, but for it to eventually go away).

Definitely no clear pattern there. My first though is that some nerve is getting pressured, but by what... that's a mystery. Does your posture (standing, sitting, lying down etc.) have any influence?

 

[Kriszti]

I had something similar to this way, way before tinnitus. It was a vibrating, buzzing feeling in my upper back like every 10 minutes for about a minute during an exam period when I was sitting and studying 9+ hours a day. Bloody annoying, but it went away in a month.

 

[fishbone]

Stress and certain meds can possibly cause this as well.

 

[MRItechssuck]

It sounds like "restless leg syndrome" - not a big deal... I've had it off and on for years....

Otherwise it is probably just a blood flow muscle cramp thing... wait until you get old... getting old sucks.

Don't obsess over every little ache and pain....

 

[Tybs]

My stomach occasionally has episodes where it will just "grunt" with the exact same sound and vibrations every few seconds for a maximum of ten minutes (and no, not hungry at those moments). At first it really freaked me out, but since I'm not dead yet, I eventually stopped caring.

The human body is weirdly interesting at times

 

[MattS]

Definitely no clear pattern there. My first though is that some nerve is getting pressured, but by what... that's a mystery. Does your posture (standing, sitting, lying down etc.) have any influence?

Doesn't seem to, no.

I do have a lonnnng history of lower back/nerve issues, including all kinds of sciatic problems. So I'd certainly not discount the possibility that it's a pinched nerve somewhere. But this is a new sensation, unlike any of my previous sciatic symptoms. *Shrug, who knows*.

 

[MattS]

I had something similar to this way, way before tinnitus. It was a vibrating, buzzing feeling in my upper back like every 10 minutes for about a minute during an exam period when I was sitting and studying 9+ hours a day. Bloody annoying, but it went away in a month.

Yes, this fits I think. You had a stressful period and got a weird symptom like this. And going away in a month seems about right too (because that's about how long minor nerve damage takes to heal).

Thanks for the note - I'm really not that worried, but it's still nice to get some extra evidence that it could likely be temporary.

 

[PeteJ]

I don't have buzzing but what I call zaps in my legs. Brief but a little painful. They seem like minor electric shocks. I don't know what it is but it's the least of my problems.

So strange that people have all these health problems on top of tinnitus/hyperacusis issues.

 

[MattS]

I don't have buzzing but what I call zaps in my legs. Brief but a little painful. They seem like minor electric shocks. I don't know what it is but it's the least of my problems.

So strange that people have all these health problems on top of tinnitus/hyperacusis issues.

Yes, I think this is what I'm experiencing (I mean, I think so... hard to know, but little tiny electric zaps seems about right). My money, sadly, is still that this is a stress response. I've been experiencing it for about a week - hoping that by next month it's resolved (as, as I said before, this is about how long minor nerve damage should take to resolve). How long have you been experiencing it Pete?

 

[Sarah101]

You have BFS. I'm happy to chat to you about it as I freaked the fuck out and gave myself a severe case of it and then convinced myself I have severe RLS and will never sleep again.

Anxiety, what a great time.