Burning Sensation In Toes

[Robin Wood]

For nearly a week now I've had a burning sensation in my toes that is becoming more and more annoying. The spasm in my toes is a new thing going on, burning started after the spasms. At frist I thought it was maybe lactic acid, but is now more of like an acid or chemical burn.

I've done some googling on the subject and have found that menopause could be a cause as well as a condition called paresthesia, which I'll post below. What I can't find is anything relating to spasms and this type of burning sensation. I've been icing them and still they burn, icing has also not helped relief the spasms that have been fairly relentless.

After reading about this paresthesia, I wondered could it be possible that the spasms are causing an irration to the nerve and that is why I have the burning sensation ????



Toe burning sensation

The skin sensation of partial numbness or "pins and needles" or a type of "burning", "tingling" or "creeping" sensation of the skin, is known as a "paresthesia". Symptoms may start as a tingling (paresthesia) and change to a numbness, or there may be a combination of decreased sensation (numbness) but with heightened sensations at certain times or with stimulation. Any type of tingling, burning, or numbness is usually a symptom related to a sensory nerve being damaged, diseased, or injured. Causes depend on the exact location of the paresthesia sensations, but typically include a physical nerve injury type condition (e.g. a nerve entrapment or some type of pressure being applied to a nerve directly or to the spinal attachment of that nerve), or a disease condition affecting the nerves (e.g. neuropathy, diabetic neuropathy, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and others). Having these sensory symptoms in multiple locations, or the recurrence of similar symptoms in different locations is a hallmark symptom of multiple sclerosis, so your doctor will likely ask about the past history of similar symptoms to assess the likelihood of multiple sclerosis as a diagnosis (see symptoms of multiple sclerosis). Any of these tingling or numbness symptoms are more than just annoying; they can indicate a serious medical condition and require prompt medical diagnosis by a professional.

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/toe_burning_sensation.htm

Robin

[BDrake]

As I read this, the "burning" sensation described reminds me of my face. I've described it like I've been slapped. It stings yet is numbing too....just like a slap. I've also started to feel something similiar in my thumb "muscle" the part of your palm that connects to the thumb, on my left hand. It's happened twice and most noticeable at night...no spasm to go with it though.

~Becky

[Robin Wood]

I just thought that I would add the spasm in the toes feels as if it going to snap my toes off right at that first knuckle, the spasm is pretty intense.

Robin

[beka]

Robin - Have you EVER thought that the burning sensations are NOT even related to dystonia ?
We seem to be quick to judge that all our symptoms are related to dystonia when in fact they might not be at all.

When do the burning sensations occur ? day ? night ? during activity ? at rest ?

More later- stuck at work.

beka

[Robin Wood]

Hi Beka,

No I haven't because the burning sensation started after the spasms started, it is something I've never experienced. You are so right; We assusme, we've got spasms, we've got pain it must be dystonia related .. it's kinda like what came frist the chicken or the egg :) Not only is managing my life a full time job so is trying to figure this out and put the pieces together. I always keep it in the back of my mind that what if it's not dystonia related specially with this situation because I do have nerve detoration (per say and for lack of a better word) with my 5th and 7th cranial nerves and I know this burning on a lil' different level, as in 1000 times more intense, with my 5th nerve.

I've noticed they burn worse when up on my feet which is also when the spasm is most severe. And of course the burning continues even when down off my feet for awhile, it just doesn't go away because I'm off my feet. It wasn't burning when I first woke up, it is now, I've been up making my herbal tea, feeding my cats and out for a lil' walk to check my mail, so it isn't taking much for the burning to start.

This toe spasm thing started at the same time that the massisve spasm in my shoulders started. The shoulder spasm was so instense it was like my body was being folded in half backwards like a taco at my midline. Suppose it could also be related to that spasm episode in that it could be related to the nerve in my spine if indeed it is a nerve causing the burning and if the sensory nerve for the toe orginates in the area of my spine where I was being folded in at half.

Toe spasm came on with all kinds of weird type feelings, it took awhile before there was actually a spasm, like a few weeks and has been in spasms to some degree now for about 2 weeks.

Hope You are enjoying Your day/night at work and aren't working to hard

Robin

[Ellen S]

Robin, I only have a couple minutes...

I'm really glad you're looking at this, as it can be a sign of something that you really need to figure out.

Simple vitamin deficiencies are a very common cause of parasthesia and symptoms nearly indistinguishable from MS. Your B vitamins (water soluble, so not stored well in the body) are usually the culprits.

This would be very easy to test and remedy should it prove to be your situation. It is somewhat time-consuming tho, as damage to myelin sheath as well as nerve damage takes some time to resolve itself, if it will.

when dealing with my Migraine Disease, I realized (finally) that sometimes we need to step back and look at the basics. We get so used to looking for a needle in a haystack that it gets missed.

Occam's razor is a scientific term that essentially means: Usually the simplest answer is the right answer. Had I not gone back and applied Occam's Razor to my own life, I'd have bilateral nerve stimulators implanted and a life completely altered because we were treating a symptom and not the cause of my parasthesia.

B12 is the most common culprit, but the other B's can also contribute to Parasthesias as can metabolic disorders. Try to get them all tested if possible. Either one, if it is the cause of your issues, could be devastating if not treated.

Try to find the cause of it, not treat the symptoms. There is always a cause, if only we know where to look. I always try to ask myself "why". Ex: Okay, the drug is giving me tingly hands, why? How is it affecting my nervous system and causing that reaction? Sometimes the answers are obscured because we just didn't look closely enough.

[Robin Wood]

Here's a little riddle for You all; When is a burning sensation not really a burning sensation ??? When You are getting a full on assult from ants.

OMgOSH ... when I woke up I was standing in the kitchen making my tea and all of a sudden I started feeling all these sharp burning sensations .. well yea of course I'm thinking; oh my that nerve is doing all sorts of strange things this morning and now I'm feeling it in my left foot too; that was untill I turned to pick up the cat dish, huh ! it was full of those lil' tiny microscopic ants we get here in Havasu ... my poor feet, now they sting, burn and itch, I got lots of bites so I'm icing them to take the sting away.

When I was a little girl and we'd go fishing up in the High Sierra's I'd always get bit by ants so I would stand in the freezing cold water of the streams to make them feel better, sure wish I had one of those streams right about now :)

Wish I had some Benardryl, I'm so itchey and I got the creepies thruout my body ... just kidding, about the Benadryl.

[Ellen S]

Well, that at least gives people a clue what this can feel like! Hope you got rid of the pesky buggers!

[Robin Wood]

Mission accomplished !!!! whew now I'm all worn out. They came in undernearth my back door and were strewn down the hall across the computer room and the entire kitchen floor.

They hurt as much as piss ants and fire ants, but are so small You can't feel them crawling on You. Also now that all the bites are calming down I think the orginial burning has calmed down today, I've been up on my feet and thus far very little spasms in my toes. I've been down for almost 2 days with my feet up because even when I sit with my feet down on the floor my toes have been spasming. Gonna try and stay down again today and off my feet, my goal is to get the spasm all calmed down and then see if the burning also subsides.

Ok that concludes the lesson for the day which is; if You feel massive burning and stinging on both feet that starts to extend up to Your ankles and legs be sure to look down immediately.

Oh the joys of living in the desert :)

[BDrake]

Poor thing! I can just imagine. When my son was only two we lived in South Arkansas and he was digging in the backyard and started to cry; I ran to him to find him convered with fire ants. I stripped him down naked right there (as that was the fasted way to get the things off of him). He was covered with little blisters all over his hands. I hate ants! I am glad you are feeling better. I pray it keeps up for you....and those pesky ants don't return ;)

Becky

[Robin Wood]

That happen to my nephew too but we were on the beach so we just dunked him real quick like into the water. I can remember another time we were at the beach and he found an ant and he said "auntie see this, it's a piss ant. Wanna know why they call them piss ants, cuz they bite You and piss You off" He knew !!!

I guess this brings us back to Beka's question on why do we always think everything is related to our spasms ... I could feel them biting me and I just kept standing there right smack dab in the middle of them. It wasn't untill I picked up the cat food bowl and they started biting my hands that I realized it was them pesky microscopic ants that do become a problem this time of year.

Robin

[Jen]

Me too Robin. This is paresthesia or peripheral neuropathy. For me we think it may be caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. I will start getting shots of B12 next week and have been trying to supplement by mouth as well. Is there any possibility you might have a vitamin B12 deficiency? I would try this first. You can also get sublingual B12 that can be put under your tongue once or twice a day. I have also recently begun to get it in my fingers as well. Not pleasant. I hope yours and mine gets better soon.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions about my experiences with this.
-Jen

[Robin Wood]

Jen, thanks :)

Did you do a blood test to check your B12 ??? I had one done in Jan and it came back ok, course that was then too.

Do you have spasms in the area where yours is ???

I've been down all weekend off my feet. I've had no spasms today in my toes. I had a real slight sensation earlier after being up to make lunch, but not in my toes, in the ball of my foot by the toes ... almost feels as if it's migrating. it's comepletly out of my toes now. The sensation I feel now and it's in a real small area is more of a tingle.

One of the reason I thought maybe it was related to the spasms was because it was only in the frist knuckle on the 3 middle toes, no where else ... as it got worse I felt it spread out within the three toes.

How long have you had this ???? How long have you been doing the oral B ??? Have you noticed any difference ???

I hope things are well for you and on their way to being even better and again thanks for the info, at least I know I'm alone :)

Robin