I have heavy feeling in ankle and feet while at rest and it subsides on walking. Please help.

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 34-year-old woman. I am healthy and never had any serious medical problems before. Last ten days I have a weird heavy feeling in my ankles and sometimes it goes to the top of both feet. It started in my calves and a couple of nights it went to my thighs and it felt like both my legs are on fire.

The feeling is more like tingly, sometimes burning sensation and sometimes cold. After this, I started to have a tinging in my fingers, face and the occasional feeling of something is crawling on the body (however, this is not major symptom). The most annoying thing is the heavy feeling in my feet which is there constantly. It is more annoying when I am still but as soon as I start walking it feels like the feeling is not there.

I went to my GP and they did blood tests and Lyme disease and did not find anything. Please can you explain what may be causing this?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

So there are two possibilities: one is peripheral neuropathy, and the second is restless leg syndrome. Now do you have access to any of those tests or at least know what all tests were performed? Are you having any medications for that? I guess you do not have any hormonal issues or did not receive any medications recently?

There are certain causes we need to rule out besides diabetes, like anemia or iron deficiency, thyroid problems, Vitamin B12 or Folic acid deficiency, liver or kidney disease, Vitamin D deficiency, and hypocalcemia.

You may have some multivitamin supplements containing vitamin B12, like ME12OD or Neurobion Forte, etc., which may resolve this issue, as vitamin deficiencies are quite a common cause for the same. Meanwhile, try to have a diet rich in green leafy vegetables, fruits, and calcium. So you should discuss with your doctor regarding tests performed and requests for remaining tests.

I hope this helps.