Tingling of the shoulder, neck up to the face can occur for many reasons. This can occur with multiple sclerosis; however, it can also occur with irritation of nerves in the neck due to “a pinched nerve in the neck” either from arthritis or a disc problem in the neck. It would certainly be important to be sure there is not an anatomical problem irritating the nerve going to your neck, with an MRI of the neck to be certain that there is not a physical problem rather than just attributing it all to multiple sclerosis. Thus, MRI of the neck could be performed as well as an electrical test called an EMG, which checks the nerves and the muscles in the arm to see if there is a problem with the nerves and muscles, which would not be related to multiple sclerosis. If all these other studies are negative, then it could be possible that this could be related to multiple sclerosis. Tingling and burning feelings in the arms and legs as well as muscle twitches in the legs are nonspecific symptoms. By that, I mean they can have multiple causes. It could be related to multiple sclerosis if there was inflammation in the spine or brain. However, being diabetic, it can also be associated with problems in the peripheral nerves secondary to complications of diabetes which would be completely unrelated to multiple sclerosis. Although the MRI of the lumbar spine was okay, multiple sclerosis might cause lesions within the brain or the cervical spinal cord which could cause these symptoms. Also nerve conduction testing or “EMG” might be considered to determine if there is a problem caused by the diabetes in the peripheral nerves. Learn more in the Everyday Health Multiple Sclerosis Center.
