Stinging, burning nerve pain - iron deficiency anemia

Greetings from a cold and snowy WA. I had surgery just about 7 months ago. Pretty much from day one I had some stinging, burning type nerve pain.  Originally it started at the top of one buttock.  That would disappear and then I had it on the outer left arm.  Then the rib cage under my arm by my breast. I'd read that it could helped with additional B vitamins so I included a B-100 along with the B-12 1,000mcg. I was already on and I think things improved, but now it's come back and I've got the stinging in my top, right buttock. I don't know whether a drop in iron could cause this problem but I've just had my 6 month bloodwork done.  Iron (38) with an increase in RDW 15.3) and Neut # (6.6). I immediately started taking vitalady's polysaccharide iron (150mg). Could there be another reason for this nerve problem?  No one at the docs seem worried about it, and on the low iron thing, I was just told to increase it a "little"....hmmmm!

The snow this weekend was bizarre wasn't it? Now it's blue and sunny up my way, but still cold. Seattle weather is just too freaky! Anyway, on to the tingly/burny nerve pain... have you gotten any recent labs done to test your B and iron levels?  If you were told to increase it a "little" - did they also test your Ferritin and Tranferrin and not just your Serum Iron Might be worth knowing all your related levels before you start supplementing with (possibly) the wrong thing... because nerve tingly/burning can also be a symptom of a vitamin or mineral overdose. For example, the symptoms of the (rare) overdose of vitamin B12 are numbness of any parts of body, itch, or a feeling of burning pain or *****ing. Sometimes we get so caught up in making sure we take enough supplements to stay healthy, that we can end up taking too many! Natural overdoses are rare, but with the mega-dose supplements we have to take for malabsorption reasons we can accidentally get too much of a good thing. I had some similar feelings before when my Vitamin D was really low and I was a bit dehydrated. I supplemented the D and got in more water and things pretty much feel fine now. I do still, however, get a pinchy/achy nerve-type pain in areas where there is compression when I sleep or sit. It happens about every 10-20 lbs lost and sort of moves around to whatever area lost padding this time. It usually takes about a week for the area to desensitize and get back to normal.

Thank you both for replying.  It's probably nothing anyway but I wasn't sure if a drop in iron could be the reason for the intermittent pin ***** sensations. PlicketyCat.  I can't find anything that says "Ferritin" on either my 3 or 6 month bloodwork but the Transferrin Sat. has dropped from 20% 3 months ago to 14%. I take 1,000mcg of B-12 per day as required by my surgeon.  There's an additional 131mcg in my multi-vits and B-100.  At 3 months my B-12 results were 748 but they don't seem to have tested for it at 6 months. I have absolutely no idea of the relevance of these numbers - sorry. At 3 months my iron was 47, now it's 38. TIBC was 237, it's now 278. Transferrin Sat was 20%, it's now 14% (low) WBC was 7.2, it's now 8.9. RBC was 4.23, it's now 4.37. HGB was 12.5, it's now 13.2. HCT was 37.0, it's now 38.9. MCV was 87.4, it's now 88.9. MCH was 29.6, it's now 30.1. MCHC was 33.8, it's still 33.8. RDW was 16.1, it's now 15.3 (high) PLT was 285, it's now 311. MPV was 9.6, it's now 8.9. Lymph % was 25.3, it's now 21.7. Mono % was 3.7, it's now 3.6. Neut % was 69.5, it's now 73.4. EOS % was 1.0, it's now 0.9. BASO % was 0.5, it's now 0.4. Lymph # was 1.8, it's now 1.9. Neut # was 5.0, it's now 6.6 (high) EOS # was 0.1, it's still 0.1. BASO # was 0.0, it's still 0.0. When the surgeon suggested I increase my iron (I only was taking 1 x 28mg because I took a "silver" multi-vit in the evening and that doesn't have iron).  I asked about the polysaccharide iron and he said that was fine for 6 weeks.  He didn't seem to be too worried about it - I just go back in 6 months so I guess I just have to hope that things don't get worse between then and now. I manage a minimum of 90oz of water a day and right now, my vitamin D level is 46 (range was 22-100).  I take a total of 5,500IU/day of dry form D3 (I'm going to up that). The stinging/burning sensation is intermittent and there doesn't seem to be a time when it's worse or better.  It's for all the world as if I get *****ed with a red hot needle.  It seems to go on in exactly the same place for a couple of weeks, disappears only to reappear somewhere else (upper, outer arm or high on the buttock). Liaazul.  I don't have any back ache or pain and the stinging sensation isn't related to movement. I appreciate your replies. Changing the subject - why is everything running together?  I laid this out so nicely in paragraphs!

OK - since your Transferrin Sat is dropping and currently low - this does indicate that you do need a little extra iron. This could also explain why your RDW is high, a nutrient deficiency can cause the size of the red blood cells to have a wider variance (bigger number). If your blood (serum) Iron is low, your TIBC is high, and your Transferrin % is low it's also likely that you are iron deficient... so taking an additional supplement and then retesting in 6 weeks like your doc said makes sense. Transferrin is the protein that transport iron from the gut to the body and Ferritin is the body's store of "extra" iron. Many docs don't check Ferritin, but if they're recommending iron therapy it would be a good idea to ask them to check it next time. I don't think the iron would be causing the pain though unless you had too much. Since your tests indicate you're low in iron, It does sound like the burning sensation might be down to compression as you're losing padding. The only other thing I could attribute it to is nerve impingement -- high buttock could be the sciatic nerve, and upper chest/upper arm-bicep could be the musculocutaneous nerve. Since it's intermittent and migrating, I still think any nerve impingements that might be happening are related to compression with the weight loss. If it continues or becomes more frequent, ask your doc to refer you to a Neurologist and they can run some nerve conduction tests on you. (I had compression of the median nerve in my forearm, kind of like Carpal Tunnel, and the Neurologist found it 15 minutes) . And - off topic - only the quote was running together... it happens because the BBCode for "quote" doesn't always recognize line breaks

I want to be like you when I grow up PlicketyCat cept I'm now 53 so I guess there's not much hope of me getting my head around this stuff now. LOL I think I'm inclined to agree that the lower iron issues and the stinging nerve thing are two seperate things.  The nerve thing actually started a week out of surgery - I was simply told it would go (which it did for maybe a month) but it's now back and here we are, 7 months later. Plickety - thank you very much for putting this in laymans terms - that's more than I get at the hospital.  As good as they are - I always end up feeling that I've just been patted on the head and sent on my way.  That's something I obviously need to address . 

I think it's the autism that helps me understand how the body works, because I certainly don't understand people   I've been noticing that many docs aren't explaining things so that the average person can understand and tend to get irritated when you ask them to explain again (and again), so I'm always happy to put things in laymans terms.  We're all in this together, so if we don't look out for each other who will?!    (((((HUGS)))))

Oh yeah - and your Neut (neutrophils) level being a little high probably just means that you just had a cold, are fighting a cold, or coming down with a cold. Neutrophils are white blood cells that fend off bacterial infections; but they can rise a little due to stress, too.

Wouldn't it be lower back pain? It sounds a bit like it. I have it sometimes and it is a stinging pain right on top of one of my buttocks. When in crisis, it also hurts when I bend or move much. Anyway, it's just a guess, considering your description. I hope your docs care more for what you feeling.

Hi, it has been a little while since this was posted but I am having similar problems and am wondering if you ever figured out if it was the iron deficiancy or not that caused the problem.  My right arm is in pain off and on.  The last time it completely locked up and I could not bend or move it.  It felt like it was on fire.  It went away after an Orthopedic doctor put me on skelaxin, davocet and a steroid (pedisone, if I am spelling that right).  Well, after being off the meds for a week, the pain came back.  First, I got the pain in my left buttocks and leg and now it is back to my arm.  I know my last WLS check up, I was given a prescription for repliva for iron because my iron levels were low.  It is all quite irritating because when it is in pain, I cannot use it and everything just stops.  I cannot exercise, work or do normal things that I usually do for myself. 

Hi! I'm glad you're posting. You might want to start a new thread with your topic to see if other folks have had the same thing or can help with an answer. I'm not sure if everyone has their preferences set to able to see posts dated by the most recent response. Also, it's pretty slow around here on weekends, so be patient. Take care and I hope you can find out what's happening.
Gina