I'm a professional drummer and I’m terrified of anything that could affect or reduce my ability to play.
Last year I went through months of hell with tingling, burning sensations, and needle-like pains all over my body. I thought I had neuropathy, but in the end it turned out to be mental health related. I was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), so it wasn’t actually structural damage.
But over the past month or so, I’ve been feeling similar symptoms again, mostly on my left side. It started one day when I slept on my arm and woke up with it numb, and I realized I might be doing that often. Since then, I’ve been having intermittent burning, tingling, and shock-like sensations. Some days it got worse or was triggered when I played drums. There were also days when I played less or didn’t play at all and things seemed to calm down.
However, in the last two days, after a rehearsal, my left thumb started to feel like it has reduced sensitivity compared to my right, and this is really messing with my head. It’s bringing back everything I went through last year.
I saw an orthopedist about two weeks ago and he ordered a nerve conduction study (EMG), but I haven’t done it yet. I’m trying to schedule it and the earliest available date seems to be the 13th.
I just want to hear that I haven’t reached some irreversible stage and that I can recover from this. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is FND again, but this time I’m not sure because the left side is clearly more affected.