Hi all,
I’m wondering if anyone has had a loss of positional sense particularly in arms. My arms feel heavy and odd, like I almost can’t feel where they are positioned or when moving them they feel in the wrong spot. Very hard to describe. Has anyone had this symptom?
The positional sense you are talking about is called proprioception. It is a symptom of a B12 deficiency, although I believe it is more common in the legs than the arms.
I would ask to be referred to a neurologist.
Hi,
Hopefully a neurologist would be able to spot signs of proprioception problems.
I believe I had some proprioception problems when I was at my worst.
I found I lost balance when I could no longer see my surroundings clearly eg
1) when it was dark
2) if my eyes were closed
3) if someone walked directly towards me so I could no longer see what was ahead and around me
I used to fall off the pavement if someone walked directly at me.
I was very clumsy some days and misjudged distances eg when reaching for cups, plates etc in cupboards.
Two tests that may help to show proprioception problems are
1) Romberg test
2) Walking heel to toe with eyes closed
These tests should only be carried out by a doctor at medical premises due to risk of loss of balance. I stupidly tried the walking heel to toe with eyes closed at home and hit my head as I veered off balance.
There are other possible tests to check proprioception. There are videos of proprioception tests on Youtube.
If neurologist does not do at least some tests with eyes closed I think it's possible proprioception has not been fully tested.
Links that mention proprioception and B12 deficiency
hindawi.com/journals/crinm/...
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
My neurologist was testing my balance. He had three students sitting along the wall.
He asked my if I could stand on one leg. I managed about two seconds before I had to put the other foot down. Then he asked me to hop!
The look on the faces of the students as a 110 kg, 195 cm, patient started falling towards them was highly comical. Luckily the doc caught me before I crushed them.
That 2nd link is excellent, great reading and something my GP might get good use out of. Thanks Sleepybunny 
I had proprioception problems soon after my peripheral neuropathy started in 2005. I noticed it it particularly when using a computer mouse. I had to stop, lift my hand off the mouse, look at it, rub it, then restart using the mouse. It felt very wierd. I don't remember having problems with my feet.
Hi avock26,
Yes I had similar arm issues. I particularly noticed it when driving as I couldn’t feel my arms. I used to drive with the window open so I could feel the wind blowing over them.
I am self diagnosed B 12 deficient as was technically in range but at the bottom end so no doctor ( gp or haematogist) considered I had a problem. So I have just self treated with high dose SL B12. A lot of my symptoms improved dramatically but it wasn’t until I self treated my hypothyroidism ( again levels within the gps range so no treatment there 😂), then my arm symptoms went .
Sadly not out of the woods yet, as I feel some neuro symptoms returning . Now considering self injecting .
I had very similar symptoms. Always seemed to be hitting the objects nearby with my arms as I would reach for something else. I have seen improvement but still have a way to go.
I had those experiences when I was ill. Even when I was younger, as a teen - although I was diagnosed as anaemic at 14 I realize now they didn’t talk to me about b12 so I wonder if I was both iron and b12 deficient.
They seem to have gone now but I took a course of antibiotics and some of the symptoms including that one came back. Balance was also an issue (holding the wall etc) but what you describe felt distinct.
The neuro did some tests (I had already had about four months of treatment by then) but found nothing that she was worried about. Good luck with your symptoms and treatment!
Hi, I have had some trouble with my arms. I had had a couple of injections of B12 and felt much better but then I had an operation with nitrous oxide and when back worse that I started. One of the worst symptoms was my arms ached so much I couldn't sleep and I had pain all though my thoracic spine. The aching was a heavy feeling and the pain was a lot up into the armpit. I have been clumsy a lot and my finger tips are pretty numb. It's taken a few months of B12 injections every week to 10 days to get the pain in my arms back under control.
Oh my! I just saw this post. I have this in my right arm! It's so hard to describe. I'll suddenly feel like I won't be able to move my arm, like I really have to think about what I'm doing. It comes and goes. I haven't failed a proprioception test, and I can always get my arm to do what I want it to, but it's so strange and unsettling.
Make sense of my results 
making sense of blood results..
Arm sore days after injection 
Positive IF
Could someone help me make sense of what I need to do now? 
