OT: feeling a phantom drop of water on leg, arm

I've had a recurring feeling of a drop of cold water on my bare right shin, exactly like if you were wearing shorts and dripped a single drop of cold water on your shin. Often it will happen somewhere (on the street or in the kitchen) where I might have trod in a puddle or dripped water on myself, so I look down to find my leg thoroughly covered in my dry trouser leg and/or sock and no water to be found. It happens a few times then goes away for a while.

Today the same thing happened on my right arm, below the elbow, as I'm sitting on the sofa typing.

Is this a thing? :-) Anyone else have it? Benign neuro phantom or important symptom I should bring to the gp?

I googled it and it could be an early symptom of peripheral neuropathy - ? I also have had numbness in toes and the ball of my foot gets sore, which I think are from b12 deficiency/malabsorption (for which I've been self-injecting for about a year, loading dose + monthly injections).

9 Replies

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  • PB,

    It may be peripheral neuropathy as you have B12d. PAS might be more knowledgeable.

    I get phantom cold draughts on my lower legs and feet. Can be in bed with long leg pyjamas on and legs/feet wrapped in duvet but I can *feel* a cold down draft. Legs and feet invariably are warm to the touch.

  • So odd, eh? Before I twigged, I would stop in the street and think Oh ffs what have I just splashed on myself, ugh (I live in London so no end of nasty gunk that could be responsible) and I'd rub the shin on the back of the other leg to 'clean' it. Now the first drip makes me look but the rest I can write off. :-)

    Have also posted on PAS. Many thanks Clutter.

  • Thanks for posting this, I thought I was the only one who had an individual rain drop! I have peripheral neuropathy in both feet due to the GP ignoring my symtoms for over 18 months, but get a cold drop sensation quite often, usually in my face. I take VitD but my little rain cloud is still following me.

  • Hi puncturedbicycle , been having these sensations for a while now and just found out my B12 has dropped from 984 in May to 484 just recently. Doubled my dose this past week and hope all will resolve.

  • j_bee are you taking oral supplements? They never helped my symptoms so I had a go at injecting and a lot of symptoms resolved.

    It is so strange. I also get the feeling of a fly walking on my shin in exactly the same place. I may do another injection to see if that helps. It isn't a big deal in itself, but trying to find out what it means.

  • Hi puncturedbicycle I am taking supplements, but have been a bit lax since May, so have doubled my efforts now. I seem to rise fairly quickly, but also fall quickly too. It is a case of finding a stable maintence dose, which I can't seem to do. I have a lot of weird sensations and find it quite frightening. Would hate to voice what I really think it means. This government have a lot to answer for in keeping us on such poor quality medication.

  • Yes, same as me. You might want to think about injections. I had a lot of symptoms that I didn't realise were b12 related which resolved once I started injecting.

  • Thanks for this advice puncturedbicycle . I am having Intrinsic Factor checked on Tuesday, plus other bloods taken. Hopefully, this will show up something. Feeling very weak and wobbly at the moment. Would you PM me re self-injecting and where to buy fro please.

  • I have this sensation sometimes. In my case it feels as though a drop of water has landed on the bridge of my nose and trickled down in a wonky path to almost the tip of my nose.

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