Left arm pain and tingling

Some people are always afraid of worst possible scenario. As soon as they start to feel some tingling and pain in their left arm, they assume it’s the early sign of heart attack and they are going to die for sure. However, this is not always so and many times there is some different explanation than the fatal one.

Heart Attack Symptoms

First of all, a person suffering from heart attack will often have some other symptoms than just left arm tingling and pain. These patients frequently experience squeezing in the chest, breathlessness, numbness, sweating or some muscle cramps. If your symptoms match these, it is time to call emergency and get urgent medical attention. When talking about serious causes of left arm tingling and pain, this condition may also be related to stroke.

Conditions That May Cause Tingling In Left Arm

Less severe conditions that may lead to symptoms such as tingling and pain in your left arm are: pinched nerve in the neck or in the shoulder, tennis elbow and carpal tunnel syndrome. Improper alignment of one or more disks in the neck exerts some added pressure to the spinal nerves and this can provoke frequent complaints about left arm pain and tingling too. Bad circulation may cause insufficient delivery of blood to the arms and therefore symptoms like tingling and/or pain in the arm (left, right or both arms). Mental stress, underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), multiple sclerosis (MS) or some medications may also cause some left arm problems.

Proper Diagnosis

Some things you can check for yourself, especially your posture while sitting or lying. Sometimes, these positions may pressurize your left arm or shoulder, causing “dead arm” sensation. Try shifting to proper or more comfortable position and see if that relieves tingling and the pain.

Increasing pain and symptoms of heart attack described earlier require urgent medical attention and you should call for help.

Consult your doctor if it’s not your posture or heart attack. He or she will be able to diagnose your problem. If your arms feel cold and tingle, the cause is very likely bad circulation and it can be treated. Excessive stress in your life, panic attack or use of some drugs may all be explanations for tingling and pain you feel in your left arm and these conditions are also curable.

Left Arm Pain and Tingling Treatment

Hospitalization is required for patients diagnosed with heart attack or stroke. Any other tingling and pain can be eased by resting the arm and stopping activities which hurt. Swelling of the arm seen in carpal syndrome or tennis elbow may be resolved using cold compressions, while muscle injuries respond better to heat and hot compressions.