Suggest treatment for tingling sensation in fingers
Patient: I was recently told i have a retracted eardrum. I spend much of my day clenching and grinding due to ocd and anxiety. I initally went to the doctor because it felt like a bug in my ear and was dizzy. He found the retracted ear then. However, it has been a few days and now my finger tips are having shock like or prickly feelings in them. They are tingling as i type. Doctor: Hi,  Retraction of the eardrum is usually a sign of some type of space-occupying lesion that may be causing the eardrum to pull inward a little more than normal. It can also be as as result of increased NEGATIVE PRESSURE within the middle ear since there is a connection between the place behind your ear drum and your EUSTACHIAN tube which opens up into your NASOpharynx which is literally the uppermost portion of the BACK of your mouth (high up). The ENTRANCE of that tube you see in the picture anatomically connects to the middle ear and here is a GREAT picture of that.  See where that AUDITORY TUBE is in that picture?  It connects with the opening into the NASOPHARYNX....that is the EUSTACHIAN TUBE which equalizes the pressure between the middle ear and the outside world (your mouth). Look at the 2nd picture and you'll see what looks like a big WHITE LAMP SHADE called the TYMPANUM or TYPMPANIC MEMBRANE. That's the eardrum. See where it's connected?  And see how it naturally bows INWARD toward the space in that middle ear.  Can you see where something in that space could conceivably cause that TYMPANUM to draw in a little more.....OR...what I believe is also a possibility is that the AUDITORY TUBE (Eustachian Tube) may not be working properly which could cause NEGATIVE pressure within the cavity.  Things that cause Eustachian Tube dysfunction in that regard could be a mild infection with swelling of the middle ear lining, allergy reactions to things in the air during allergy season, or even pharyngitis which can cause the Eustachian to be blocked or swollen on the OTHER end where it opens into the nasopharynx.  Generally speaking, these processes are all easily treatable either conservatively with good hydration, maybe some nebulizations with steam to open up the nasal passages a bit, etc. and the problem will resolve. Or if there is evidence for an actual infectious process, antibiotics, etc. However, the symptoms of the ear as you've described and especially if there is tympanic retraction does not really explain prickly feelings or shocklike symptoms in the fingers.    Those may be due to a bit of a flare of your OCD and anxiety. You may be applying more force typing than you realize and should consider doing some deep breathing exercises and think in terms of letting the muscles in the hands and arms DECONTRACT or RELAX....That is going to go much farther for those sensations than anything else at this point.  You may also NOT have eardrum retraction since that's not always an easy thing to see unless the doctor was an ENT specialist.    Sometimes if the light source used is not powerful enough or if for some reason the patient has a slight anatomic variation of the external auditory canal where there could be an extra little curvature or different placement of the ear apparatus it could appear as if the tympanum had traction on it when in fact, it's really NOT retracted....best way to verify that would be to have a specialist look and see what's up.  Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.   Regards, Dr. Dariush Saghafi, Neurologist