Numbness, fatigue and weakness: What could it be?

Dear Ask The Doctor: I have schones complex, which consists of a heart murmur and mitral valve prolapse. I have had 2 open heart surgeries, the last was when I was 7. I don't really suffer and symptoms and I feel very healthy. I am 24, I jog, and do light weight lifting 3-4 times a week. I was told to take asprin daily, but I don't. For several years now, I seem to always feel tired and chalked it up to late night studying, now that I am not a student I don't have an excuse. Although I do have a very low resting heart rate, as low as 32. Almost daily I will get a wave of sleepiness, feeling like a ton of bricks hit me. It is not a mental tiredness, but my whole body feels week, and I almost forget to breathe. But, my recent concern is that For the past 9 month or so, this is now coupled with my limbs going numb. Usually just my hands and wrists, but sometimes my legs. And often when I sleep on my side and put my hands under my pillow my whole arm tingles and goes numb. I do spend a lot of time at the computer. It sounds like the symptoms of carpel tunnel but, I am wondering if it came be related to my heart since I have very poor blood circulation. Could the numbness be linked to the blood circulation or my low heart rate? Right now it is 38bpm.

Dear Genevieve: If it is mostly your hands and upper limbs getting numb and weak then i would attribute the cause to some kind of nerve impingement in the cervical region or elbow or at the wrist ie carpal tunnel syndrome. However if you are having numbness of the lowerlimbs too I would want to rule out other more serious causes especially MS. numbeness and weakness is usually a neurological symptom and thus has to do with nerve pathology more often than not. However the weakness could be due to muscle fatigue which is secondary to poor circulation. Thus we have to rule out wehther it is a muscle problem like myasthenia or a neurological problem. It is difficult for me to exactly say what you may be having without doing a physical examination but I advice you to see your GP for a more indepth analysis and further testing as deemed necessary. All the best.