Strange symptoms, anyone know what this is?

[LBJ10]

I woke up this morning with this strange feeling in my arm. Like it was really, really tired. It wasn’t “asleep”, it wasn’t that feeling. Anyway, now that I have been up for awhile and walking around, I am starting to feel it in my legs. It is like that feeling you have when you’ve run up and down a flight a stairs so many times that your muscles just won’t go any more. Do that make sense?

The thing is, this isn’t the first time this has happened. In January 2010, shortly after I returned from Costa Rica, I had very similar symptoms. It got progressively worse until it was very difficult for me to stand on some days. Then it went away maybe 3 weeks to a month later. I had the doctors completely stumped, I talked to several. They did some “neurological tests” and didn’t see anything wrong with me. Then they decided it was a systemic reaction to a jellyfish sting (which had occurred 2 weeks prior to the onset of symptoms). The night after I was stung, I was having muscle spasms in my leg and you could see my knee twitching. Then the pain went away and I didn’t have any problems until 2 weeks later. So now I’m questioning whether or not they are connected.

Any ideas?

[Tipsy Bunny]

Do you have any headaches? Any sensitivity to light? Have you ever had migraines in the past?

[LBJ10]

Well I have headaches, but they are stress headaches. LOL
No sensitivity to light/sound and no one has ever said I have migraines.

[Tipsy Bunny]

kind of interesting that you say you have stress headaches. Stress or tension headaches are a form of migraines. A common symptom of migraines is muscles soreness or aches and fatigue. My migraines used to get so severe that my entire right side of my body would become numb for a period of minutes. I went to the neurologist and he eventually had to prescribe me daily preventative medication because I would get them every other day. I got the vomitting, numbness, extreme pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and slurred speech. I was a wreak. But even something as small as a regular headache can be in fact a migraine. It can be triggered by stress, food, environmental change like the weather, pollution content, air pressure, hormones, almost anything sadly. But Tension Headaches can last from days to even months! Not sure if its what you have, but its something to keep in mind, the possibility of having migraines. There are a lot of ppl who have them and have no clue they do.

[Tipsy Bunny]

BTW, do you take anything to help your headaches or legs?

[LBJ10]

I have to take Aleve for my headaches, since Tylenol and Advil don’t do anything usually. The feeling in my legs is something I don’t think I can treat. It only happened that one other time. But it got so bad that time that it was really hard to stay standing.

[Elrohwen]

That’s very strange! The first thing I was going to suggest was something neurological, but it seems like your doctors have ruled that out. I would agree that migraines could be possible – they can have very strange systems, especially ones isolated to one side of the body, and are related to tension headaches (basically the same thing according to some doctors).

If it was some type of systemic allergic reaction, I think taking benedryl would help, so you might try some of that to rule out an allergic reaction (and it won’t be harmful if you’re not having an allergic reaction – it’ll probably just put you to sleep).

[Monkeybun]

Ugh yes, migraines can be horrible. I actually had to quit my job due to them. Look into that, they can cause all sorts of weird side effects.

[Huckleberry]

Have you had blood work done on a regular basis? You could be low on something like potassium.
Also, you may be dehydrated. I know it sounds too simple to be the reason but even mild dehydration for long periods of time can really cause a lot of problems.
I say this because I think, from what is sounds like, I have similar problems to you and I have found that if I drink like 3 gatorades in a day, I feel so much better and it doesn’t come back for a week or so. I also found that I have a potassium deficiency and when I miss my supplements, I can almost count on feeling like I was run over and flattened out…. or like someone tied a string around my all of my limbs while I slept.
Also, have you been tested for fibromyalgia? It sounds a little like the beginning signs of that….. hopefully not thought, that is an awful condition/disease (not sure what it is, but my mom has it and its not easy to watch)

[LBJ10]

It wasn’t anything fancy, the tests I mean. One doctor thought maybe it was Guillain-Barre syndrome at the time. But since the symptoms went away, then they figured it wasn’t that.
I don’t do regular blood tests. Not since the diagnosis of my hormone imbalance. I’m supposed to get MRIs on a regular basis, but I can’t afford that. The health plan at school doesn’t cover that.
I was dehydrated this summer though. I had twitches in my arms mostly. This feels different though. It is such a strange feeling, it is hard to describe.

Huckleberry – I didn’t think they could test specifically for fibromyalgia. I thought it was one of those things that was difficult to diagnose because they had to rule everything else out first.

[Huckleberry]

Yes and no… they cant just draw blood or scan you and say “oh yeah, you have it”
It is like a test for depression… its “do you hurt here? how about here? here?” and they poke at you in various places. If you react to what they call “pressure points”, they start investigating it. There are other symptoms aside from pain. There is what they call mental fog, which is when you feel like your thoughts are clouded and incoherent or your memory is faulty, there is fatigue, restlessness, and some other milder ones, like feeling like your clothing is too tight, even if it isn’t or feeling mild amounts of pain or tension when someone hugs you.
Essentially, yes, it is a fall-back diagnosis of sorts but that is because it is really difficult to diagnose and I think some drs still feel that it isn’t real.
My mom used to find relief from getting a dependable amount of sleep, extra b vitamins, and spending time in a hot bath with lots of steam and heat. Now, it has progressed and she fights with it a lot more.

[LBJ10]

Oh my gosh, I have the clouded thoughts thing. They tried to tell me it was my allergies. I do have trouble remembering things sometimes, I will start saying one word when I mean to say something else, I feel restless and I can’t sit down and concentrate. I have been convincing myself maybe it’s ADHD or something. But maybe you are on to something?
Of course it doesn’t help that I have hormone issues. I have hot flashes, but they haven’t been as bad lately. I don’t want to be TMI, but some weird stuff has been going on “down there” recently. The doctor at school just shrugged it off though.

[LoveChaCha]

Where is peppypoo when you need her?

LBJ10, I have ADD. It is completely different from ADHD. I can’t concentrate, I fall asleep. I can’t remember anything (so I write things down). I’m on Focalin XR for it, and it is amazing. I don’t have any side effects or anything.

As for the lady issues, I DETEST when doctors shrug it off   I would push a bit for an exam or something!! I am all for reproductive health

[Huckleberry]

I agree with ChaCha, is there women’s health specialist at your school that you can talk to? Doctors should never just shrug things off!!!!

And don’t get to worried about the fibromyalgia path, but you might do some research on it. You could talk to a doctor about it but I would consider going to a family physician or find one that you might be able to trust more. When you say school, I am assuming that you mean the doctors at a college campus. I hate to talk bad about them because there have been several that have helped me but there are also a lot of times when I go to see them on my campus and they do kind of shrug me off some just because they want to push all the students through. It feels like they assume that because you are on a campus, you either are only there to get drugs or you have what everyone else has and they treat for the wrong problem.

[bwild]

GAHHHH!!! I hate when doctors just shrug off lady problems! A couple years ago I went to the doctor complaining of pain in my lower right abdomen. They tested to make sure it wasn’t appendicitis, and when it wasn’t, they told me it was probably me just ovulating and to take some pamprin. So, for the next two years after that, any time I experienced pain there, I too, just shrugged it off. Many test and an emergency surgery later, I had to have my ovary and tube taken out because of a tumor the size of a large watermelon. Turned out I have severe PCOS and whenever I would have that severe pain it was a cyst busting – not cramps. Moral of this story? Never let a doctor convince you to shrug something off – push for them to look into it further!

[Monkeybun]

maybe look into a planned parenthood clinic near you, they do more than just babies They do alot of women’s health as well.

[Tipsy Bunny]

Thats funny that Tylonel and Advil dont work for you, cause they dont work for me either!! I my neurologist told me to take one Aleve and 2 ibuprofen when I get headaches and so far it seems to work.

But my migraines used to be mild that I could still work and go to school and such but all of a sudden, I was hit with a freight train. It was when the intense dust storm hit AZ this past summer and it forced my allergies into a chaotic frenzy. Any bit of pollen or bit of air pressure caused my body to numb and tingle, my head to explode, I could not eat anything for an entire day because I would just vomit in a matter of 10 minutes (if I ate or not) at one point I thought I was going to have a stroke because I couldnt talk or get words out, I would get and still get partially blind because of the visual auras I get, and went through a series of confusion. All because my allergies wen haywire and now I have to take preventative, it really sucks but at least I dont have to experience them anymore. This medication ROCKS! Its called Topamax. Its a new medication and there are some people who react differently to it. I am on the LOWEST dose of 50mg, some people are at 2000mg and go through hair loss, confusion, irritability, loss of words, insomnia, and a few more. I have experienced the loss of words and insomnia but was cleared after the first week of getting used to the pills.

Moral is, just for kicks and to see when this all happens, write a journal. Write down what you ate during the day, the weather, if your allergies were bothering you at all, your period times, anything and everything… trust me, when you do this, your doctor will love you. I do this for my neurologist and my family doctor and they really appreciate it. They get a day to day count of what I did to see if they can find anything that might have started an illness or can pinpoint an exact moment that you had complications. And write down what kind of symptoms/complications you have on certain days.

[LBJ10]

Thanks everyone for your input. I do have a family doctor and I had a regular gyn I used to go to. I haven’t seen either of them in years because my health plan only covers me going to the school clinic. Well, unless I was in an accident or something. There is one person at school, who is actually a NP, that I go to and she is really nice. But her knowledge is limited sometimes. I do think some of you are right, they probably assume that whatever is wrong with you is something that is common among college students. I don’t think they think people are there for drugs. They are pretty cautious about handing stuff out. I had to go back several times at the beginning of the semester because they refused to give me antibiotics. Well, we’re not getting anything on the throat culture so you must have a virus. I was sick for a month! I made them do a blood count, which finally showed evidence of an infection. Sheesh.
Anyway, it can be frustrating to be shrugged off. For the longest time my gyn said everything was in my head. Turned out I have a pituitary tumor, which is the cause of my hormone imbalance. Here I was, having pins and needles sensations and they tried to tell me there was something wrong with my heart. I had to wear a freaking heart monitor. Do you know what it was? It was hot flashes.

Tipsy – You know what’s weird. I’m having the symptoms I described today, but I don’t have a headache at all at the moment.

[Tipsy Bunny]

Yeah, sometimes I will get my vision auras, but the migraine wont come… migraines are freakin weird! They are the body’s way of laughing at me I swear. Did you do anything outside today?

[bwild]

Anyone on here on Topamax for their migraines? I know it was something I struggled with for a while and Topamax has pretty much been my lifesaver! But you’re right about the migraines, they can have the strangest effect on your body. When I was younger, along with my regular migraines, I would sometimes see multi-colored spots, but have no headache, and apparently that was also caused from the migraines. Weird.

[Tipsy Bunny]

I am on topamax!!! Well Topiramate… the generic. Literally saved my life… I can actually do things now!

[Tipsy Bunny]

have you had any side effects?

[bwild]

I lost weight when I first went on it, but that was really the only side effect. My doctor actually just pulled me off of it because it was starting to loose it’s ‘wow’ factor. He’s having me go off of it for a couple weeks and then restarting it. I’ve been on it for about 7 years so my body had gotten too used to it.

[LBJ10]

Tipsy – I was at work today. Standing. It’s mostly my arm and shoulder bothering me though.

bwild – You mean in the light? I will see tiny multi-colored dots racing around in the dark. Sometimes I see other things move, dark shadows that aren’t there.

[bwild]

Mine was in the light and the dark, but it was a while ago, so it might have been mostly when I was in the dark but I don’t remember. That part pretty much stopped happening completely once I went on the medicine.

[peppypoo]

Posted By LoveChaCha on 12/09/2011 09:44 PM

Where is peppypoo when you need her?

Haha, I won’t pretend to know anything yet…if I’m lucky, maybe in a few years I will!

LBJ – have you had any loss of sensation or numbness accompanying the muscle weakness?  Or any facial symptoms like difficulty swallowing or problems with your eyes/eyelid movement?

[LBJ10]

Peppy – my arms will fall asleep sometimes when I’m sleeping. It don’t occur at the same time as that fatigued feeling though. I think that part may just be pressure on nerves when I am lying down. I haven’t had any facial symptoms that I am aware of. Although my eyelid was twitching earlier today, but it could very well be too much caffeine.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Lay down and have someone stroke the bottom of your foot. Don’t look-close your eyes. Then post in which direction your feet curl. (I.e. down or up) -just checking a reflex that may be important, your symptoms sound very familiar.

[LBJ10]

I asked my husband to do that, but he just looked at me weird. My feet are ticklish, so I don’t know how well this would work. Haha! I can tell you one thing though, I have had instances where the muscles would spasm in my foot for seemingly no reason. My big toe would cramp up and curl under, toward the bottom of my foot. I would be sitting there trying to straighten it out, but I couldn’t until the spasm was over.

[bunnytowne]

Oh you poor thing.  Sorry I can’t help. 

I have headaches when the weather changes from dryer to humid      stress    anger    time of the month.    I put a cold  pack on my head and take tylenol for headaches.   I have to take 3   2 won’t cut it.

The tingly at first I thought it was carpel tunnel but reading your other symptoms carpel tunnel is most likely not it.

Have you taken potassium vitamins ?   See if that helps.

Hopefully you can get to a Dr. who will listen and not shrug you off like that. 

Hope you feel better and find out what this is.

Oh  you know I watch monsters inside me.  Sometimes people get a parasite.  It can cause weird symptoms.  Having mentioned you were in Costa Rica  you just never know.   Sorry don’t mean to scare you.

There was an episode about someone who went to costa rica and came back with parasites .  I am probably scaring you right now.  This is just another angle to have the Dr. explore.  Maybe.

 

[Elrohwen]

Just a comment on Topomax – I was on it for a while last year. It worked very well at first, but then the headaches started to come back. One day I forgot to take it before bed and took it at 6am instead – by 8am or so my face and lips felt numb and my skin felt tight. I took a benadryl and it went away, but after that allergic reaction I stopped taking it. I had some odd side effects as well, including gum tenderness/bleeding (it moved around my mouth so each section was very tender for a week or so – so strange) and the feet/hands tingling.

[LBJ10]

BT – I might have a little bit of carpel tunnel going on in my one hand, since sometimes it hurts if I have to squeeze something really hard. But that has nothing to do with my legs. You know, I have actually thought about the parasites thing. I asked one of my professors about it after I came back from Costa Rica. He’s a parasitologist and he said it was unlikely. Although I did get bit by a lot of sand fly bites. Those are so weird looking, the leave a little pink bullseye with a dot of blood in the center. Then a week later, the ring disappears and an itchy bump appears.

Elrohwen – That’s really interesting. I might have to keep that in mind if I suggest that this might be migraines to a doctor.

Gosh, I wish I had regular insurance. It costs so much money just for an office visit at my family doctor’s office. I just can’t afford to pay $150, especially if it is more than once. I don’t understand why it costs so much. Then again, I remember having a heart attack when my regular gyn office charged over $200 for a visit. I haven’t gone back since then and have been having all that stuff done at school.

[Tipsy Bunny]

Yeah, Topamax is a last resort type of drug I think. For the out of control migraines. I know some people can take them without problems and some people cant. I did have the tingles for a little bit, only slight though, and my doctor did say that would happen but that if it got out of hand to contact him. I get eye twitches more so than usual with the topamax but they dont bother me, I used to have them before this drug anyways. It also messed with my birth control for a little bit, but now everything is back to normal. But the gum bleeding is quite the side effect!!

My cousin went to some country in central america for her honeymoon and came back with a stomach parasite. She thought she was lactose intolerant because every time she had dairy, her digestive system would go insane, turned out, she had a parasite. Those things are crazy.

[peppypoo]

LBJ, look up “phalen’s sign” on google images. If you hold the posture for 30-60s and feel pain or tingling in your thumb to middle/ring finger, there’s a possibility that you might have carpal tunnel problems. Not diagnostic, but it could be indicative to some degree.

Unless you sleep in weird postures, it seems a bit unusual for your arms to fall asleep when you’re sleeping…circulation problems? Now you’ve got me curious and thinking…my exam on Friday is over some of this stuff, haha.

[LBJ10]

Posted By peppypoo on 12/14/2011 02:47 PM
LBJ, look up “phalen’s sign” on google images. If you hold the posture for 30-60s and feel pain or tingling in your thumb to middle/ring finger, there’s a possibility that you might have carpal tunnel problems. Not diagnostic, but it could be indicative to some degree.

Unless you sleep in weird postures, it seems a bit unusual for your arms to fall asleep when you’re sleeping…circulation problems? Now you’ve got me curious and thinking…my exam on Friday is over some of this stuff, haha.

So I did that test. No pain or tingling in my hands or fingers. But guess what, it really intensified the fatigued feeling I have in my upper arms and shoulders.

Usually when body parts fall “asleep” it is because there is pressure on nerves. Like the back of my thigh and butt will start tingling just from sitting in class for long periods. There is a big nerve that runs back there, down your leg. So the pressure will cause your nerve to go wacky.

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