DiscountDouble
01-06-15, 06:22
Hey guys,
My name is Cory. I'm a 24 year old male from Texas, and for the past 7-8 months I've experienced some anxiety provoking symptoms. Like a lot of people here, I've allowed myself to fixate on them and consequently, I struggle to maintain a healthy level of inner peace. I know this is a long post, just know that I tried to be as brief and efficient as possible. I could really use some insight and, if possible, words of reassurance.
Joint Pain
I'll begin with the joint pain--even though this doesn't worry me anymore--just in case it's somehow related. About 2-3 years ago, I developed a constant pain in my knees. I thought it was just runner or jumper's knee, as I played a lot of basketball so I rested. 3 months went by and the pain persisted. About 6 months later, I was riding my bike when my elbow and wrist joints started to hurt so much that I had to turn back. 4 weeks later, the pain spread to just about every joint in my body (hips, neck, ribs, feet, toes, fingers, shoulders, etc.) Naturally, I freaked out, made an appointment with a rheumatologist. She ran blood tests, which came back normal, though she was concerned that my DNA tested positive for Ankylo Spondylitis so an MRI was done on my spine. By the time I went back in for the results two weeks later, all of my joint pain had subsided except for in my knees. The MRI was clean and the doctor concluded that it was likely some sort of bacterial infection.
For the next 8 months, life went back to being mostly normal. My knees had a constant ache, but I just attributed that to having "bad knees." Then the same joint pain came again, but differently. This time it was only in the fingers, toes, shoulders, and ankles. This was followed by another freak out and a second appointment with a different rheumatologist. After just hearing my symptoms, she decided to put me on NSAIDS and ordered some blood work. All that came from the blood work was elevated EOS levels. The doctor though I might have psoriatic arthritis (my grandmother has psoriasis, but I don't) or undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy so she ordered an MRI of my hands, feet, and knees to see if there was damage. I still haven't had the tests done for two reasons: 1) 4 weeks later I went into spontaneous remission again and 2) I was disillusioned with the care that I received from both rheumatologists. Admittedly, neither are particularly good reasons to not do my due diligence, and I'm sure that I do have some joint damage (I have what I believe to be a bone spur on the top of my knee that clicks when I bring my leg back in from extension). Also, the NSAIDs didn't seem to have an affect on my joint pain, but they did seem to cure the dry eyes I had the previous year and that was worsened when the joint pain came along (I used to use eye drops with my contacts every hour, now I use none).
As of now, these are the joint-related symptoms that I still suffer from:-Knee Pain (aggravatedby running and jumping but not by squats anymore)
-Shoulder Pain if I run for awhile or lift too heavy
-Finger or toe joint pain from activities that are hard on the hands
-Pinkies and one middle finger that clicks (the tendons?) when bringing back from extension (I don't say trigger finger because I've read this happens during extension)
Neurological/Muscle Symptoms
After a few months, the joint issues became like a program running in the background of your computer; sure they slowed me down a bit, but not enough that I really had to address or worry about them. Then, one day in October, I woke up severely tired, shaky, and feeling "odd" whenever I stood up (I felt uneasy, swayed back and forth). It was so dramatic that I again panicked. For the next few days, I slept constantly, only to wake up tired again and with more odd symptoms. I eventually developed random twitches throughout my body, body jerks, jaw pain (I have TMJ), a weird muscle spasm in my left cheek that would occur every time I moved that side, random numbness in the legs or hands (especially if they were crossed or laying on them), odd sensations, and muscle fatigue. After about 4 days, the extreme tiredness subsided, but the other symptoms remained, albeit sporadically. At this point, I made what is probably the biggest mistake anyone with a predisposition to anxiety can and googled my symptoms. What followed were results about Parkinson's, ALS, MS, and my profound anxiety. I made an appointment with my GP not long after. She asked some questions, found out that I was studying for the GRE to get into graduate school, and attributed my symptoms to stress. She did blood work on my thyroid and vitamin levels just to be safe, and everything was normal.
Having reassurance from a medical professional and someone I actually trusted, a lot of my symptoms seemed to disappear for the next two weeks.
After two weeks though, new symptoms came and my anxiety worsened. My forearms, calves, and face muscles all fatigued quickly; a painful tightness developed in my palms, forearms, and calves that was exacerbated by massaging the musclea; tingling in the hands and feet that occurred during cardio (if I was hit in any of these areas during a game of basketball, the muscle was immobilized for a few seconds); and excess saliva production all developed slowly. The facial muscle tightness and muscle twitching from before also continued. Convinced of impending death, I sought out a neurologist. He performed a strength and reflex test and found everything to be normal. He then scheduled me for a brain MRI, EMG of my right leg and arm, as well as a nerve conductivity test. All were perfectly normal. The doctor told me that, as far as he could tell, there was no NMD present and that I had him stumped. There was one more blood test he asked I have checked (Immunoserum fixation or something) that I never followed through with for reasons that, again, don't trump due diligence.
About 4 months have passed since my last visit with the neurologist. In that time, my symptoms seemed to have reached stabilization of sorts. As of now, my only neurological/muscular complaints are:
-Excess saliva production (no drooling, just an annoyance)
-My right cheek feels persistently tight (not sure if it's related to my TMJ on that side)
-After cardio or high intensity workouts the muscles involved will feel tight, painful, and easily cramp the next day; mostly, it's my palms, forearms, calves, and back, and this pain will subside after 3-4 days.
-Tingling in arms and feeling of swollen hands during basketball (seems related to palm pain that is present the next day).
-My grip is weaker in my right hand, specifically in the pinky area. Something in the hand and behind the knuckle pops when I make a fist and interferes with weight lifting weights, albeit minimally.
-Shakiness in hands when holding them out, or drinking from a cup.
-The concerning one for me is my right calf. It is slightly smaller than my left, and when I noticed this after my first appointment with the neurologist, I tested my calves with weightlifting. For the next two months, I had a pain in the heel of my foot that felt like an inflamed tendon (also would occur in the other foot if I ran a lot) and had difficulty walking. Now, 3-4 months later, I still feel unstable on that leg (specifically the ankle seems to roll inward), the calf muscle is smaller, and I have pain that radiates in the area of the peroneal tendon and muscle.
CONCLUSION
(If you've made it this far, I am eternally grateful to you.)
To conclude, I've done a significant amount of research on my symptoms, but still I feel no closer to an answer. My anxiety, at this point in time, is an inescapable thing that forces me to focus on the worst possible causes like ALS (the calf size difference, leg feeling unstable, grip strength, and all on the right side of the body) or MS (excess saliva, variety of symptoms, etc). And I fear it will continue to until I address my symptoms further. I am making an appointment tomorrow with my GP to figure out where to go from here, but I'd also like to see if you guys can help me.
Simply put, I'm not ready to die or be severely debilitated so any input as to why you don't think it can be ALS would be fantastic. Equally as helpful would be any information on what condition you think is causing my symptoms (I've looked into Lymes, Leaky Gut, Tension myositis syndrome, and others). In the end, I know that I'll have to accept whatever my condition is so I'm not asking for false words of hope.
Thank you so much for your time, genuinely.
My name is Cory. I'm a 24 year old male from Texas, and for the past 7-8 months I've experienced some anxiety provoking symptoms. Like a lot of people here, I've allowed myself to fixate on them and consequently, I struggle to maintain a healthy level of inner peace. I know this is a long post, just know that I tried to be as brief and efficient as possible. I could really use some insight and, if possible, words of reassurance.
Joint Pain
I'll begin with the joint pain--even though this doesn't worry me anymore--just in case it's somehow related. About 2-3 years ago, I developed a constant pain in my knees. I thought it was just runner or jumper's knee, as I played a lot of basketball so I rested. 3 months went by and the pain persisted. About 6 months later, I was riding my bike when my elbow and wrist joints started to hurt so much that I had to turn back. 4 weeks later, the pain spread to just about every joint in my body (hips, neck, ribs, feet, toes, fingers, shoulders, etc.) Naturally, I freaked out, made an appointment with a rheumatologist. She ran blood tests, which came back normal, though she was concerned that my DNA tested positive for Ankylo Spondylitis so an MRI was done on my spine. By the time I went back in for the results two weeks later, all of my joint pain had subsided except for in my knees. The MRI was clean and the doctor concluded that it was likely some sort of bacterial infection.
For the next 8 months, life went back to being mostly normal. My knees had a constant ache, but I just attributed that to having "bad knees." Then the same joint pain came again, but differently. This time it was only in the fingers, toes, shoulders, and ankles. This was followed by another freak out and a second appointment with a different rheumatologist. After just hearing my symptoms, she decided to put me on NSAIDS and ordered some blood work. All that came from the blood work was elevated EOS levels. The doctor though I might have psoriatic arthritis (my grandmother has psoriasis, but I don't) or undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy so she ordered an MRI of my hands, feet, and knees to see if there was damage. I still haven't had the tests done for two reasons: 1) 4 weeks later I went into spontaneous remission again and 2) I was disillusioned with the care that I received from both rheumatologists. Admittedly, neither are particularly good reasons to not do my due diligence, and I'm sure that I do have some joint damage (I have what I believe to be a bone spur on the top of my knee that clicks when I bring my leg back in from extension). Also, the NSAIDs didn't seem to have an affect on my joint pain, but they did seem to cure the dry eyes I had the previous year and that was worsened when the joint pain came along (I used to use eye drops with my contacts every hour, now I use none).
As of now, these are the joint-related symptoms that I still suffer from:-Knee Pain (aggravatedby running and jumping but not by squats anymore)
-Shoulder Pain if I run for awhile or lift too heavy
-Finger or toe joint pain from activities that are hard on the hands
-Pinkies and one middle finger that clicks (the tendons?) when bringing back from extension (I don't say trigger finger because I've read this happens during extension)
Neurological/Muscle Symptoms
After a few months, the joint issues became like a program running in the background of your computer; sure they slowed me down a bit, but not enough that I really had to address or worry about them. Then, one day in October, I woke up severely tired, shaky, and feeling "odd" whenever I stood up (I felt uneasy, swayed back and forth). It was so dramatic that I again panicked. For the next few days, I slept constantly, only to wake up tired again and with more odd symptoms. I eventually developed random twitches throughout my body, body jerks, jaw pain (I have TMJ), a weird muscle spasm in my left cheek that would occur every time I moved that side, random numbness in the legs or hands (especially if they were crossed or laying on them), odd sensations, and muscle fatigue. After about 4 days, the extreme tiredness subsided, but the other symptoms remained, albeit sporadically. At this point, I made what is probably the biggest mistake anyone with a predisposition to anxiety can and googled my symptoms. What followed were results about Parkinson's, ALS, MS, and my profound anxiety. I made an appointment with my GP not long after. She asked some questions, found out that I was studying for the GRE to get into graduate school, and attributed my symptoms to stress. She did blood work on my thyroid and vitamin levels just to be safe, and everything was normal.
Having reassurance from a medical professional and someone I actually trusted, a lot of my symptoms seemed to disappear for the next two weeks.
After two weeks though, new symptoms came and my anxiety worsened. My forearms, calves, and face muscles all fatigued quickly; a painful tightness developed in my palms, forearms, and calves that was exacerbated by massaging the musclea; tingling in the hands and feet that occurred during cardio (if I was hit in any of these areas during a game of basketball, the muscle was immobilized for a few seconds); and excess saliva production all developed slowly. The facial muscle tightness and muscle twitching from before also continued. Convinced of impending death, I sought out a neurologist. He performed a strength and reflex test and found everything to be normal. He then scheduled me for a brain MRI, EMG of my right leg and arm, as well as a nerve conductivity test. All were perfectly normal. The doctor told me that, as far as he could tell, there was no NMD present and that I had him stumped. There was one more blood test he asked I have checked (Immunoserum fixation or something) that I never followed through with for reasons that, again, don't trump due diligence.
About 4 months have passed since my last visit with the neurologist. In that time, my symptoms seemed to have reached stabilization of sorts. As of now, my only neurological/muscular complaints are:
-Excess saliva production (no drooling, just an annoyance)
-My right cheek feels persistently tight (not sure if it's related to my TMJ on that side)
-After cardio or high intensity workouts the muscles involved will feel tight, painful, and easily cramp the next day; mostly, it's my palms, forearms, calves, and back, and this pain will subside after 3-4 days.
-Tingling in arms and feeling of swollen hands during basketball (seems related to palm pain that is present the next day).
-My grip is weaker in my right hand, specifically in the pinky area. Something in the hand and behind the knuckle pops when I make a fist and interferes with weight lifting weights, albeit minimally.
-Shakiness in hands when holding them out, or drinking from a cup.
-The concerning one for me is my right calf. It is slightly smaller than my left, and when I noticed this after my first appointment with the neurologist, I tested my calves with weightlifting. For the next two months, I had a pain in the heel of my foot that felt like an inflamed tendon (also would occur in the other foot if I ran a lot) and had difficulty walking. Now, 3-4 months later, I still feel unstable on that leg (specifically the ankle seems to roll inward), the calf muscle is smaller, and I have pain that radiates in the area of the peroneal tendon and muscle.
CONCLUSION
(If you've made it this far, I am eternally grateful to you.)
To conclude, I've done a significant amount of research on my symptoms, but still I feel no closer to an answer. My anxiety, at this point in time, is an inescapable thing that forces me to focus on the worst possible causes like ALS (the calf size difference, leg feeling unstable, grip strength, and all on the right side of the body) or MS (excess saliva, variety of symptoms, etc). And I fear it will continue to until I address my symptoms further. I am making an appointment tomorrow with my GP to figure out where to go from here, but I'd also like to see if you guys can help me.
Simply put, I'm not ready to die or be severely debilitated so any input as to why you don't think it can be ALS would be fantastic. Equally as helpful would be any information on what condition you think is causing my symptoms (I've looked into Lymes, Leaky Gut, Tension myositis syndrome, and others). In the end, I know that I'll have to accept whatever my condition is so I'm not asking for false words of hope.
Thank you so much for your time, genuinely.