Hi,
Let me start of by saying hello. My name is Nick and i'm 28. And my adventure with my own body started about this time last year.
I quit smoking and started going to the gym. Good idea, right ? Well , one day i push too hard and hurt my neck / shoulder.
One night had a really bad headache and jaw pain with some chest pain to boot. Went to ER, all was ok ( they kept me overnight to be safe ) ... 2 weeks later same thing ... I also start to notice what feels like pins and needles in my hands and legs. Weird thing is it moves from one leg to the other, then up to the arm, then the hand ... Weird, huh ...
Regular doc does a EKG and treadmill test, all is good. Puts me on Lipitor. But he says, go see a local neuro and he'll check you over. They do a c-spine and all is clear. Around this time I start to feel a little weak and tired. Also notice that sometimes my hands feel a little puffy ( hard to hold a pen ). Again, this is all really rare and random, but i'm starting to get scared. Some liver test is a smidge high, so interesting.
Doc does an EMG and all is good. I still feel tired all the time and a little weak. Wait a few months and I go for a head MRI to cover MS. All good, no MS ( head is clear , and i can even prove to my wife I have a brain ! ) Maybe carpel tunnel, who knows...
Now I'm really worried. If it's not MS , then what is it! So I call an MS clinic in Jersey and see them, in 30 minutes the doc says NO MS ( though he was leaving for vacation that afternoon, and while a nice guy, wonder if he ever gave me the time of day ..... )
So for 7 months i had nominal symptoms like the puffy feeling hand, some days a headache, some days my jaw and skull hurt. But it always went away.
So ok, then one day I start to notice a twitch. I can feel the muscle firing off, much like the EMG test, where it fires off a few times then stops. I for sure don't have a cramp or the muscle stays locked or anything, just a quick 5-10 second firing of the muscle then it stops. Sometimes arms, sometimes legs, but never all over at once. Told the neuro I'm getting really scared and depressed, he puts me on Lexapro. 2 weeks into it i feel really sick. I stop taking both the Lipitor and Lexapro. Regular doc is ok with me off the Lipitor, but the neuro wants me to take the Lexapro. I keep telling him it's not stress or anything like that ( i mean i have a gf and 2 kids, i have stress, but not enough for all this )
And here's were I get worried. I go back to the doc and say I still feel weak and tired, some twitches and my hand(s) feel funny. Like my grip strength is ok, but the act of grabbing sometimes gets me ( it's no the hand squeeze, but the action of using my fingers to get it ) I get a blood test and whatever a smooth muscle test is, it is a little high, normal he says is 7, i'm a 9.
Now I'm beginning to notice my left hand , while seeming strong, feels sore and weak, and the same in the left arm muscle ( i can lift something heavy, but it will hurt later )
I have a local neuro visit next week, as well as called an ALS certified center in NJ and have an appt. there for another review.
Honestly, I think i have something autoimmune, but I can't tell cause am I weak from the fatigue, or is something happening to the muscles. I plan to be pretty firm with the neuro next monday as I think another EMG is needed to see if the muscles are going south.
What is killing me is the constant testing i do to myself, making me crazy and constantly thinking I have something bad. I know it's not fair to sit and moan here, but as most of you know, the lack of most doc's ability to explain or help us understand ourselves can be quite fustrating. I'm scared, I have 2 kids, a great job, and love life. I hate the weekends mostly because all I do now is think about where my life is going.
Thanks for listening... I can't vent to any of my family as they say it's all in my head and i'm fine.
Nick
Let me start of by saying hello. My name is Nick and i'm 28. And my adventure with my own body started about this time last year.
I quit smoking and started going to the gym. Good idea, right ? Well , one day i push too hard and hurt my neck / shoulder.
One night had a really bad headache and jaw pain with some chest pain to boot. Went to ER, all was ok ( they kept me overnight to be safe ) ... 2 weeks later same thing ... I also start to notice what feels like pins and needles in my hands and legs. Weird thing is it moves from one leg to the other, then up to the arm, then the hand ... Weird, huh ...
Regular doc does a EKG and treadmill test, all is good. Puts me on Lipitor. But he says, go see a local neuro and he'll check you over. They do a c-spine and all is clear. Around this time I start to feel a little weak and tired. Also notice that sometimes my hands feel a little puffy ( hard to hold a pen ). Again, this is all really rare and random, but i'm starting to get scared. Some liver test is a smidge high, so interesting.
Doc does an EMG and all is good. I still feel tired all the time and a little weak. Wait a few months and I go for a head MRI to cover MS. All good, no MS ( head is clear , and i can even prove to my wife I have a brain ! ) Maybe carpel tunnel, who knows...
Now I'm really worried. If it's not MS , then what is it! So I call an MS clinic in Jersey and see them, in 30 minutes the doc says NO MS ( though he was leaving for vacation that afternoon, and while a nice guy, wonder if he ever gave me the time of day ..... )
So for 7 months i had nominal symptoms like the puffy feeling hand, some days a headache, some days my jaw and skull hurt. But it always went away.
So ok, then one day I start to notice a twitch. I can feel the muscle firing off, much like the EMG test, where it fires off a few times then stops. I for sure don't have a cramp or the muscle stays locked or anything, just a quick 5-10 second firing of the muscle then it stops. Sometimes arms, sometimes legs, but never all over at once. Told the neuro I'm getting really scared and depressed, he puts me on Lexapro. 2 weeks into it i feel really sick. I stop taking both the Lipitor and Lexapro. Regular doc is ok with me off the Lipitor, but the neuro wants me to take the Lexapro. I keep telling him it's not stress or anything like that ( i mean i have a gf and 2 kids, i have stress, but not enough for all this )
And here's were I get worried. I go back to the doc and say I still feel weak and tired, some twitches and my hand(s) feel funny. Like my grip strength is ok, but the act of grabbing sometimes gets me ( it's no the hand squeeze, but the action of using my fingers to get it ) I get a blood test and whatever a smooth muscle test is, it is a little high, normal he says is 7, i'm a 9.
Now I'm beginning to notice my left hand , while seeming strong, feels sore and weak, and the same in the left arm muscle ( i can lift something heavy, but it will hurt later )
I have a local neuro visit next week, as well as called an ALS certified center in NJ and have an appt. there for another review.
Honestly, I think i have something autoimmune, but I can't tell cause am I weak from the fatigue, or is something happening to the muscles. I plan to be pretty firm with the neuro next monday as I think another EMG is needed to see if the muscles are going south.
What is killing me is the constant testing i do to myself, making me crazy and constantly thinking I have something bad. I know it's not fair to sit and moan here, but as most of you know, the lack of most doc's ability to explain or help us understand ourselves can be quite fustrating. I'm scared, I have 2 kids, a great job, and love life. I hate the weekends mostly because all I do now is think about where my life is going.
Thanks for listening... I can't vent to any of my family as they say it's all in my head and i'm fine.
Nick