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Tigers1201

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Hello All,

Over the past month I have had some crazy stuff happen to me that really has me stressed out and terrified. Let me start by saying that I have always been an anxious, worrying person but it hasn’t really had any impact on my physical health (at least until this last month). I am just looking for thoughts and opinions on this post. I understand only doctors can diagnose me and I cannot be diagnosed on the web.

About a month ago I woke up and noticed that my forearms both felt strange. a similar feeling to that of a weakness, but not preventing me from lifting or doing anything. After this went on for a couple of days I started to worry. About 5 or 6 days later I started having the same feeling in my thigh muscles and calf muscles. I Also started having a dull aching pain in my thighs down to my knees. At this point I got really anxious about it. A night later I went out with my wife to a music event and afterwards in the parking lot I am assuming I had my first anxiety attack. I was very short of breath and anxious so we went straight to the ER. They ran some blood work, did an EKG, a chest X-ray, etc. After staying for a few hours, all the tests came back normal and they chalked it up to being a little dehydrated and gave me fluids and sent me on my way.

A few days later I was still feeling the same way in my arms and legs, so I followed up with a local primary care doctor. He put me on Lexapro for anxiety and ran some additional bloodwork to check my vitamin levels. They also ran a Ana panel to check for anything autoimmune related. Everything turned out normal and he mentioned he thought it was anxiety related and said give the meds some time to work and see if it helps. I setup another follow up in three weeks.

I started the Lexapro and was getting a HR in the 40s or so at night so we reduced my dose from 10mg to 5mg. I took 5mg daily for three weeks. There was no change in the feels and pain in my arms and legs. At this point my leg muscles were constantly feeling tight as well. I revisited the doctor and referred me to a physical therapist to check and see if I was really having weakness in my arms and legs or if it just feels like weakness. I met with the physical therapist the next day and had about an hour session performing various exercises asked of me. She mentioned my muscles have good strength and are not weak. Upon my doctor hearing this, the doctor ordered a brain MRI without contrast. The results came back normal. After this, he referred me to one of the best neurologists in our area, but the problem is I am not able to see him until some time in early April.

With that being said, I am still stuck here with the same aching / strange feeling, tight legs and arms. I have also noticed a slight buzzing feeling in my left calf muscle now. This buzz isn’t painful and is on and off.

To date I am still able to walk around and attend work and live my daily life, but I feel miserable and trapped. I have tried taking ibuprofen and Tylenol at various time but it doesn’t impact anything. My legs ache when I lay down at night to the point where I am just sitting in bed thinking about it and not sleeping much. I don’t know how to proceed at this point and I’m worried I have some major illness such as ALS or MS. Today, I decided to get up and exercise some and see if it helped. I was able to get on the elliptical for about 15 minutes total and ended up going about a mile and a half. My thigh muscles have really tightened up since then so now I am resting around the house again.

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this.
 
Dull aching pains and tightness in the muscles don’t suggest ALS. The careful exam by the physical therapist is also reassuring, though the neurologist will have the final say.

Also the time course of this coming on rather suddenly in multiple extremities is not consistent with ALS.

So I would not be concerned about ALS.

Some medications can cause muscle aching. Statins and other cholesterol-lowering meds are notorious for this. It could also be viral, and it could still be an autoimmune/ connective tissue disease problem even with the negative ANA.

Hopefully the blood tests checked for thyroid (TSH) and muscle enzymes (CPK and/ or aldolase) as well as electrolytes.

In the meantime, I’d advise adequate hydration, stretching and gentle exercises, and hang in there. Sometimes things like this go away as mysteriously as they appeared, or they declare themselves in time.

But ALS would not be on my mind.
 
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Karen,

Thanks for the quick response. I forgot to mention I am a 31 year old male. I also have been having random muscle twitches that have decreased in frequency after starting the anxiety medication. I am not on any cholesterol meds. I am currently on lexapro, amnitripilyne, and coreg. I am on the coreg to help reduce my heart rate. I am on the lowest dose of amnitripilyne possible for IBS issues.
 
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