Hi everyone,

I'm new here, 42 year old male. My particular horror story started slowly around 5 years ago with the occasional spasm in the middle of my spine, followed by weakness in one arm. Over the course of a year, that became numbness and tingling in my legs.

After a while the symptoms largely subsided for one and a half years, but then came roaring back in 2019. I had a really powerful soreness over my left nipple, then a severe aching in my armpits and across my chest. The sensation in my nipples changed, almost became sort of numb, then about 6 months later that reversed and they became incredibly sensitive, like the sensitivity had been turned up a thousandfold. I have not been able to wear a shirt for two years now without covering my nipples with tape, stickers, or some other form of adhesive. The feeling of fabric brushing against them is torturous.

At the same time I developed an intermittent shortness of breath. It's worse when I'm laying down. Sometimes I can't sleep on my sides because of it, but I can't sleep on my back because it triggers my sleep paralysis.

Every day is a struggle. I have a severe, frequent dull pain right in the middle of my spine between my shoulder blades, and burning pain branches out and wraps around to my chest and runs down my arms. I have shoulder pain that pretty much never goes away, and sometimes my legs feel so weak it's hard to bear weight without thinking they're going to collapse from under me.

I'm forgetful and I have brain fog. On really bad days I stutter and have trouble reading. Overcast days seem to be reliably bad for some reason.

I've had every neurological test in the book. They say they can't find anything obviously wrong.

There are a hundred other symptoms to this illness, but I won't go into detail about the rest of them. Leaving this here in case it's meaningful to someone.

God Bless.

Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.

It's terrible that you're still in so much pain.
Apart from suggesting getting another opinion from a different type of doctor then I really don't have any suggestions but wanted to extend a welcome.

Regarding just the symptoms of the burning sensation in your nipples, on a spine nerve map it shows T4 goes to nipples.

I'll try to find the spine map and post it in a minute. Can't find the one I can post but there are many in go ogle.
subluxation and nerve charts

edited later to add: You could also do a search or check out the information threads at the top of the forum posted below as there are charts in there somewhere that may be clearer.
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Forum

OP: You mention "this illness" but I don't see a name it's given.

It's strange to me but a couple things that come to me, why not take grape seed extract for a few months at least and see what gives. I know it's a life saver in my life, and no brainfog here and good mind. I know grape seed extract can help with nerve damage. I've been taking it for years. And it cleans and thins our blood. If you take a pharma blood thinner then can't do both.

And I'd think about seeing a top notch naturopath , these doctors work on so much other issues mainstream docs do not.

Welcome searing2019.

searing2019, welcome!

Your life would be ever so much easier without these symptoms, I'm sure. Just wearing the tape around your chest as much as you must be doing might be creating new problems for you. Maybe the tape is too tight, or maybe you develop a skin problem from the tape. In any case, it's not good.

Sometimes when nothing can be found to be wrong even after countless tests, it's time to think about whether some psychotherapy might help. I'm not talking about a pill you could take. I'm talking about discussing your feelings, fears, and concerns with a qualified professional person who will agree to have regular sessions with you for as long as it takes.

Our symptoms can be very real and very devastating, and yet they can be psychological in origin, and amazingly enough, getting to the root of them can cause those symptoms to disappear. But you have to stick with it and be persistent and work at it.

I'm not saying that this is all in your head. I am saying that psychotherapy is an avenue worth exploring in this instance.

Saying something is "all in a person's head" belittles it. Your suffering is real. It deserves to be considered and treated in whatever way will help you to end the symptoms.

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I will certainly consider that.

I only call it an "illness" for lack of better words. Perhaps "condition" would be a more appropriate term.

I'll look into grape seed extract. Thank you!

Thank you. I do have pain in that part of my spine, but the MRI didn't find anything. My spinal tap was also negative.