Hi guys. im new here. Writing is somewhat painful for me, so I will try to keep it simple. Could someone please tell if they can relate to my problems and possibly what was their diagnosis?

I am 26, male. As for my problems... Let's say it all started with gradually increasing back pain last summer. It was caused by hard physical labor (moving company) abroad plus bad furniture that I had to use where I stayed (bed, chair, pillows etc.). I have bad posture (deep lower lordosis) and always experienced some degree of low back pain after prolonged standing or walking, so I wasn't too concerned when It started hurting me after work. It never was really painful, just unpleasant. After a while I noticed that this pain would go upwards toward my head, making my spinae erector muscles really hard and stiff - but still not that painful unless I sat in my chair that was not so comfortable. I knew this was not good, but I had to work only one month more (the job itself was not painful at all), so I thought "not a big deal, I will get better home". When I got home it did seem to get better with time, my muscles loosened up a bit, the pain was decreasing.

But here is where this all gets weird and seemingly unexplainable. I had moderate pain and stiffness only in those two long muscles that run along spine. I didnt have any nerve pain, no acute fits of spasm. Now, as the pain subsided, it began to wonder towards my hips (muscles at the side of my abdomen got tense and hurt for two days), then ribs, then I had some pain behind scapula, my shoulder hurt a bit. The pain resembled that when you exercise and feel the tiredness accompanied by weakness. It would go away, if I lie down flat on the ground and then move elsewhere. Every place the pain went to, it seemed lesser and lesser.

I dont like doctors after being misdiagnosed on many occasions, so I hadn't seen one that far. I though that this is natural, that muscles re-adjust somehow. What I didnt want to acknowledge up to that point, is that every spot the pain went to - left muscle weakness and stiffness. It just seemed too weird to accept and I decided not to bother. Pain was going away - thats all I cared about.

I was working out the weaker spots and it all looked as if getting back in track, until one day I woke up with really stiff neck (not painful). I freaked out and made an appointment to get an mri of my spine. In the meantime, just like the other muscles, my neck got really thin, all those tense muscles that I got just disappeared overnight. Not only those - ALL the muscles in my back were much much smaller.

The mri of my spine showed no significant changes, nothing that could cause those symptoms. Every doctor I saw told me to either get a mri of my little brain or get some PT. Since im my mind all of this was mechanically inflicted, I figured they won't find anything in the brain and I went with physiotherapy. The guy told me I have lower crossed syndrome and made me stretch a ton. Then we continued to strenghtening exercises. But just like before, after some improvement, my muscles get weaker no matter how hard I train. Even if I perform better at the training, I have increasing problems with dailly tasks. Everything just seems getting heavier for me, I can feel the weight of my own body, and its not nice. I get tingling and burning sensations all over.

This all lead me to the conclussion that I must indeed have some musco-sceletal or autoimmune disease. It just doesn't make sense. Why would my hands and calfs get so weak after some trauma to a completely distant muscle? I also developed slight sight loss and mild tinnitus. My b12 vitamin level is 550.

If anyone could shed some light on this one, I would be very thankful.

thank you in advance

Welcome to NeuroTalk....

I can't really attend to your back issues... I don't have experience there.

But I would like to ask, if you were taking any supplements when you had your B12 measured. Energy drinks, nutrition bars, fortified cereals, also count.

550 is not a sterling result (400pg/ml is the new low)...and may reflect some intake you are unaware of. The blood work for B12 needs to be taken when no supplemental vitamin intake is present. Stopping all supplements and fortified foods for 3 days at least before testing is best.

We have a spinal forum here... this is its link:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html

Sometimes it is takes a lot of patience to find answers. It does appear that you may have strained yourself with that moving job however.

Welcome Gregor1.

Also I would like to add....if you have the MTHFR genetic mutation and cannot methylate properly, you would have problems inspite of the testing. Folic acid has to be methylated to work in the body, just like B12 does. So if you have this genetic error (which is pretty common), you would starve in the midst of plenty.

Other factors causing muscle wasting are low carnitine levels (some drugs cause this), and low B6 intake.

There are neuromuscular diseases that also cause this which doctors typically test for.

I was sent home from PT after two weeks of a 4 week course and was told that I was losing muscle mass even while under their care. I had bad lumbar pain all the way across and quadricep and hip adductor loss. I had trauma from a hard shock up right side from car accident. Ifin your search, try Amyotrophy. I was diagnosed with that plus Periferal Neuropathy. The wasting muscles matched to the Amyotrophy better than Neuropathy. All people are different but you might have had trauma to your lumbar in your job while lifting, etc. Yes, the effects can be in a different spot than one would think. My pain moved from lumbar to hips and buttocks and gradually decreased until now. I am patiently waiting for muscle and strength gain but feel that it is not respondent to the demands that I place on the particular muscle groups. Perhaps nerves that have been damaged have to reconnect at their own pace and pushing myself does not accelerate the process. Cover yourself by good nutrician, excersise to tolerance, get 5+ hrs sleep, and if the pain gets too bad, seek help for that also. Maybe you are in an acute phase that had to be waded through. I am gaining strength but it is slow as I am approaching two years post accident. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

Thank you, fellas, for your words of wisdom. It is very encouraging to see other people care. I would like to ask you, zkrp01 , if you also experience sensations like tingling, burning, pins and needles as well as slight loss of sensation on the skin? I take your problems didn't go upwards. You haven't lost any muscle mass above your waist, have you? Do you take any meds? Are your muscles tense and in constant spasm? thanks once again!

It seems your muscle wasting, is progressive. Did it start happening before or after the car accident? Traumatic injury can cause permanent or progressive nerve damage, as with muscle.

I too experienced this over time with PN. My massage therapist and PT noticed it and they do not know each other. I am now about 20 pounds lighter than I was four or five years ago and I was already thin, no changes to diet or efforts to lose weight.

Muscle wasting can absolutely occur with all over body PN. My doctors advised that I keep up the workouts (sometimes easier said then done) but other than that, nothing can be done about the wasting.

Thanks for your insight, guys. Other then EMG and CT of brain, what kind of test would you recommend, if any. How often people make progress with neuropathy?

zkrp01, I saw on another thread that you had some neurological problems before your car crash. Would you say that the underlying problem is somewhere in your genes and the car wreck triggered something that would not have happened otherwise?

Yes to the burning zapping, pins and loss of sensation from the knees getting more pronounced approaching the toes. The muscle loss above the waist is limited to the soaz. (phoenetic spelling). The muscle that lifts the knee. My Endo RXd me Foltanks, methylated b-12 plus folic acid. I took everything that was not contraindicated as I was in quite a panic. Mrs. D was a lifeline to me and I took the shotgun approach. I still take fish oil because I work on a gyro bike almost daily and now am able to stand up and pedal 40 strokes. Once upon a time I would have fallen off. As far as spasms, I could not tell pain from spasm. They (muscles) would not harden up or try to work involuntarily but I would lie and rub deeply for the pain. Mt knees will stiffen and ankles and hips thus the gyro bike to keep the juices flowing, haha,sob. You might search Piriformis Syndrome, also Amyotrophy. The latter has an acute phase. I experienced some relief by performing Pifirormis stretches and these are close kin to stretches designed to release soaz. My b-12 number was at 114 when accident happened and b-12 deficiency can have wide array of effects. 400 is the low acceptable these days. Hoping for your betterment, Ken in Texas.