Does This Sound Auto Immune Or Spine?
 

April-Burning in right shoulder. Tingling in right arm fingers. Doctor ordered physical therapy. No xrays or MRI. During physical therapy slight burning sensations in neck and left shoulder/arm. Was discharged from physical therapy and told to keep doing exercises. Went back to gym with light weight.

May-Stiff neck, cramping in right leg, dizziness, blurry vision, clumsiness, balance problems. Images taken of Cervical spine-Xray/MRI-Normal. Referred to neurologist. The leg cramping was so bad sometimes it was hard to get out of bed. Standing on my toes hurt. The Neuro Suspected MS-MRI of brain normal. Was told I had "nerve irritation". Went back to orthopedic doctor who took images and he ordered physical therapy. Physical therapy had really no idea what was wrong and were baffled. They said my stiff neck was due to sitting behind a computer a poor posture. (not true..I have great posture). I was told I would just have to deal with this for the rest of my life (yeah..ok.) They had no explanation for my leg issues and balance.


June-Went to another neurologist. Ordered an EMG of my legs and MRI of my lumbar spine. Thinning disc at L5..not degeneration or arthritis. EMG normal. Was prescribed an anti depressant and I refused to take it.

July-Went to see a chiropractor/holistic doctor. Was told I needed a little more curve in my spine and I had arthritis. 'Don't worry.. it's minimal... once you get some curve back in your spine you won't have to worry." Chiro has helped with stiffness. Still experiencing issues with tension headaches, dizziness, balance, and sensations in legs/arms. Arms always feel heavy and legs feel numb or occasion. Went to my primary care doctor. Said I didn't have arthritis..it would be on the images and reports. Told me I was fine.

September-When working out I get a tension headache, stiff neck, and dizziness. Went to my orthopedic doctor to see if he can "confirm" I had arthritis. If I had arthritis.. I would avoid weights for a while. He said, "Well.. when I looked at your images.. you didn't have any. I looked at them before I came in and didn't see any. You might have some..but it's not a big deal. Your muscles are still tight. Just ice after working out and you'll be fine. I suggested a possible problem with a facet joint. "No..you're too young for that." Went to a rheumatologist a few days ago and she ordered a huge panel or blood. I asked her about arthritis. She said, "If you had anything significant it would be on the reports and images." I should get the blood results this week sometime.

I can't get any answers. Somedays I wake up and I feel tension in my right trap and right arm. Sometimes I feel it on the left side. I had tingling in my pointer, pink, and index fingers.. mainly right arm. Neck not as stiff. Stiffness in my right leg. Numbness/tingling in the morning in that leg and at night. Tingling in my left foot and occasion calf. Muscle twitching in my back. Arms easily tired when holding object. Tension headaches. . Occasional pulling of the right eye.. pain behind it sometimes.

I'm just lost as to what it could be. I'm afraid to workout because I feel like I'm doing more damage to something that hasn't been found. Does this sound more like a spine problem or does this sound something blood/autoimmune? I'm eating gluten/dairy free but I do eat out of the weekends. It's almost impossible to have a gluten free meal anywhere. Does this sound auto immune or spine related? Any advice is appreciated.

Hi VHDude78

I can understand your concern about all of the things that you are experiencing.

They might indicate an auto-immune disease and it is good to read that your rheumatologist has arranged a thorough series of tests.

When you get the results I would be happy to comment on them if you think that might help (because of my day job I know a fair bit about immunology).

All the best.

Could the arm, hand & shoulder stuff be related to any repetitive motion, desk job, weightlifting? any past sport injuries, whiplash?

I know you said posture is good , no head forward of the body? no hunched or rolled forward shoulders? and no excessive" military" posture?

If a maybe for some of those - something from our TOS forum might fit or be helpful -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

Thanks everyone. I don't have a forward head posture.... but my shoulders are a little rounded. I've only had one accident 10 years ago. I was rear ended while driving at 40 mph. The chiro has helped with postural issues. My symptoms are prominent in the morning..seem to diminish during the day..then come back at night. That makes me think..inflammation. I also thought about a b12 deficiency. My primary doctor refused to check for it because he said b12 not cause any of these issues. (Tight muscles, dizziness, balance, leg cramping, tingling... give me a break) My rheumy is checking all of my b vitamins. I've always had symptoms similar to gluten sensitivity or b12 deficiency. Dry scalp, rash on forehead/scalp, cognitive problems, irritable bowel (constipation has occurred often the past few years..even when I eat a lot of vegetables and juice) On occasion I do have racing heart. When I work out my neck gets stiff, my heart seems to race a bit, and I get dizzy and feel off balance. I told my chiropractor that I wake up and my neck is still stiff and my right trap burns. He seems to be clueless now and took my blood and is checking for food allergies. If anyone has advice or direction please let me know.

I also have to mention. In April when I began having the shoulder issues.. I got a couple of massages. My muscles were incredibly tight. The massage was PAINFUL. the therapist even said after the session.."You're muscles are tightening again...I've never seen that before. That's strange." My latest massage was about a month ago and wasn't as painful. The therapist said my muscles seemed a little less tense. I cut some of the gluten and dairy out of my diet and I was seeing the chiropractor. Has anyone experienced this problem with b12 deficiency?

Another thing I forgot to mention...my images taken in may were perfect. Xray and MRI. Then the chiropractor tells me I have arthritis in my neck, "Don't worry it's minimal.. once we get some of the curve back in spine you won't do any further damage to it." Ok? I don't know if they were just "bsing" me just to have some sort of justification for the adjustments.. but I have the symptoms for it. Can arthritis progress that fast? My orthopedic and primary doctor didn't seem concerned at all about it when I told them what the chiro told me. My primary doctor even said, "You don't have it..don't worry about it. You're fine. keep working out." :mad: Sorry I keep going on..it's just frustrating when I have so many doctors telling me different things.

Hi VHDude,

Since you feel you've had symptoms of gluten intolerance, have you tried a gluten-free diet?

The NT Gluten/Celiac forum is here: http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum13.html

You can ask for copies of the radiologists' reports on your X-Rays and MRI. You then might better discern which practitioners are telling you a story closest to the truth.

You might look into magnesium for muscle relaxation.
Please see the "search" function here on NT. There are countless posts on magnesium.

hope this helps.

Make yourself at home on any forum here. :D

Hope to see you around the forums.

Warmly,
DejaVu

Hello everyone and thank you Dejavu. Well..my chiro THINKS I may have a disc problem. The last week I've had an issue with aching in my right trap along my thoracic spine. He said there might be a slight disc bulge that's compressing nerves. You would THINK it would be something serious. I get tingling in both arms and both sides of my back. My legs tingle intermittently. Today my legs feel really un balanced. So Here I go.. back to the neuro that thought I had MS to get his advice. My MRI's and xrays are normal. Dejavu I'm working on a gluten an dairy free diet. The thing is..I usually get suckered into it atleast once a week. Intentional and non Intentional. I'm also getting burning behind my right eye as well. You would instantly think MS..but I'm thinking maybe Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.. some sort of postural issue. I looked at the link that was provided for TOS. I know it's easily missed by doctors. Has anyone here have or had TOS that experienced dizziness or leg issues?

Hi there,
I do not have much to offer, just my own experience.

I was diagnosed with "narrowing of the spine" 2 years ago. I have similar symptoms of numb, painful burning in my left arm and leg ALWAYS. My right side is numb but not as intense. My ND thought it was a trigger from a C6 C7 fracture I sustained in an MVA. Fast forward to 11/14 and I am diagnosed with Graves Disease and now investingating secondary autoimmune.

Also.... I have been on a AIP Autoimmune Paleo diet for years and still have symptoms, however, more managable. As far as eating out.... It is a choice you have to make staying GF. I rarely eat out due to this but when I do, I order a green salad with really nothing in it. Use oil or honey as dressing.

I am hopeful you receive some answers soon.

Thanks Goldenwillow. I'm beginning to think I could be autoimmune. I'm going to my neurologist on Monday to see if he can confirm a possible neck issue. It's just crazy how my MRI was normal. I've been sticking with a starch based diet. Sweet potato, kidney beans, fruits, veggies. I usually get suckered into that once a week cheat... so it's hard to say whether or not it's diet related. I would be happy if it was autoimmune..like you said..it could be managed with a good diet. It it's spine.. god...I don't want to have surgery :(