What is Wrong with Me?
 

Hi everyone. I originally started this thread in the Forum ``General Health Conditions and Disorders." Somebody kindly suggested that I should post it here to see if anybody would be able to offer help. Attached is the original post:

Stress relief
 

Hi Angel...thought I would mention that I had a few of the symptoms you are describing in your post. I was having night sweats and the hunger issues and the buzzing/vibration in my chest before I came down with the full body burning issues...and that led to Small Fiber Neuropathy.

My advice is to try and calm your sympathetic nervous system down. There are many ways to do that which you can read about with a simple google search. Meditation, mild excercise, socializing,etc. But you have to try and let your SNS calm down and start letting it recover and heal before irreparable damage occurs. I believe this is one reason I have come down with burning feet and hands and other nervous system issues.

I can say drugs did help me calm down but that is between you and your docs...think Klonipin and even gabapentin but this talk for your docs...also look at neuro protective agents...once again google...that can help also.

The people on this board are great and they can be a great resource so use them as you can.

Sven

I suggest you test for autoimmune conditions. Simple blood tests, some may have to be sent to specialized labs.

Some autoimmune conditions show up with neurological symptoms first.

"We use the tests we have, not the tests we need." per my Duke Immunologist.

Also test for vitamin levels, tho' I imagine that is done routinely,, but check to be sure.

If you do have issues with your Immune System (as I do) you may have deficiencies even tho' your diet is good and you even take supplements. There may be a problem with absorption or mobilizing your vitamins.

Best wishes, and keep us posted.

Hugs, ElaineD

Welcome to NeuroTalk:

There are two obvious things that come to my mind.

1) People living in the Arizona area may get lung infections, due to the dust storms. (California too)
Valley fever Symptoms - Mayo Clinic

You don't need to have ALL the symptoms, but the night sweats esp suggests some kind of infection.

My mother in law contracted Valley Fever in Calif when she moved to Southern Cal after my father in law died. She was quite ill, very weak and easily fatigued.

So I would get a lung Xray and the tests suggested on the Mayo link.

2) Since you have most of your issues on the right neck area, I'd suggest finding a good chiropractor to see if you injured yourself with the weight lifting. There is a cream you can buy with Lidocaine in it that you can rub on your neck to see if it is a nerve issue flaring with pain. Aspercreme with Lidocaine:
Aspercreme Pain Relieving Cremes and Gels: Pain Relieving Creme with Lidocaine

Target and WalMart have this at a very reasonable price. Many of us here use it for nerve pain. I apply it where my pain is located, knees and tops of the feet. If you get some relief from this applied to your right neck, it would suggest you have some compression in your neck, most likely from your exercise routines. The tendons that attach the muscles to the bones, have nerves in them, so if you over stretch them, you can have amazingly severe pain. It can take a long time for this to heal, and if you don't eat right and provide the repair nutrients it will take longer still.

There are many causes of neuropathic pain...some drugs like statins and fluoroquinolone antibiotics, and some others, toxins/solvents, from the workplace, viral/fungal infections, metabolic problems like pre diabetes and frank diabetes. There are many more, but right now I think the most obvious causes I mentioned here would be ones to think about.

I have most of your symptoms, but never woke up in a sweat, and my migraines are usually in the morning. You got a lot of good advice here. You probably already started with a neurologist. Next will be a rheumatologist. Many of us here have the buzzing. Its scary at first, but don't let it get you upset. It is important to stay calm. The nervous system is like circuits and electricity. Being upset and scared seems to rev things up and make everyone's problems worse and many of us have to learn the hard way, but it's good advice. I was diagnosed with small fiber polyneuropathy. The skin biopsy is a test done by a neuromuscular neurologist. It took a year for me to get to the right doctor and it is an easy procedure. Also, if you are having autonomic symptoms, you might need the tilt table test.

Angel, you have gotten some good advice already. But I am curious about one thing: You indicated that you had an MRI, but what areas did they look at? The symptoms you are describing could be caused by either central or peripheral nervous system issues (brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nerves). I am wondering what specific things they were looking to rule in or rule out.

You definitely do need to keep going back to the doctors to get any additional testing that you need to find the cause. As Mrs. D indicated, you could have a very serious condition that needs immediate treatment.

I wish you the best of luck. Please keep us updated on how you are doing.

Hi Elaine.

I did have a panel of blood tests. My PCP did one and so did my endocrinologist. Both were normal with the exception of Vitamin D deficiency. I now take Vitamin D supplements.

Thanks,

-Angel

Yes, I had my first visit with a neurologist in late June. He placed me on beta-blockers. In the past few weeks, the pain I'm feeling has been 90% in the back of my head and back of my neck, primarily on the right side. This pain was there when I first saw my neurologist. However, it was minor at the time so I feel like he paid it no mind. I see him again on August 30. I will emphasize how much pain I'm feeling in the back of my neck and behind my ears. I did some research and saw that there was something called a cervical herniated disc and occipital neuralgia. I am wondering if this could be what I have. This also reminded me that the nerve that was enlarged (when I had a ct scan) was the occipital nerve. They explained that this is why they took the MRI. But if I had a MRI and ct scan, I imagine something like a herniated disk would have been seen. I'm not really sure.

-Angel

Hi. I had a ct scan simply due to the fact that I was having a ton of headaches. On the ct scan, they found that I had an enlarged occipital nerve. They then took an MRI of my head. I'm not really sure what they were looking to rule out, but they told me that the enlarged nerve was really not a concern. At the time, my headaches were mostly bilateral at the temple level. Now, my headaches are mostly in the back of my head and I have a lot of pain behind my right eye and on the back side of my head, as well as on the right side of the back of my neck. I know a physical therapist and I casually asked them to look at my head and sort of ''feel around." They were able to pinpoint the exact points of my pain because they said that there were areas on my neck and scalp that felt swollen.