I am in limboland

Two months ago I woke up with muscle aches, pins and needles feeling, joints ache, muscle twitching and a feeling of ants crawling on my skin, it kind of felt like I had a bad sunburn, plugged right ear and a bothersome throat on my right side and extreme fatigue. Had lots of bloodwork done that came back normal, mri of the brain which showed some white lesions, mri of the neck and spine which showed mild to moderate spinal stenosis on the left side no lesions. Saw a Neurologist who specializes in MS and he feels that I do not have MS. He did more blood work up which I don't get back until next Thursday. His thoughts were I picked up a virus , lyme disease or fibromyalgia which he also thinks my hormones could be playing a part in some of my symptoms. My question is if all my blood comes back normal where do I go from here? Should I have a lyme test done by IGENEX, see a rheumotlogist dr. My extreme fatigue is gone, I still do get tired but not as bad, most of the pins and needles feeling have gone, muscle twitches are still there but not as many as before, joints still ache and my left shoulder and upper arm still hurt and I still get the itchy crawly feeling. Could all of this be due to my hormones, I am 52. Should I ask for a emg test on my muscles? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

Your physician appears to be on the right track.  Usually in such cases an infection is involved.  Previous cases that were brought to my attention involved Mycoplasma, which can cause every one of the symptoms that you listed, especially the skin problems, and other symptoms.   We have found that such infections are very commonly involved in atypical MS and other neurodegenerative diseases.  The testing by Igenex could rule out Borrelia and possibly other Lyme Disease-associated infections, but not Mycoplasma, unless that is tested separately, usually by PCR testing of blood leukocytes.

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

You should also be tested for chronic infections, which occur often with cancers and depending on the type of infection, promote the cancer to more aggressive phenotypes.  Although this is not your problem, we found with breast and ovarian cancers that the most progressed forms of cancer were strongly statistically associated with infections like Mycoplasma.  In fact, the patients that died quickly from these cancers all had such infections, and they are known experimentally to cause rapid progression and death due to tumors in laboratory animals.

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

I think that my comments to Cheri would fit your situation as well.  Once the tumor was removed, this should have stopped all symptoms due to the tumor.  What remains must be due to something else.

[KariLH]

I have many of the same symptoms as you for 2 years now. My onset was rt arm weakness and tremor that developed into muscle twithes throughout body with weakness, tingling, muscle and joint pain, anxiety etc. I was finally diagnosed with a parathyroid tumor and am now 9 weeks post-op. I still suffer from muscle and joint pain and the twitching. I fatigue easily and on occasion have a funny feeling when I swallow. I desribe my nerve disorder as a buzzing sensation that I feel but is not visable to others. My doctor says to wait 6 months before she'll look into it. I have also developed a new symptom- a rash that appears only on my lower legs that comes and goes. I am 43 and wonder if my hormones are playing a role as I have started having hot flashes and occasional night sweats. My MRI was picture perfect and the neurologist said he wouldn't do a muscle biopsy as he was sure it would be normal. My blood work is all normal now that my parathyroid tumor is gone. The Dr says I had parathyroid disease for 8-10 years so I am thinking this is something else wrong with me as my symptoms won't go away. Curious to see what they decide with you!