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1359227 tn?1282522148

Post Viral?? Weakness and tingling after flu....

Hi I'm Jeff, I'm 28 years old and live in Toronto Canada...
I need help trying to figure out what's happening to me...
I'll start from the beginning...In November 2009 I started to get a sharp burning pain in my back...by my left shoulder blade...by the end of December the burning pain had spread to the right side then to the top of my stomach....the pain was a daily thing and varied in intensity throughout the day...but remained the same for about 6 months.
Then at the end of May...I caught a sore throat from my girlfriend, lymph nodes on each side of my neck swelled up which has never happened to me before...other than the enlarged nodes there was nothing unusual about the cold...runny nose...cough...and very sore throat..........in a couple days the cold subsided...and i started to get tingling in my legs and arms....then my eyelids started to burn and my eyes went red...that went away in a couple days....the tingling and burning in my legs and arms continued and increased in intensity....my legs and arms started to feel really weak....by the 3rd week of June my legs were so weak I had trouble walking.....by the end of June I could barely stand and was tingling and burning all over my body....I checked into the hospital in the beginning of July....the doctors in the ER suspected GBS....so they did a spinal tap and admitted me.....the spinal tap came back normal...they did an MRI of my brain and spine which were also normal....then an EMG and Nerve conduction tests which were also normal....they decided to release me and let me follow up from home (which i wasn't very happy about since I could still barely walk)
It's now July 16th and I'm still really weak in my arms and legs and back of my neck....and I get a light burning or tingling sensation all over my legs..genital area..arms...and sometimes neck face and chest....It's very scary as I have a 10 month old son and I'm really worried about what's happening to me....I have an appintment with another Neurologist in a week and a half.....
What does everybody think??
Post Viral???
Will I ever be back to normal??
3 Responses
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Avatar universal
I am having a similar experience. It is maddening. Got sick with mild fever, chills, aches followed by losing my voice 2-3 times over the next 2 months. After my voice and throat improved I got a sinus infection with another more intense fever. Through the process I was give 3 rounds of doxy. As I started feeling better I broke out in an less common rash, pityriasis rosea. Luckily it did not last long and never got to bad and cleared up quickly. Finally I was feeling back to normal for a few days until I started tingling. It started in my fingers and toes and has spread all over my body. I have been been experiencing this for for about 4 months. It increases and decreases in intensity and has also come with minor muscle twitching/pain and weakness. Cold spots/burning buzzing and no doubt some anxiety when it is at its worst. Any testing I have done comes back normal thus far but I have really only done blood work and reflex tests. The PA thinks I am bonkers. Thankfully this post and many like it have given me some sort of relief if it is in fact just a post-viral reaction that should go away long term. It is mostly tolerable discomfort wise but the lack of understanding or control of your body is what is maddening.
Helpful - 0
1093617 tn?1279302002
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi, Thank you for your question. From your description of symptoms, it sounds that you are suffering from post viral fatigue syndrome that may originate after a long lasting viral infection or if you had viral illness plus underlying disorder such as anemia, diabetes etc. One may experience muscle pain, headache, no refreshing sleep, malaise, pains in joints and sometimes nerve compression symptoms (tingling/weakness). To diagnose this it is quite essential that your doctor first evaluate common accompaniment of other disorders such as anemia, hypothyroidism, diabetes, kidney or liver dysfunction and may be persistent (or not properly cured) infection. Meanwhile, you should keep your immunity high by taking a balanced diet, avoid stress, take brisk morning walk and take sufficient sleep. This will surely help you in recovering from your symptoms much faster. Hope this information proves helpful. Take Care & Regards!!!

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Avatar universal
Jeff! Glad to see you  - I responded to your initital email a month ago - you were just about to go to the hospital...you were very concerned about MS, but I suggested that you were experiencing a post viral reaction. Did you have a chance to read my post to you?

I also have the same story but from a vaccine reaction to the H1N1 vacc - go back and read my post to you - It has been 7 months for me with slow recovery - there is a network of us on the Vaccine & Immunizations forum - under Tingling after the Swine Flu Vacc Chapter 2 - check it out - there are months worth of posts fro people who suffered autoimmune reaction in which your immune system attacked your peripheral nerves - you will get well again, it just takes alot of time. There are many posts from folks who have seen neuro's - some helpful, most not. But from the neuro's that KNOW about this reaction - we have gotten really good info.

There was something floating around in your peripheral nervous system that mimicked the flu that your immune system wiped out - then it did another sweep and found something that seemed similar and attacked. This caused your nerve endings to be very irritated and damaged - the thing that helps the most is LOTS and LOTS of sleep, no stress, no excercise, and supplements - if you check out the forum I mentioned you will find a whole bunch of people like you - just via a vaccine reaction.

I am glad you are posting here and glad that you are OK - now that you have had all the tests possible for all diseases/MS/ etc - you must begin to focus on getting well again and not stress yourself (hard to do, I know)

Go to the foum and read through - there are volumes and volumes - you can even find the original one back in Dec...I been posting since Jan - these people have been my angels - go there! LOL!

I was so ill an ambulance came to get me and I really thought I might not make (not kidding) I was so ill - It has been one of the most challenging health crises of my life. One thing everyone says across the board is that healing is slooooooow - this is true, and you need to go super easy on yourself - I couldn't work for 6 months  - but am back on the job - still have symptoms that wax and wane but definitely have had a few curve balls thrown at me in the forms of relapses etc...one day at a time.

I had always hoped you had read my response from your initial post to this forum - I was pretty sure that was what happening - post viral autoimmune reaction. I know how scary it is and how it feels.

Take care - see you over at the other forum :)

Cathy

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