buzzing,burning, stiff pain.

[holbalsa]

I hope one of you out there who reads this has had or has a clue as to what might be ailing me. I have gone to several md's ( including 1 neuro)- but they all have a "let's wait and see" diagnosis. Last summer when money was tight I lost my health insurance- so I haven't had a chance to let my primary care dr. and neuro know whats currently going on.....any advice will be greatly appreciated.
here it goes: for years I have had several bouts of  extreme wide spread body pain(joint & muscles-but especially painfully tendonitis-ish feeling in left forearm) . Dr's checked for lyme, mono, thyroid, etc.- Test came back with Hashimotos Thyroiditis. Put on Synthroid. Seem to stablize a lot of my body aches EXCEPT left fore arm was still in major pain around the clock. No meds or stretching exercise helped. # years ago I started having wide spread muscle cramping and muscle twitching, this was while resting and with active body movement- I ran to Dr., referred to neuro who did EMG. He said that I had lots of symptoms of "something" but let's just wait and see. Since that day things have changed- not very many muscle twitches, but here's the odd thing.....my body will feel as though it is in perfect running order for weeks at a time , then one unlucky morning--I wake up with cramping in my left foot arch (which stays with me all day, but is worse at night), the pads of my left foot feel beat up and less meaty ( clearly not a medical term), my left hand can't seem to grasp thin items( like a popsicle or pen ) without a excruciating burning sensation in the middle of my palm, feels as though i have extreme tendonitis (cramping, sharp burning pain, muscles feel hard, extreme pain) in my wrist , fore arm, hand and left foot, and recently I have had the sore hand thingy in both hands at times.  I have not lost any muscle strength, Also no extreme stress going on ---as far as medicines- beside 175mcg of levothroid- no other meds, I don't drink or smoke.
Obviously the whole here today gone in a few weeks is better than here and not leaving and getting worse- but every fee weeks I am completely struck down and unable to function. There is also a sporadic humming/buzzing sensation in my legs (mostly left though) and arms (again mostly left).
          Also it needs to be noted that 3 years ago I was diagnosed with chronic osteomyelitis ( originating in my lower jaw from 2 pieces of retained gauze left there 16 years prior whenI had my wisdom teeth removed) my health insurance (Kaiser)) seemed unfazed, I had swollen glands wide spread for last 10 years and went to outside Dentist, asked for him to inspect gums that have periodically wept for last 16 years- he did simple x-ray and said -" gee, looks like there's some thing in your jaw bone". Long and short I had black mushy gauze removed- was never put on anti-biotic.  Another also is that I had left ankle tendon repaired 3 years ago. Then screw pushed out, so I had it removed 1  1/2 years ago- still retaining 2 more screws. One last also- I fractured my left arm 15years ago- but problems with it ever. No other medical stuff going on.
  I know this seems like a lot but even a vague idea will help-me to figure out some of the what if's...like most on this forum I have imagined the worst (A.L.S. and even M.S.) but even some thing not so frightening as osteomyelitis spreading to all my bones, scares the heck out of me. I probably have given all the useless information and will remember something relevant after I hit POST. In advance thanks for your help.

[Nazareth434]

Yeah i hear what you're saying- very frustrating indeed- being shuffled off to psych drugs is both irresponsible and lazy of docs- especialy in your case when somethign obviously was physically wrong- sorry you had to endure that and good for you to keep on when the odds were stacked agaisnt you.

[holbalsa]

yikes i just reread my post- a side from all the typos- sorry about my ranting.

[holbalsa]

I see what your saying- actually your story in whole is so much what you are hearing these days...patients complaining for a ridiculous length of time about -what seems like easy symptoms to diagnose- and the dr.'s just don't see it , so they become impatient and easily annoyed- so they send you off to mental health dept. as if that is going to fix it??? more likely it will just shut you up. --here's why i trust no doctor---i spent 16 years complaining about these huge- wait, HUGE, swollen glands sticking out from under my chin (which you could also see pushing up on my tongue.........) it was awaful. every few weeks my gums would open up and look like i had chewed on glass. when my mouth would be in it's full blown state my other glands all over my body would swell up into hard little ping pong sized lumps. my joints would swell...then there was the low grade fever i had for 7 1/2 years, my thyroid died, my hair was falling out , then my spleen was enlarged and they found out that my liver was covered with clots and leisions, and because my tongue was so swollen and my speach was impacted they sent me for an m.r.i.---the long and short of it is that i had to drive them nuts so get them to perform ANY test...and they could not figure it out. funny thing is with every complaint from me about pain  they would give me referrals to the psych. people. - instead of figuring it out- i went to my dentist' office one the first day that he retired and met my new dentist...showed him my mouth, he asked me my "story', did a simple x-ray and came back with the film and said "see this little gray area here in your gums?? you  have to really look hard but it's there." WHAT???? was all i could say- "see that little gray thing is a piece of retained gauze."
so- who's crazy now?????? long and short of it- i never took even one of the prescritions they wrote for me- i pestered til i figured it out. and my doctor of the last 10 years said to me one day- "thank god you pushed on , never giving up-."  so far two pieces of retained gauze have been removed from my jaw---i had my wisdom teeth removed and a root canal done back in 1989....they apparently forgot it was in there..there being my jaw. i stll have one last socket that they will explore this coming year.  so they new aches, pains, and burning sensations i'm faced with now....i will find the answers. i learned that if you stay strong even when the doctors talk down to you--you are the only one who gets to decide when it's time to let some thing go.  as far as the mental health people- they are destroying people with the medications they freely hand out. i argued with a psych guy once who actually yelled at me- oh , he was pissed- he told me that i thought i was better than him because i told him that i thougyt psych. had gotten lazy in the last decade, that any old m.d. could dispense pills- it infact would take a healer who loved his patients  to truly be a good doctor- not some one who would just medicate and hope you stop whinning. he sent me a funny letter telling me that pschiatry wasn't for every one....meaning stay away. one last jib-- i asked him ; isn't it reasonable to assume that if i've spent the last 16 years wondering, begging, crying for answers from the trained professionals and they haven't a clue- then whe i leave my h.m.o. and seek outside help, figureit out with one $ 30.00 x-ray...gee aren't those grounds to fell angry or anxious??? i think so. wouldn't it be better to rebuild trust than try to medicate me yet again?  apparently not.  

[Nazareth434]

I didn't mean it was indicative of Crohn's- but rather some type of neuropathy- some start very specifically in the feet, and gradually progress up to hte lower legs and arms- have some tests done- even a third time if necessary because hte tests can sometimes miss the problem. I went for 2 years thinking I didn't have neuropathy because the first test didn't indicate it- but the test was not a thorough one, and last week another doc suggested I get another test and lo and behold I do have peripheral neuropathy.

[holbalsa]

Thank you for your reply. as for the question about me feet- yes my soles hurt. it started in my left hand then left foot. i googled crohns...i have no bowel issues. any other thoughts?
thanks again

[Nazareth434]

Holbalsa- this won't be much help probably, But I'm experiencing that 'humming/buzzing' sensation as well, and it is constant, in the calves and forearms mostly- it began about 14 years ago, and like you, it would seem to just majically appear and dissappear at will- I would go weeks and then wham- take the day off from work, rest alot, and would be good to go for another few weeks, then it began happening a couple of times in two weeks, then gradually it became constant with that pronounced 'humming/buzzing' sensation which pretty much perfectly describes what it feels like- it feels almost exactly like a muscle has gone to sleep and is in the stage of half 'waking up' where the muscle just seems to be vibrating/humming/buzzing until it fully 'wakes up'.

I was just diagnosed yesterday infact with Peripheral nueropathy. Have you ever been tested for that? A neorologist can run tests to determine if that's what's going on. The test, while verging on quite uncomfortable, is bearable- lasts about 15 minutes or so, and they test your response time to electrical stimulation of certain muscles- concentrating on the ones that we are having trouble with.

Now- two years ago, I was tested by a neurologist who was obviously rushed, and couldn't be bothered to answer any questions and who didn't seem to want to be bothered to do a thorough examination, and was told that everyhtign was fine and that I probably needed to see a psychiatrist (for 14 years docs have been stating htis and putting me on myriad anti-depressents which did absolutely nothign to address the muscle problems that you and I experience, and I was almost about to simply give up and quit goign to docs and just deal with the pain without any knowledge of what was causing it for the rest of my life- but a doc finally suggested that I see a Physiologist, and my first thought was "Oh great, they're goign to suggest rehab for a condition that is undiagnosed and could do more harm than good if the condition is somethign liek McArdle's which causes muscle damage when muscles are exherted- it's an excersize intolorance condition where immediate pain occures when minor excersize is attempted." Anyways, my visit two days ago to the physiologist started out very badly with hte doc suggesting again that they'd probably never find a cause for hte pai n and that a, and I quote "lot of pains are linked to the mind and can be helped with psychiatry'. I argued that I'd tried practically every anti-depressent known to man, gave htem a fair shot, and they did absolutely nothing for the muscle pain- not an iota of help- and hterefore I was not convinced it was psychological in nature. Finally I convinced the Doc to order another neurological test, and yesterday, the physician doing the test kept exclaiming under his breat "Hmmm, interesting" and "Ah, ok," when reading hte readings, aND he concluded the test and said "You have a definate peripheral neuropathy" ... I was floored! I felt like a great weight had been lifted just fidning out that it was infact NOT psychological and was infact a physical problem!

Fro 14 years I was told it was psychological, and not one doc was willing to investigate further beyond just simple blood t4ests and such. It turns out that many things can cause peripheral neuropathy, and two conditions that I have were both pausible causes- Crohn's disease, and Acromegally due to pituitary tumor which was removed two years ago, but which I basically had to discover on my own by doing some research into symptoms I was having at that time, when hte docs insisted that it was either psychological symptoms, or simply because I wasn't getting enough nutrition because of the Crohn's. For 14 years I was being 'treated' for a condition that I never had, when all along I knew somethign physical was going on- not psychological! That's not to say that a minor psychological/seratonin  problem couldn't have also cropped up along hte way, but the fact is that the symptoms were due to physical problem first and foremost.

Anyway,  let me ask- do the soles of your feet hurt? Did it start out in the feet perhaps? Sometimes I guess this condition does start in the soles of the feet and progress upward slowly- This will be important for you to mention to doc if this is the case, and tell them if it has progressed slowly as opposed to rapidly, because this is also important in helping to make a diagnosis as some condtions evolve rapidly while others are distinguished by slow progression.