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Still undiagnosed after nearly a year
by MissK_NYC, Jul 01, 2008 11:17AM
Hi, I'm a 30 yo F bartender with a fairly active lifestyle. In Sept of 07 I woke up one day with sudden onset numbness in my left arm. An ER visit revealed no immediate danger and I was referred to neuro. An EMG revealed Brachial Plexopathy with a good prognosis. A few weeks later however, I noticed that my left leg was gradually going numb as well. An MRI of my brachial plexus and an MS screening revealed nothing.My DR's (all 4 of them) have basically given me a pat on the head and said call us if anything worse happens. Meanwhile, my day to day function isn't necessarily compromised but sometimes I feel like an 80 yo doing basic shopping, laundry and showering.
A quick run through of overall symptoms and tests
1. numbness in entire left arm most notably in my entire hand. Always present but varies in severity. Same with left leg with primary numbness in my foot
2. Phantom sensations in both limbs, also in varying degrees, primarily on lower arm near elbow, calf.
3. Nerve pain in bicep/tricep area (not actual muscle pain, just location) and in thigh
4. Both limbs appear to be fully functional with no atrophy, however my endurance level in both is very low. When asked I can perform all tasks. Some (such as squeezing something) I can do fine at first, but the strength decreases rapidly accompanied by pain.
-MRI's all negative
-x-ray of spine showed slight but "insignificant" scoliosis
-EMG only of arm showed IBP
-had Occupational therapy for the arm
My problem is that if it was just simple IBP, why hasn't it gotten any better after nearly a year? and why am I having identical symptoms in my leg? They've thrown out random syndrome names which I look up and don't really come close to matching my symptoms, prescribed Neurotin (which I won't take), but basically just shrug.
I don't mind that it may be a random medical mystery. But, I do want to be *sure* that I'm not missing something big that I may regret later not catching early.
Thanks for any suggestions!!
A quick run through of overall symptoms and tests
1. numbness in entire left arm most notably in my entire hand. Always present but varies in severity. Same with left leg with primary numbness in my foot
2. Phantom sensations in both limbs, also in varying degrees, primarily on lower arm near elbow, calf.
3. Nerve pain in bicep/tricep area (not actual muscle pain, just location) and in thigh
4. Both limbs appear to be fully functional with no atrophy, however my endurance level in both is very low. When asked I can perform all tasks. Some (such as squeezing something) I can do fine at first, but the strength decreases rapidly accompanied by pain.
-MRI's all negative
-x-ray of spine showed slight but "insignificant" scoliosis
-EMG only of arm showed IBP
-had Occupational therapy for the arm
My problem is that if it was just simple IBP, why hasn't it gotten any better after nearly a year? and why am I having identical symptoms in my leg? They've thrown out random syndrome names which I look up and don't really come close to matching my symptoms, prescribed Neurotin (which I won't take), but basically just shrug.
I don't mind that it may be a random medical mystery. But, I do want to be *sure* that I'm not missing something big that I may regret later not catching early.
Thanks for any suggestions!!
Member Comments (1)
by patsy10, Jul 01, 2008 08:40PM
lyme disease?
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