20 yr old with severe, unexplained muscle pain/weakness

[Docility]

Hello,

I'm a 20 year old female, and over the course of the past 2 weeks or so, I've been experiencing intermittent muscle aches. However, these past 3 days the pain has been constant. I'm worried because my activity level has not changed to account for this pain/soreness. Initially I thought I was coming down with a cold/virus, but I still have no other symptoms. Then I started thinking it could be due to stress (I just finished taking my final exams last week), but it's been a week since my last stressful event and the pain has only worsened since the semester ended. Here's a timeline of how this pain has progressed:

-The first episode was sudden weakness of my upper left arm, which progressed to soreness. (Duration: ~24 hours)

-Approximately 2-3 days later, I experienced localized pain on both of my calves. In addition to the pain, I felt tightness. (Duration: ~24-36 hours.)

-Approximately 2-3 days later, I had another sudden onset of pain-this time it was neck and upper back pain. (Duration: ~48 hours)

-Approximately 1-2 days later, both of my upper arms were aching. (Duration: 24 hours leading up to the next episode of pain)

-The next day I woke up with severe pain throughout most of my body: lower and upper arms, thighs, lower mid and upper back, neck, shoulders, buttocks. Even my jaw hurts when I open my mouth. (Duration: 3 days and counting)

Even the simple act of raising my arms is very painful, and I feel a force pushing down when I do raise them (which I can only describe as severe weakness). I have not been able to do much these past 3 days because most of my body is aching. I've only been able to sleep for 4 hours in the last 2 days because the pain is keeping me up.

I have no idea what this could be, and I'm just looking for a possible explanation. Does this sound like a serious condition? Thank you for taking the time to read this.

[Adam Tanase, D.C.]

The most responsible thing to do first is meet with your primary care physician. They'll likely perform some generalized tests to see what's going on chemically. From there, they may refer you to a specialist based on the findings.

Assuming all is clear and nothing is out of the ordinary, you might be developing an allergy. Soy, citrus, nuts, wheat, dairy, corn and artificial sweeteners (Splenda, Equa, NutraSweet) can elicit musculoskeletal pain.

Another possibility is that these are reactions to a medication... so if you've recently started taking a new or different brand of medication, that could be the cause.

Warm wishes,
AT

[Docility]

Thank you very much. I'll take your advice and schedule an appointment with my physician. Enjoy the holidays.