Fatigue, Pain, Weakness + Arachnoid Cyst

[InRoseCity]

Hello.

Years ago I was in a car accident, causing whiplash & in retrospect a mild concussion.  Everything seemed to be improving, then a few months later I started to have muscle weakness, unexplained pain, and fatigue.  The weakness was the most limiting problem, and physical therapists said I had somehow worked my muscles to the point that they "quit", without feeling any pain.  MRIs were done from the neck down, and I've had all sorts of diagnoses thrown at me since then, from fibromyalgia to malingering.  

Recently a mild head injury was reason to do a CT scan, where they found an arachnoid cyst about an inch in diameter, in the middle cranial fossa.  I'm told both that it's no big deal, and that I should do an MRI every few months.  

On www.arachnoidcyst.org I read symptoms that are EXACTLY the undiagnosable mess I've been experiencing the past many years.  However the site is mostly written by a highly emotional person who has the cyst, who doesn't provide very good medical research links.  

I haven't had headaches until this recent head injury, no seizures, none of the other stuff I see described most.  But on the same side of my body as the cyst is in my brain, I have muscle weakness, I drop things a lot, I have pain without a clear cause, sometimes I don't have pain when I "should", there are areas of numbness and tingling that are inconsistent with disc problems, or entrapment of one specific nerve.  I have a lot of fatigue, cognitive difficulties, and have experienced a lot of emotional changes.  Cognitive behavioral therapy helped, anxiety medication and psychostimulants help, anti-inflammatories do not, muscle relaxants help.

My question is, is there more than anecdotal evidence for a connection between an arachnoid cyst and the symptoms of fatigue, back and neck pain without a clear cause, muscle weakness, and numbness and tingling in the extremities?  Does it matter which side of the brain the cyst is on? (I'm recalling strokes present symptoms in the opposite side of the body only, my symptoms are on the same side of the body).

Thanks!

[ham224]

i have a arachonid cyst on the left side of my brain and i have been having alot of pain in my neck and sholder when i drop my arm and turn certin ways there is major paon i am in p.t. right now  and doesnt seem to be helping  could you please give me som ideas  on this pain could it be caused by the cyst  i have had xrays on my neck and sholder   also pain feels like something ripping and pulling (almost like someone has a hook in there and just keep pulling it till it tares)  please help

[InRoseCity]

Hi, thanks for that.  It didn't seem it could be linked to the weakness because it's on the same side of the body.  What did make sense were some reports of mixed up pain responses:  stuff that isn't injured hurts, stuff that is injured does not hurt.  My muscle weakness is most likely from an extreme overuse of a certain part of my back, which keeps getting the comment "it seems like you worked the muscles to the point that they quit, but how did you do that without pain?"

I have been diagnosed with non-hyperactive ADD as an adult, I'm 30 now.  Right now I have migraine like headaches for the first time, but I have a concussion.  

What I had read was that the hallucinations, migraine, paranoia are common to left-sided middle cranial fossa, but that it's different on the right side -- more verbal problems.  The past few  years I've had a slowly increasing problem with verbal skills, like I am dyslexic.  

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

Thanks for writing in.
Arachnoid cysts can produce all the symptoms that you are currently experiencing like tingling numbness, fatigue, one sided weakness but an arachnoid cyst in the middle cranial fossa (the one that you have) cannot produce these symptoms. The symptoms are due to displacement of the temporal lobe of brain.
Cysts in the middle cranial fossa present with auditory hallucinations, migraine like headaches and periodic paranoia. In children they produce symptoms of ADHD.
Hope this helps!