Aa
What is happenning to me???
I mid August of 2008, I was in the middle of about a 30 minute walk and all at once I felt a sharp pain behind my right knee. I didn’t think too much of it and continued on. After a couple of minutes, my right foot started feeling a little numb. Again, I continued the rest of the way home and rested it when getting there. The numbness went away within the hour.
I did the same walk a couple days later and the exact same thing happened to me again and I followed the same procedure as I did the first time it happened. Again, the numbness went away within the hour.
Through late August of 2008, I continued to have the sharp knee pain and foot numbness so I thought I better have a Dr. take a look at it. The Dr. thought it may have been a Bakers Cyst and asked that I get an X-ray (to look at the joint) and an ultrasound to look for the cyst. No cyst was found and the Dr. recommended physical therapy. I turned down the offer of physical therapy and just stretched things myself. While at the Dr. I was also asked if I had a tetanus shot lately. I couldn’t remember when the last time I had one was so they gave me a tetanus shot. A day and a half later, I woke up with a swollen lymph node above my left collar bone. I went to see the urgent care on a Saturday morning and the Dr. confirmed the swollen lymph node. He ran some blood tests and said everything looked okay, but he was starting me on an antibiotic that I can’t remember the name of.
The next Monday morning the lymph node swelling was down slightly, but I was very worried at this time so I went to see my primary physician. He also did several blood tests, and an abdominal/pelvic CT which all came back normal. He had me see one of the surgeons just to get their thought of the situation. They didn’t see anything to be concerned about either. The surgeon recommended I get an ultrasound on the lymph node just to see if everything looked okay there too. The ultrasound looked fine except for the node still being a little enlarged. I just left things as is and the lymph node swelling went down to where I actually had to search just to find it.
On September 19th, 2008, I had a physical given by my primary physician and again, everything came back normal. I did have a sinus infection and my Dr. asked me I wanted to get a sinus CT being I have had some sinus surgery in the past which I thought wouldn’t be a bad idea being the ENT would want that anyway when I would decide to see him. My Dr. also prescribed an antibiotic for the sinus infection.
On September 26th, I had the sinus CT and everything was relatively normal besides some mucus thickening which was probably part of the infection and some sort of holding cyst.
Late September (26th was my first visit) I started having the foot numbness without the pain in the back of my knee. I was actually having some major tightness in my right, outside shine muscle. This concerned me a bit and I thought I would have the chiropractor take a look at things too. I went through a couple of adjustment appointments with nothing helping. He then took an x-ray of my spine, but didn’t see anything glaring. Throughout the couple of weeks of adjustments, I also noticed my left foot going numb and then my hands going numb from time to time. These periods of numbness would often be while sitting in my chair at work or in my truck, but they would happen other times also. After telling the chiropractor of the new symptoms, he referred me to a neurologist.
On October 7th, 2008 I went back to see my primary physician again to explain the numbness and he agreed about seeing the neurologist. He also recommended having a brain mri which I did on October 17th. The brain MRI also came back normal.
On October 21st, 2008 I went to see the neurologist for a consult. The Dr. looked at the MRI, listened to my story, ran some basic tests that included reflexes, walking heel to toe, strength tests for my hands and feet, etc… and she thought everything looked okay, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have an EMG done.
On October 25th, 2008 I went to see another neurologist at the same clinic that did the EMG. After the EMG (electrodes shocking me and needles in my muscles (arms & legs) the Dr. said the only thing he could see was possible incidental mild carpel tunnel in my right arm and borderline carpel tunnel in my left arm. At this point I just wanted to know “Do I have ALS or MS” The Dr. told me the good news is that you don’t have ALS and it doesn’t look like MS from all the tests that have been done so far. At this point I’m feeling pretty good about not having ALS.
On October 27th, 2008 I went back to see the original neurologist to go over the EMG report and she basically said the same things as the Dr. doing the EMG procedure. She thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do a c-spine MRI just in case that would show anything. I did the c-spine MRI that day and the Dr. told me a couple days later that was normal too.
On October 30th, 2008 I was having major burning pain in my knees and some muscle tightness in my legs. They were not hot to the touch, but felt that way under the skin. I called both my neurologist and my primary physician to see what they could do for this pain. My neurologist said if it is knee pain, I would have to talk to my primary physician. My primary physician gave me a prescription for neurontin. I took the following amount on the following days:
October 31st - 300Mg Neurontin
November 1st – 600 Mg Neurontin
November 2nd – 900 Mg Neurontin
November 3rd – 900 Mg Neurontin
November 4th – 900 Mg Neurontin
November 4th, 2008 I went back to see my primary physician about the knee pain and now having more muscle tightness that was not improving and he recommended weaning off of the neurontin and gave me a prescription for prednisone. He also had me setup an appointment with one of the Internal Medicine doctors. I have listed the dosage of both the neurontin and prednisone below:
November 5th – 600 Mg Neurontin & 60 Mg prednisone
November 6th – 300 Mg Neurontin & 60 Mg prednisone
November 6th, 2008 I saw the Internist and she listened to my story and was going to run additional blood tests and rescheduled an appointment for November 18th, 2008.
November 7th – 60 Mg prednisone
November 8th – 60 Mg prednisone
November 7th & 8th the muscle tightness in my legs has gotten much worse so I stopped taking the prednisone completely not knowing what is causing any of this.
November 10th, 2008 I went to see my primary physician again and he did some more blood tests, but couldn’t give me any further information. I felt very light headed and kind of dizzy. I also have felt very tired for the last week or more.
I am so scare of ALS right now, it gets very difficult to even eat. The numbness is still there from time to time, but right now the muscle pain is the what is really bothersome. I could literally vomit at any given time I am so worried. I know this has been log and drawn out, but any help and/or words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time
I did the same walk a couple days later and the exact same thing happened to me again and I followed the same procedure as I did the first time it happened. Again, the numbness went away within the hour.
Through late August of 2008, I continued to have the sharp knee pain and foot numbness so I thought I better have a Dr. take a look at it. The Dr. thought it may have been a Bakers Cyst and asked that I get an X-ray (to look at the joint) and an ultrasound to look for the cyst. No cyst was found and the Dr. recommended physical therapy. I turned down the offer of physical therapy and just stretched things myself. While at the Dr. I was also asked if I had a tetanus shot lately. I couldn’t remember when the last time I had one was so they gave me a tetanus shot. A day and a half later, I woke up with a swollen lymph node above my left collar bone. I went to see the urgent care on a Saturday morning and the Dr. confirmed the swollen lymph node. He ran some blood tests and said everything looked okay, but he was starting me on an antibiotic that I can’t remember the name of.
The next Monday morning the lymph node swelling was down slightly, but I was very worried at this time so I went to see my primary physician. He also did several blood tests, and an abdominal/pelvic CT which all came back normal. He had me see one of the surgeons just to get their thought of the situation. They didn’t see anything to be concerned about either. The surgeon recommended I get an ultrasound on the lymph node just to see if everything looked okay there too. The ultrasound looked fine except for the node still being a little enlarged. I just left things as is and the lymph node swelling went down to where I actually had to search just to find it.
On September 19th, 2008, I had a physical given by my primary physician and again, everything came back normal. I did have a sinus infection and my Dr. asked me I wanted to get a sinus CT being I have had some sinus surgery in the past which I thought wouldn’t be a bad idea being the ENT would want that anyway when I would decide to see him. My Dr. also prescribed an antibiotic for the sinus infection.
On September 26th, I had the sinus CT and everything was relatively normal besides some mucus thickening which was probably part of the infection and some sort of holding cyst.
Late September (26th was my first visit) I started having the foot numbness without the pain in the back of my knee. I was actually having some major tightness in my right, outside shine muscle. This concerned me a bit and I thought I would have the chiropractor take a look at things too. I went through a couple of adjustment appointments with nothing helping. He then took an x-ray of my spine, but didn’t see anything glaring. Throughout the couple of weeks of adjustments, I also noticed my left foot going numb and then my hands going numb from time to time. These periods of numbness would often be while sitting in my chair at work or in my truck, but they would happen other times also. After telling the chiropractor of the new symptoms, he referred me to a neurologist.
On October 7th, 2008 I went back to see my primary physician again to explain the numbness and he agreed about seeing the neurologist. He also recommended having a brain mri which I did on October 17th. The brain MRI also came back normal.
On October 21st, 2008 I went to see the neurologist for a consult. The Dr. looked at the MRI, listened to my story, ran some basic tests that included reflexes, walking heel to toe, strength tests for my hands and feet, etc… and she thought everything looked okay, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have an EMG done.
On October 25th, 2008 I went to see another neurologist at the same clinic that did the EMG. After the EMG (electrodes shocking me and needles in my muscles (arms & legs) the Dr. said the only thing he could see was possible incidental mild carpel tunnel in my right arm and borderline carpel tunnel in my left arm. At this point I just wanted to know “Do I have ALS or MS” The Dr. told me the good news is that you don’t have ALS and it doesn’t look like MS from all the tests that have been done so far. At this point I’m feeling pretty good about not having ALS.
On October 27th, 2008 I went back to see the original neurologist to go over the EMG report and she basically said the same things as the Dr. doing the EMG procedure. She thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do a c-spine MRI just in case that would show anything. I did the c-spine MRI that day and the Dr. told me a couple days later that was normal too.
On October 30th, 2008 I was having major burning pain in my knees and some muscle tightness in my legs. They were not hot to the touch, but felt that way under the skin. I called both my neurologist and my primary physician to see what they could do for this pain. My neurologist said if it is knee pain, I would have to talk to my primary physician. My primary physician gave me a prescription for neurontin. I took the following amount on the following days:
October 31st - 300Mg Neurontin
November 1st – 600 Mg Neurontin
November 2nd – 900 Mg Neurontin
November 3rd – 900 Mg Neurontin
November 4th – 900 Mg Neurontin
November 4th, 2008 I went back to see my primary physician about the knee pain and now having more muscle tightness that was not improving and he recommended weaning off of the neurontin and gave me a prescription for prednisone. He also had me setup an appointment with one of the Internal Medicine doctors. I have listed the dosage of both the neurontin and prednisone below:
November 5th – 600 Mg Neurontin & 60 Mg prednisone
November 6th – 300 Mg Neurontin & 60 Mg prednisone
November 6th, 2008 I saw the Internist and she listened to my story and was going to run additional blood tests and rescheduled an appointment for November 18th, 2008.
November 7th – 60 Mg prednisone
November 8th – 60 Mg prednisone
November 7th & 8th the muscle tightness in my legs has gotten much worse so I stopped taking the prednisone completely not knowing what is causing any of this.
November 10th, 2008 I went to see my primary physician again and he did some more blood tests, but couldn’t give me any further information. I felt very light headed and kind of dizzy. I also have felt very tired for the last week or more.
I am so scare of ALS right now, it gets very difficult to even eat. The numbness is still there from time to time, but right now the muscle pain is the what is really bothersome. I could literally vomit at any given time I am so worried. I know this has been log and drawn out, but any help and/or words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time
As of today 11/12/08, the muslce pain in my legs really just gets worse. I have also had some muslce twitching in my legs the last couple of days. As for some of the tests you have mentioned, I can tell you this:
Diabetes - 2 blood tests were done and came back normal
Lyme - 2 blood tests were done and came back negative
B12 - 1 blood test was done and came back normal
Sed Rate - Multiple bllod tests came back, all were normal
RA Factor - 1 blood test was done and came back normal
CBC - Multiple blood tests were done and came back normal
I kow there were additional blood tests, but I just don't remember all of them for sure.
The doctor and neurologist basically told me that the numbness that has traveled through both my hands and feet couldn;t be coming from anything lower than the c-spine. I don't know if that is completely possible, but I am trying to take their word for it.
Diabetes - 2 blood tests were done and came back normal
Lyme - 2 blood tests were done and came back negative
B12 - 1 blood test was done and came back normal
Sed Rate - Multiple bllod tests came back, all were normal
RA Factor - 1 blood test was done and came back normal
CBC - Multiple blood tests were done and came back normal
I kow there were additional blood tests, but I just don't remember all of them for sure.
The doctor and neurologist basically told me that the numbness that has traveled through both my hands and feet couldn;t be coming from anything lower than the c-spine. I don't know if that is completely possible, but I am trying to take their word for it.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi
Thanks for the detailed post! How are you now?
ALS is a generalized disease involving the whole body. So relax!
Diabetes is notorious for causing symptoms you are facing. Has this been ruled out? Other causes are Lyme’s Disease and Vitamin B12 deficiency. A pain or swelling in popliteal fossa (hollow portion at the back of the knee) can cause numbness in the foot due to Irritation of the nerve. A thrombus in the blood vessel supplying the foot too can cause this problem. Maybe a color Doppler or MRI of leg vessels below the knee level and nerve conduction study at knee level done.
Alternatively it could be due to compression of nerves at the level of the lumbar spine in your lower back.
This needs a more detailed investigation. I think you should discuss these possibilities with your doctor. It is difficult to comment beyond this without examining and various tests. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
Thanks for the detailed post! How are you now?
ALS is a generalized disease involving the whole body. So relax!
Diabetes is notorious for causing symptoms you are facing. Has this been ruled out? Other causes are Lyme’s Disease and Vitamin B12 deficiency. A pain or swelling in popliteal fossa (hollow portion at the back of the knee) can cause numbness in the foot due to Irritation of the nerve. A thrombus in the blood vessel supplying the foot too can cause this problem. Maybe a color Doppler or MRI of leg vessels below the knee level and nerve conduction study at knee level done.
Alternatively it could be due to compression of nerves at the level of the lumbar spine in your lower back.
This needs a more detailed investigation. I think you should discuss these possibilities with your doctor. It is difficult to comment beyond this without examining and various tests. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!
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