Constant muscle fatigue and weakness

[hwarne]

I'm a 21 year old female, 5'5", and 135 lbs. I run 30 minutes a day at least 5 days a week, and also do 20-30 minutes of muscle exercises 3-4 days a week. I have a history of neck and back problems. Lately, however, I've been experiencing a lot of muscle fatigue that seems strange. My whole body feels very weak and exhausted no matter what I do. For awhile I was only eating 1200-1300 calories, so I increased my calories to about 1500-1600 a day, but it has been over a month and I feel the same: very weak and exhausted, and in pain in my arms, legs, and shoulders. I also have massive headaches almost every day that last almost all day long. In addition, I often wake up in the morning with a numb body and tingling sensation in my face. I can move fine, but it just feels like something is not quite right. My violin instructor noticed a couple weeks ago that my forearms and hands seem to be swollen so she felt along some of the muscles, and it hurt very bad. I didn't even notice it until she pointed it out, so that's just another part of this whole problem. I've used tons of ibuprofen and ice but it doesn't seem to take away this constant pain I'm in.  I'm trying to get into a doctor at my college, but it will take awhile because the wait list is so long. I hope someone can have some helpful advice for me soon!

[ShannaBrien]

If I were you I would want my thyroid and EBV titers checked. EBV is the virus that causes mono. Typically it is short lived and you recover no problem, in some cases it becomes chronic. A lot of people with chronic fatigue syndrome have chronic EBV. EBV is hard on the liver and so is ibuprofen. Persons diagnosed with chronic EBV can not take anything that it metabolized thru the liver like ibuprofen, alcohol and many other medications. See if you can get an appt with the local health deprtment office sooner than the campus DR.
Good luck,
Shanna RN

[jemma116]

Make sure you do not exercise too much.  Your body still needs time to rest in between exercises.  Not sure how many calories you should be eating at your age.  But you should be eating a healthy diet with lots of fluids so you stay hydrated.  Headaches can also be a sign that you are dehydrated.  Becasue you had a low calorie diet, you may be anaemic.

When you mentioned you take Ibuprofen, this may be causing the odema (swelling of the limbs).

I had been prescribed Ibuprofen by my doctor for leg pains and they started to swell.  Another doctor told me the Ibuprofen can cause odema.  I stopped taking it and after a couple of weeks the swelling has subsided.

I suggest you see your doctor with regard to the numbness in your face and pains in your shoulders, arms and legs.  As you have said that you have neck and back problems, the pains in your arms and shoulder could be coming from knotted muscles and can stem from your neck.

The leg pains are probably referred pain from your lower back problem.

You may benefit from seeing a phsyiotherapist so they can advise you on the correct type of exercises to do to strenthen your core muscles.

Best wishes

[LivingInHope]

Please be sure and mention to college doctor office your swelling and often awakening with numbness and tingling in your face, along with the severe headaches.  You should be seen today, in my opinion, and at the emergency room with these symptoms.  They need to check your heart to see if it is okay, your potassium level, and if these headaches are something new, do either a CT scan or MRI of your head (ER would pick CT scan).  

Since your arms and legs are affected, a doctor might consider checking your spine also, especially when you have a history of neck and back problems.  Also, you should get a CBC w/differential and a complete iron panel done (to see if you're iron deficient, which can cause fatigue and headache).

If your heart is an issue, ibuprofen would not be the pain killer you'd want to use, and as it is not helping anyway, the best thing for you to do is get in to see a doctor TODAY- and in my opinion, it should be at the emergency room with your list of symptoms.