jjz34245
11-16-2006, 06:41 PM
Hello all.
I came to this website about 8 months ago looking for answers, and some support - and did get some support.
But I was worried about the fact that at the time, there were very few people who logged back in to say "I feel fine again!"
Well... "I Feel Fine Again!" :)
Here is my story... I am male, Age 35, generally healthy.
About the end of Feb 2006, I started to feel ill. General malaise, headache, and a killer case of upset stomach. I never did vomit, but food and liquids went right on thru if you know what I mean...
I lost 18 lbs in 3 weeks. (And I was / am slightly overweight)
Around the same time, as the stomach symptoms began to slowly subside, I began to notice the neuropathy symptoms. Twitching, extreme fatigue, sore muscles a day or two after doing something active - things that would have never made me sore in the past. I had a bad tremor that I could feel in my neck, shoulders, arms and hands. And the worst symptom - these extremely severe muscle cramp / tension headaches in the back of my neck - up to the base of my skull.
I went to the doctor 4 times in 3 weeks. Blood tests were all normal. I had no fever. They said "probably viral". Not much they could do. I had an MRI with contrast after I told the doc about the headaches. Neuro seemed to think everything was ok - with some possible concern about something that could be MS-looking plaque - or maybe not. "Only time will tell" - "if you don't start feeling better - come back"... etc...
When these tension headaches got really bad, I would get light headed, and sometimes get nauseous when I stood for more than a minute or two.
Day to day was different. I'd feel ok for a day or two, then bad again. But the minor symptoms began to slowly fade away.
The initial digestive problems were gone in 4 or 5 weeks. I think I had a gastro-intestinal virus of some kind. The rest of the symptoms seem to me to have been post-viral in nature. My immune system attacking my nerves while it was also attacking the virus...
The muscle soreness from being active subsided first. I began playing softball again in May. No big problems. I was a little more sore than usual at first, but I could handle it - and it always goes away after a couple of days. The tremors slowly faded - would go away, come back for a day, go away again... Always a very SLOW improvement though.
The twitching mostly went away slowly. So slowly, I am not really sure when it stopped completely. It did continue for months though.
Finally, the neck cramps and headached faded. I had been taking tylenol or naproxen sodium for them all along - and was finally able to stop the drugs all together for days at a time... Occasionally I still take a couple for headaches - kind of like I used to before I got sick come to think of it.
Today, 8 months later, I still feel like something is not 100% right. But it is so minor, I am able to ignore it most of the time. I get a little hint of that old light-headedness, or maybe a headache, or a sore muscle, but the level of severety is so low, that I pretty much write it off to normal everyday aches and pains now. I fully expect the improvement to continue as it has all along - though not much more improvement would really be needed now.
And that is my story. This seemed to be a neurological problem of some kind. It did slowly go away. And I am happy to pass the story on to those of you who may feel the same way, and are worried about what is happening to you.
My advice - keep a journal. Keep track of how you feel. If you are getting better slowly, sometimes it is hard to tell, and you will remain frustrated when you should actually be more optimistic.
I am also not trying to say they this applies to every condition. Just keep in mind that you are not always doomed to live with this stuff endlessly!
Thanks to those who sent me encouragement back in March!
-Zim
I came to this website about 8 months ago looking for answers, and some support - and did get some support.
But I was worried about the fact that at the time, there were very few people who logged back in to say "I feel fine again!"
Well... "I Feel Fine Again!" :)
Here is my story... I am male, Age 35, generally healthy.
About the end of Feb 2006, I started to feel ill. General malaise, headache, and a killer case of upset stomach. I never did vomit, but food and liquids went right on thru if you know what I mean...
I lost 18 lbs in 3 weeks. (And I was / am slightly overweight)
Around the same time, as the stomach symptoms began to slowly subside, I began to notice the neuropathy symptoms. Twitching, extreme fatigue, sore muscles a day or two after doing something active - things that would have never made me sore in the past. I had a bad tremor that I could feel in my neck, shoulders, arms and hands. And the worst symptom - these extremely severe muscle cramp / tension headaches in the back of my neck - up to the base of my skull.
I went to the doctor 4 times in 3 weeks. Blood tests were all normal. I had no fever. They said "probably viral". Not much they could do. I had an MRI with contrast after I told the doc about the headaches. Neuro seemed to think everything was ok - with some possible concern about something that could be MS-looking plaque - or maybe not. "Only time will tell" - "if you don't start feeling better - come back"... etc...
When these tension headaches got really bad, I would get light headed, and sometimes get nauseous when I stood for more than a minute or two.
Day to day was different. I'd feel ok for a day or two, then bad again. But the minor symptoms began to slowly fade away.
The initial digestive problems were gone in 4 or 5 weeks. I think I had a gastro-intestinal virus of some kind. The rest of the symptoms seem to me to have been post-viral in nature. My immune system attacking my nerves while it was also attacking the virus...
The muscle soreness from being active subsided first. I began playing softball again in May. No big problems. I was a little more sore than usual at first, but I could handle it - and it always goes away after a couple of days. The tremors slowly faded - would go away, come back for a day, go away again... Always a very SLOW improvement though.
The twitching mostly went away slowly. So slowly, I am not really sure when it stopped completely. It did continue for months though.
Finally, the neck cramps and headached faded. I had been taking tylenol or naproxen sodium for them all along - and was finally able to stop the drugs all together for days at a time... Occasionally I still take a couple for headaches - kind of like I used to before I got sick come to think of it.
Today, 8 months later, I still feel like something is not 100% right. But it is so minor, I am able to ignore it most of the time. I get a little hint of that old light-headedness, or maybe a headache, or a sore muscle, but the level of severety is so low, that I pretty much write it off to normal everyday aches and pains now. I fully expect the improvement to continue as it has all along - though not much more improvement would really be needed now.
And that is my story. This seemed to be a neurological problem of some kind. It did slowly go away. And I am happy to pass the story on to those of you who may feel the same way, and are worried about what is happening to you.
My advice - keep a journal. Keep track of how you feel. If you are getting better slowly, sometimes it is hard to tell, and you will remain frustrated when you should actually be more optimistic.
I am also not trying to say they this applies to every condition. Just keep in mind that you are not always doomed to live with this stuff endlessly!
Thanks to those who sent me encouragement back in March!
-Zim