numbness, weakness, muscle changes

[videoPro]

Hi I'm new to the forum (sorry for the long post below),

I've been experiencing mild sporadic cramping in my hands and feet, fatigue, and I think my left forearm is smaller than the right and the right thigh muscle is smaller than the left (I'm right side dominant). I haven't noticed a loss of strength when doing normal daily work or if I lift wieghts. I do fatigue faster than before and feel like I need to breath heavily. Although I noticed about 2 years ago that holding a cell phone for more than a few minutes was very tiring for my arms. Then it started to progress about 6 months ago, to where touching my face and combing my hair felt akward. At the same time I began to loose sensation in my finger tips (at the same time I mean when I lifted my arms to touch my head). The numbness in the thumbs, index, and middle fingers hasn't gone away. I've always had poor circulation and last night something very strange happened. Pins and needles have been more common but last night only the little fingers and the ring fingers of both hands fell asleep. I'm sure it sounds ridiculous but when I woke up they were completely usless for 5 minutes (hands weren't cramped).

I also had spasticity in my hamstrings for a 1 - 2 weeks after the cramping started. I started to do some stretching and it went away. It was bad enough that driving home from work was very uncomfortable. I also had "stiff knees" during that time period. When it peaked I had to actually push the leg out to walk, because it wouldn't swing freely.

I've had an MRI and blood work for lyme, autoimmune problems, MS, stroke, etc and everything is ok. I have an EMG scheduled for this week.

About myself:
- I'm 26yrs old
- Never had anything more than the cold / flu
- No family history of neuroligal disorders
- I work at a computer all day long

[PMM]

Hi


My Dad complained of numbess and tingling in his hands and feet and it turned out he had a B12 deficiency. Have you been tested for parkinsons? You could also ask for a test to show the level of vitamins and minerals in your body. Sometimes when they are out of whack it can cause physical problems.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

Pat

[videoPro]

I've gone through numerous tests and it's going to come down to the EMG. If it's clean it's about 99% likely that I have BFS. If there are abnormalities it'll probably be bad.

I'll update you when I know later this week, thanks.

[PMM]

Even if you have BFS I would still explore the whole vitamin/mineral thing. I tend to get RLS and for me I have to make sure I take enough calcium and magnisium as well as about 20-30 min of leg exercise to keep it under control. My sons tend to get leg cramps that are kept under control with added magnesium. When Magnesium,Calcium and Potassium are out of balance they can cause muscle cramping and some of the B vitamin affect nerves.

It may be that there's not a lot of info on this and no dr will accept the possibilty all I know is that I now sucessfully treat my son who has ADHD with supplements and started them at a time when most drs didn't think anything but ritalin worked. Two of my sons stopped grinding their teeth when I upped their magnesium.

I'm not saying don't use meds all I am saying is that these days doctors don't really look at the body's needs just at the symptoms. Our food is not as good as it was 100 years ago so I think that many people don't get all that their body needs thru food. Sailors used to die from scurvy and that was just from a lack of vitamin C. Imagine all the things that can happen to a body that doesn't get all the vitamins and supplements it needs. For most people I don't think it is a factor but I know it is for myself and my kids.

Just something to think about.

Pat

[Kaiti]

Make sure you are getting plenty of fluids. The cramping might be an effect of dehydration, and also if you are at a computer, do you have a nerve pinching somewhere?

I has a nerve pinching in between my shoulder blades and didnt' think much of it until I realized how bad my posture was when i was sitting at the computer in a stool hunched over......I thought the stool would help with my wrists, preventing carpel tunnel, when in fact I think it made it a bit worse....at least I felt worse until we put a regular chair here.

Like Pat said, take a look at the suppliments and see what might work well for you. Alot of what we eat today has what we need, but we just need to fine tune it.

[johannakat]

Ring and pinky finger numbness/pins and needles is a sign of ulnar nerve issues. It could be a nerve entrapment syndrome. The heavy hands and numbness when lifting them are common sings of Thoracic outlet syndrome, which is a nerve and vascular entrapment at the collar bone/first rib/scalene triangle.

good luck to you

[teaandtoastgirl]

Have you tried a gluten free diet yet? if not I think this may answer some of your questionable symptoms. Cheers! here's to better health.

teaandtoastgirl

[red4now]

I never thought about the gluten free diet? Does it help with these symptoms? Any other dietary suggestions?

[The Pogue]

You work at computers all day long. Could you be getting repetitive strain injury from typing/mousing excessively? If you're playing a lot of videos at home after work, that could compound the problems.

Are you taking frequent short breaks during the day, and stretching your muscles? How's your working posture? Have a good quality chair, which keeps you at proper house? Try different sorts of mouses / tracking balls?

Just a thought.