Confused by my wide range of symptoms
Hello everyone, I’m new here and I am curious if anyone has experienced any symptoms like my own.
I am a 28 year old male, in December of 2020 I had a positive Covid 19 rapid test. One week after this I developed chest pains that persist to this day and have no explanation, and I’m not sure if they have anything to do with my current problems. In may of this year I had some issues with frequent urination. I saw my primary care and a urologist. They didn’t seem worried about this and all I was told was I had microscopic blood in my urine by the urologist and to schedule a follow up. The day after my urology visit I had horribly sore legs that were relentless for 2 weeks. After that subsided is when the neuropathy started. I mostly get burning in my feet, a feeling as if my shins are buzzing, and intermittent weakness in my hands. I was able to see a neurologist out of state a month after this all started, I had an MRI of my brain without contrast that was unremarkable and an EMG that all I was told showed I have Bi-Lateral carpal tunnel. “Slowed nerve conduction of the median motor and sensory nerves”.
A few weeks after this testing I was able to see a Neurologist in state and they were not satisfied with these EMG results and made me Schedule for another plus some testing for autonomic neuropathy. That was 3 months ago and is going to happen 3 weeks from now. To this day I still have chest pains, frequent urination, neuropathy pain, muscle pain and increasing muscle twitching throughout random spots in my body. I have tried Nortriptyline and Gabapentin with no relief. I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what this is. I’ve thought this could be CMT, Small Fiber Neuropathy, Isaac’s syndrome, MS, AlS and everything in between. If anyone out there has had symptoms like this I’d love to hear from you, this has turned my life upside down and I’m desperate for answers.
Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this and reply!
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Hello @amo8794, Welcome to Connect. I know it's frustrating and scary to have so many symptoms and not being able to pin down a diagnosis after seeing the different specialists you've seen. Some of your symptoms do seem to line up with small fiber neuropathy which I have but my only symptoms are numbness in the feet and legs and some minor tingling. You might find the following resource helpful for comparing symptoms for neuropathy.
-- Peripheral Neuropathy Fact Sheet:
https://www.ninds.nih.gov/peripheral-neuropathy-fact-sheet
You mentioned you still have the chest pains. I assumed you mentioned the chest pains to your doctor, did they have any thoughts or ideas of a cause? Are they on both sides of the chest?
@johnbishop thanks for the reply and info!
I have mentioned my chest pain to all doctors I have seen, it is only on my left side and this far the only thing they have been able to narrow it down to is musculoskeletal pain
@amo8794 thank you so much for your post.
I have had very similar symptoms. I received my first booster for the COVID vaccine in Nov. 2021. 2-3 weeks later I began feeling dizzy, nauseous, and even had a day where the room looked like it was tilted sideways. Within a month those symptoms resolved and by mid Jan. I had a aches in both hands, vibrations in my left calf, and electrical shoots or pulses in my toes and hands randomly. In April 2022, I got COVID and within 10 days I was having chest pain, palpitations, racing heart and BP instability. I also have urinary issues, and headaches, fatigue and brain fog.
I saw my primary care, all bloodwork was normal, went to neurologist, EMG normal, but skin biopsy revealed that I have idiopathic small fiber neuropathy. I am on 100mg of gabapentin daily and cymbalta. Still feeling symptoms, still having random chest pain.
Next Steps: changing my diet, sleeping 8 hours, 30 min of exercise daily. Neuropath antibodies drawn two days ago and getting a sleep study completed. I am also speaking with my primary care today about a second opinion.
You are not alone! We have so many of the same symptoms. I’m so glad you are here to post, and learn. If there is anyone else out there I would be grateful to hear from you too.
😞 I sure hope soon we get help and answers for so many of us suffering from the sudden onset of “carpal tunnel” like syndrome and neuropathy all of a sudden!
Not including the many other things my body now feels and does with no explanation of why my body reacted as it did!
@amandaashley28 it’s nuts how quickly the chest pains come on post infection and how there is no explanation for them! They have been part of my life for 2 years now. I’ve not heard of neuropath antibodies? Is this something your neurologist recommended to try and pin down an underlying cause?
Are you taking a statin drug? You mentioned CMT, there is a whole page of neurotoxic medications that people with CMT should avoid. I know statins intensified my symptoms ten fold, even after ceasing to take them. It was then I started having chest pains. Even now I have episodes of crushing pain in my chest, shoulders and upper arms. The first episode I thought I was having a heart attack, the doctors said it was a panic attack, but it just comes on out of nowhere.
This along with the other symptoms you mentioned.
I was diagnosed with cmt while on a statin drug, now almost 3 years later they say my nerves are conducting fine and say it's small fiber causing my symptoms. I feel for you. My friend saw 6 neurologist before getting a diagnosis. Unless they find the underlying cause chances are your symptoms will worsen. Hopefully you find the answers soon.
I never had Covid but the boosters almost killed me. Besides the chest pain all that you have described sounds like small fiber sensory neuropathy. Ask your neurologist to have a nerve biopsy done. That will tell you if you have it.
The buzzing and burning pain and tingling are all indicative of neuropathy. I also get horrible stabbing pain. It feels like getting stabbed with a knife ( I’ve been stabbed in the leg before) and then seconds later when it feels like the knife is pulled out the pain is gone. The worse for me is when this stabbing pain is at the base of my skull and will last over a week.
My neurologist gave me a prescription for clonazepam. It’s a long duration Valium. It stops the buzzing and the restless leg syndrome. It also help with sleep. It doesn’t help with pain. Gabapentin will be the first med they give you. Some are on 100mg, I am on 1,200mg. If Kratom is legal in your state you may want to give that a shot. It relieves pain even major pain. But you don’t feel buzzed. It attaches to the pain ports in your brain and makes you brain think it’s on opiates. It’s been used for over 1,000 years. You may read some negative reports but most of those come from big pharma. On YouTube there is a great documentary about Kratom. It comes from the coffee family and I don’t know anyone who has had side effects. They say the same as I do, you don’t feel like you’re on drugs, you feel normal except zero pain.
Medical Marijuana does help. I don’t like smoking it because I don’t like feeling stoned so I take sativa gummy’s for the daytime and indica gummy’s at night for pain and to help me sleep.
The frequent urination is normal. But I’m not sure if it’s from the small fiber sensory issues or the Autonomic Neuropathy which I also have. Just try to limit alcohol or any diuretics, or drinking anything after supper. If you have to just take sips. This should help after about a week. Eat salt on your food. It will make you retain water then you can pee throughout the day. Set a timer and try to pee every 2 hours. Empty your system on a regular basis. Guys especially are bad at this. Women urinate more because they avoid urinary tract infections. Try it see if this help. Also try to find a neurologist that deals specifically with neuropathy’s. It’s worth a long drive if you have too. They will know the disease well and they know what works and what does not. They will also know what test to have and which ones are a waist of time.
I hope things go well with you. Also if you had ALS or MS you would already know. On a cat scan or MRI it shows white spots on your brain.
I am truly sorry for you but it looks as though you need to wait for the medics to diagnose you. Unless of course you have multi symptoms like me. I have peripheral neuropathy in my feet and lower legs which has been life changing. Not only that I have tinnitus, I have various other ailments as well which are supervised. There is nothing that can be done about my neuropathy and unfortunately that may be the case for you. Medication is the only thing they can provide but it doesn't really work very well. I just hope they come up with a diagnosis for you as at least you will know where you are.