Mountain Biking: Health Concerns

[ransomboy]

First off let me say that I haven't been diagnosed by a neuro and my family doc seems clueless.A bit of back story. I'm a thirty year old male (slightly anxious, slightly depressive) and took up mountain biking this year. For the last 7 years I've been an avid hiker and occasional trail runner. In May, after spending a few months getting used to mountain biking, and pushing my body harder than normal, I experienced an overuse injury in the left hip/groin/lower back region. I recall waking up in the middle of the night with an intense cramp in hip/groin area that took 20 minutes to calm down (when I went to bed I was very much pain free). The next morning the left side of my body was inflamed and it felt tender. Fast forward about 2 weeks and I start developing some wonderful twitching in my body. Jumps around from hip to my feet, my toes to shoulders, arms to my calves, back to my abs. You know the story. Of course this makes an anxious person more anxious. Let's start the cycle. After a few doc visits and one emergency room visit cause the twitching was flipping me out, they prescribe me some flexeril and it quells some the twitching and I feel at peace. For awhile. After the regimen of flexeril is over, two weeks later, the twitches come back and this time I have some wonderful toe curling action to go along with it (especially if I wear tight shoes or those with poor support). I took about two months off from biking and started slowly back into the sport. Up until May, I rarely had a muscle spasm or twitch, and the occasional cramp from working a muscle really hard. It's almost September now it's closing in on four months since the incident. I'm still twitching.My question is could an injury or a intense step up in exercise cause BFS to manifest itself? Since July 4th I've been riding again. The first few days I kept my session limited to about 30 mins at a leisurely pace. But for the last 3 weeks I've been pushing my body hard. Sweating and fatigued, but at the same time by body feels stronger. After these hard rides (or even the hikes I've taken recently, or light rides) my calves and feet twitch and pulse for hours afterwards (Should and arms too if the trail is rough). Sometimes they feel tender from use. The next day my body aches, but it's not slowing me down. Occasionally my hip hurts where I had the angry cramp, or it twitches.I have a doctors appointment at the end of September and didn't know if I should ask about seeing a neurologist? The doc has tested my metabolic panel, blood testing, CT Scan and Xray (both hip/groin region). Would asking for a neuro appointment be me throwing time, worry, and money away? Anyone else have BFS start like this? I'm having a hard time finding anything else it could. I suggested a slipped disc and impinged nerve to the doc and she didn't believe either one of those were the culprit. She didn't seem too concerned about it.As for the anxiety in my life. I'm an overworked tech guy and in August decided to buy a house (Still in the process). So I don't think I have any shortage there.

 

[ryan123z2z]

Hi , I am a 33 year old male, software consultant and had a similar onset like yours. Had lost 15 pounds in 2 months and was running while i was on travel trip and suddenly got bubble like twitches all over, which in a couple weeks turned into full fledged twitches. Before that there was only one incident few months ago when i got twitches on my biceps after playing raquetball. But that was very minor to what this was and i didnt pay any attention. I have gone through all the tests from blood work , EMG , MRI to 3 Neuro clinicals. Only thing they found was very low Vitamin D at 8.So i was put on high dose of Vitamin D. My twictches subsided a lot after 4 months and my vitamin D went upto 40.I am on month 7 now and have some viberation like sensation on right knee and some ocassional widespeard twitching.After this twiching started i had a break in my work and got a remote project.So my physical movement really stopped and i had also stopped working out and that was a mistake. My Neuro had told me on my first visit to slow down on workout and be properly hyderated. Instead of slowing down i had completely stopped excersing as i thought maybe i had over worked my nervous system. On my next visist she was upset that i had stopped being active and asked me to go back to the normal routine and again be propely hyderated.So now i am back to some phyiscal rountine mostly low impact like walking and biking.So thats my story. I hope it helps you. Be in touch and let me know how it goes for you.Rm

 

[ransomboy]

Thanks for sharing your story.The month that it happened was extremely hot and humid in my region and on that particular day. I remember the feeling just not being able to stay hydrated enough while biking (although I had a ton of water and gatorade (which I've learned is a bit worthless)). So it was probably less than wise to be out on trail exercising. I too had dropped about 10 pounds before the twitching started and rather quickly. However, after some anxious eating, I put on 15! And my job has improved with an additional person added to help with the work load.Just curious, did you modify your diet at all? I'm working restoring my diet to something more paleo/natural to see if it helps with twitching. Also limiting my intake of caffeine and reducing the about of tobacco I occasionally smoke. I'm planning another meeting with my doc in the fall and perhaps ask for more testing depending on how I'm feeling.

 

[ryan123z2z]

I would say one good thing from all the mess is that i had completely removed caffine and also reduced alchoal to minimum (close to zero). Also with my Vitamin D level upto normal range now, i am sleeping well. Earlier i was barely sleeping 5-6 hours and now i am doing 7-8 hours.