Mystery Health Diagnosis at 17

[ApotheosisProphetMag]

Well to make a loooooooong story short, i'll explain as short as i can:

I'm only 17 years old, and have had numerous blood tests and x rays done, stool and urine samples, you name it, ive had it. They all come back showing extremely good health.

Basically one day i got a bad charlie horse in the upper part of my left calf (almost behind my knee) and thought nothing of it, even though I have never had a cramp anywhere besides my stomach in my life. The next day i got sick with fever (a flu like illness)..except i noticed my muscles were really, really stiff and sore. You know how if you tense your muscles you get that burning sensation? Well, it was like that but 1000x worse. Eventually when my fever broke i had a RASH break out on my torso. I had what i think was my first panic attack. Since then i've had all the anxiety symptoms along with panic attacks and i think maybe even some depression. Sometimes when im thinkin really positive and i am distracted, i dont notice many symptoms. Main symptoms that are around most of the time is weak and heavy feeling upper back calf muscles, slightly weak thighs (sometimes), and a lump feeling in the throat. Sometimes it feels like my skin gets numb... not my muscles, just the skin.


So could I possibly have BFS without muscle twitching and just cramping? Or is it only anxiety? Or something else?

 

[furballfury]

Definitionally, you can't have "BFS" without the "F", which is the twitching.

That said, you sound as if your body is surely going through the same type of post-viral malaise that typifies this type of condition. As many doctors have comingled BFS, BFCS, PNH, Fibromyalgia and CFS into a same common category (i.e.: a probable automimmune response which has a virus and/or extreme stress as a trigger), there are probably hundreds of various "shades of grey" that cover this type of reaction, and you sound like you are in there somewhere.

The human body is complex and hard to pigeon hole into distinct categories. If you haven't already, get a doctor you trust to check you/this out. That should ALWAYS be the first step when you have health concerns. With that exam, he/she will prescribe an appropriate course of evaluative tests, if any, to look at possible concerns. Should those check out OK, leave it at that and move on. That is the best possible answer to your question, as officially diagnosing anything on this or any other site is close to impossible.

You sound fine - but let a doctor confirm it.

JG

 

[ApotheosisProphetMag]

thanks for your reply.

ive been to the doctors many times through all of this. The muscle stuff is very slight and sometimes non-existant, and my doctor never really seemed too concerned, and said he thinks it's just anxiety. I really hope he is right and that is all it is, but the flu-like virus i had felt different from other flu's and flu like illness i have had in the past. So ofcourse I was diagnosing myself on the internet, especially after that rash appeared. To this day, six months after that virus I still think the symptoms I still have are due to the stress I compiled from trying to self-diagnose myself on the internet and thinking i had some horrible disease. Look at me, I am still doing it on this website lol, thinking I have BFS. It's just hard to accept the fact that anxiety can cause all of this..especially since my flu like illness hurt and burned my muscles so much when i flexed, or tightened them that i still cant accept the fact that it was just a virus with that effect on the muscles and nothing more. Well once again, thanks for your reply.. it really helped

 

[rawjenniferlawrenc]

hey there,

not only are you similar in age to me but you also sound like you're going through almost the exact same symptoms aswell. my post is the one above yours on the message board detailing my symptoms - and there are loads of similarities.

you said: "the flu-like virus i had felt different from other flu's and flu like illness i have had in the past." i think over the past five weeks i must have said that EXACT same sentence over and over again! i have only had limited twitching over the past week or so myself, nowhere near as much as some of the other sufferers on this board, but got really worried when it started following my other viral symptoms. for the last month i have also had muscle aches, pains and stiffness (especially around my hands, wrists and calves), fever, "pins and needles" numbness in my arms and legs, sickness and - probably worst of all - unshakeable anxiety. it's horrible when you panic, especially when you feel like yo can't get a grip of yourself, but always remember you CAN.

what i have learned over the last month of being ill is that you have a lot more control over your body than you might think. so even when you feel at your lowest, when you feel yourself slipping down a slope, remember - it's your body, it's your mind, and you call the shots. i have also learned that viruses can do so SO many weird and not-so-wonderful things that you never dreamed they could. it seems like they're never going to go away, but they will. i'm still learning to accept this, and have yet another appointment with my doctor lined up, but i'm trying. apart from the rash, which i didn't get, your symptoms sound very similar to mine, so i can assure you, you are definitely not alone.

couple of questions for you:

- have you been tested for glandular fever (mono)? the fact that you had a rash is a big indicator that you could have had a touch of it.

- have you felt your tubes and sinuses to be stuffed up? i felt that my sinuses, ears and back of my throat were particularly congested, which are all part of the vestibular system. i read on a very helpful and reassuring website that many doctors believe this system is involved in controlling a person's stress and anxiety levels in some way, so when it becomes stuffed up and inflamed, the person's anxiety levels are affected. it's just a theory but it could prove helpful.

hope you feel better!