Wierd Neuromuscular symptoms after an 'unusual virus' - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Message Board

corpcross · 07-15-2003, 08:44 PM

have been battling some very wierd symptoms after an 'alleged virus'. It started with a low-grade temperature, overall weakness. I spent a few days in bed and ran a number of tests - mono, bloods, HIV, upper body cat-scan, ultra-sound of kidneys/liver/gall bladder, endoscopy all came back negative. While in bed, my white blood cells were borderline, but mostly due to dehydration - I was told. While in bed, I started feeling a horrible mid-section and lower back pains and stiffness. Two months prior to this episode, I had severe migranes and even did a spinal tap test - again negative. Now I am experiencing muscle tingling and burning (constantly) in the left side of my body, muscle weakness, slight confusion, and lower back and mid back pain. Weakness in arms and legs. But the tingling and burning in the left back, and front left chest is freaky. Any ideas? I hope it is not ALS or MS. I am also very stressed - going through a divorce and consulting 'blues'. What could this be?

slaughter17 · 07-20-2003, 12:49 PM

That sounds horrible! When your doc did your spinal tap what were they testing for? When you say it came back negative...negative for what? The unusual virus, then these symptoms start to show up sounds like Lyme disease. Did you have any unusual rashes or skin changes with this virus? 50% of Lyme patients will experience a rash, while others never get one. Because you live in New York. There is a high chance that there are ticks in your area. There is also a chance for West Nile Virus. Do you recall proir to your virus being in the wilderness or camping? There are many tick-bourne diseases that start out with a virus and fevers. gradually you get over the virus and later you start to have symptoms like you are describing. You live in a state that has a high chance of tick bites, I would recommend seeing a doc and requesting you be tested for Lyme disease. It can be treated with high doses of antibiotics to rid you body of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. Here is a link from the CDC. Check it out. It tells you what states are more affected with ticks. Good luck and please keep us all informed of what happens. [url="http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/riskmap.htm"]http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/riskmap.htm[/url]

[This message has been edited by slaughter17 (edited 07-20-2003).]

pauline38 · 09-09-2003, 09:21 PM

I had a horrible virus that was the start of my muscle twitches which have subsided some but still occur frequently. At the time I had muscle weakness which eventually went away. Did a neurologist give you a clinical exam and tell you that you showed muscle weakness? Or is this something that YOU perceive as weakness? Just so you don't have to think about it anymore I would have an EMG/MRI done. If it's normal it's probably just this Benign Fasciculation Syndrome which you can find more about on the web, if it's not there are many effective drugs for diseases like MS (my sister has had it for over 30 years and is doing fine) and even a possible breakthrough drug for ALS. Sorry to hear about the divorce and hope everything works out.