In February, I noticed that my posture was off and my shoulders where hunched up towards my head and forward with prominent muscle knots in my trapezius. Whenever I tried to sit up straight, I felt this strain around my clavicle that was making it difficult to straighten out my neck when I would bring my shoulders back. Also, I felt this tingling sensation that radiated from my upper back to my fingers. My shoulders in general were very tense.
I tried to do some corrective exercises that would help with my posture and both shoulder joints started to become enflamed. My shoulders were aching and swollen for about 1 week. The pain was the worse first thing in the morning, before I went to bed, and long periods of minimal movement. After the inflammation subsided and pain lessened at my shoulder joints, the pain radiated to my rib cage. I was barely able to move and it became difficult for me to sleep at night. I sought out acupuncture from a chiropractor to help with the pain. The chiropractor suggested that I get a spine and neck adjustment after looking at my posture. I mentioned that I was having problems with my left shoulder; however, she “adjusted” my right shoulder because she said that was out of place. Ever since that adjustment, I felt both my shoulders fold forward even more and it became more difficult for me to breathe. The chiropractor said that this was normal because everything is still “moving around”. I continued the chiropractic adjustments and I progressively felt worse with the treatments. I was advised to stop working out during the adjustments and I used a foam roller to help with my tense muscles. At this point, I thought my muscles were just tight and that I had many muscular trigger points. After the 3rd or 4th adjustment, I started to feel little muscle twitches throughout my body – both my legs, my arms, my back, and my face.
2 weeks passed and I consistently felt the same tingling down my left arm. While I was getting adjusted, she mentioned that my chest felt like there was a lot of tension and that it was very collapsed. There were a few nights where I suddenly became fatigued and I would feel pins in needles throughout my body, my fingers, and my face. I started to become unusually clumsy and I dropped everything. My arms did not feel the same at all; they felt as if my arms were twisted from my fingers to my elbow and my elbow to my shoulders. I addressed these sensations to the chiropractor and she said to just “let the body heal”.
After another adjustment, I would hear a popping sound in my right leg. My body just felt twisted. I couldn’t move my lower back at all and I was having pain in my mid back. Also, I noticed that when I “rotated” either shoulders a certain way, I would either feel tightness in my chest or back. When I would rotate it a different way, I would feel my chest or back loosen up as well. Then, I started to feel the looseness or tightness in the arch of my foot and my toes.
My chiropractor decided to give me a cervical retraction. A few minutes after the cervical retraction, I started to feel tingling on the left side of my face, the left arm, and all the way down to my left toes. My body again felt even more twisted. The tingling subsided after a few hours. Then, the tingling on the left side of my body came back when I woke up the next morning. Along with the tingling, I felt dizzy and weak. I went to the emergency room because I was afraid I was having a stroke but the tingling subsided so they sent me home. A few hours later, the tingling came back again. However, I felt even more weakness in my legs in my face. I couldn’t walk straight and I felt “uneven” when I smiled. The left side of my lips were numb. I went back to the emergency room and after a few tests, I was sent home. I brushed my teeth that morning and noticed that I only felt the burning sensation of mouthwash on the right side of my mouth. My left sternocleidomastoid also felt very thick and stiff. In addition to feeling tightness or looseness in my body, I started to feel it in my face – specifically by my ears and when I open my mouth.
I don’t feel the pins and needles anymore. My mouth, my neck, my back, and my hips just feel twisted, tightness, and very uncomfortable. It is still difficult for me to take deep breaths. It’s different everyday.
My PCP only did an X-Ray when I first started the tingling and didn’t think I needed further exams. She did, however, order me labs to test for lupus, Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis. My CK levels were 442 1 week before I went to the emergency room. I stopped going to the chiropractor after the cervical retraction and none of the doctors I’ve seen said they could help me. The hospital ran a CT angiography scan of my brain, and an MRI of my cervical spine and brain. All they told me was that there are no permanent damages and they didn’t find anything life threatening. When I viewed the angiograph, there was this objects that made it difficult to clearly see which I believe is my brachiocephalic artery. My insurance is delaying the process of letting me see other specialists. And the ones I’ve seen so far have told me they cannot help me because they don’t know what is going on. I don’t know what to do at this point and it’s becoming very discouraging. I can’t lift heavy things and I can’t work until everything is figured out. Does anyone have any advice to which direction to go? I have an appointment for an EMG and the neurologist next week, but I’m afraid I’ll be getting more confused responses and lack of willingness to help.