I have had many of the symptoms I will mention in the past, but would like to focus on what has been going on for the past three months because I have been feeling terrible almost nonstop since the beginning of October.
I began feeling an overwhelming level of sever fatigue and having joint pain regularly around September. I had been jogging, lifting weights, practicing yoga occasionally, and balancing a part-time job, a separate part-time internship, and a full course undergraduate course load, which was fine until my energy levels began to decline and my pain levels went up dramatically. I had to work fewer hours and drop two classes to make it through the days. I also want to add that I'm generally a very happy, positive person, as well as level-headed, so I can't imagine any of this being psychosomatic. The symptoms don't seem to be triggered by any particular emotional state.
In October I started having more neurological symptoms, many of which were new to me. They haven't gone away. My doctor ordered an MRI without contrast which came back showing no lesions on my brain. I saw a rheumatologist who did only three tests, ANA, rheumatoid factor, and TSH. All came back in the normal range. This is what has been tested on me so far. I will list my symptoms, because there are so many that I feel that would be easiest.
*severe chronic fatigue
*mild to severe bilateral joint pain in hands, feet, knees, hips, wrists, neck, and lower lumbar.
*numbness and tingling in hands, feet, and legs
*muscle pain and weakness
*mild to severe cognitive dysfunction/brain fog/confusion
*speech difficulty (not constant, but when symptoms flare) including slurred, slow speech and difficulty forming sentences
*occasional shaking/tremor
*occasional complex migraines with nausea and vomiting
*occasional vertigo
*possible partial seizures --both simple and complex (not diagnosed as I just now realized that could be what is happening. Before I feared the strange events I experienced were mini-strokes)
*aura surrounding migraine and possible seizure events including visual hallucinations and ringing in ears
*motor difficulties: dropping things, tripping, etc... Basically I start to lose the ability to control my hands and feet
I feel like there may be a few things I need to specify. I know this is a lot of symptoms. I have gone from being a fairly articulate and healthy (though overweight) young woman to sounding and looking mentally challenged at times and being having difficulty with walking from my car to the door when I go to work whereas I used to run a mile or walk/run 5K. I know that isn't much for a healthy fit person, but it was a sudden and dramatic decrease in my physical and mental functioning. What I'm describing as possible partial seizures are basically this: I get very clumsy, start to shake, feel like I can't move, blank out, then feel confused. Nobody has witnessed it yet, but it seems like more time is passing than I remember. Clearly I'm not convulsing in grand mal seizures, but that is the only way I can easily explain these events to others without a diagnosis.
I feel like I'm getting anywhere with the doctors... Does anyone have any insight to share?