My appointment today for "mystery pains"

For those of you that dont know me I have been having migratory  pain for 5 wks. For example, one night my ankle hurt so much I could not walk..felt like my bones were being put through a grinder, the next day it was my opposite foot, toes and all. From time to time I get pulsating deep pains in my spine lasting 30 seconds, or I will get pains in my fingers. I have had tons and tons of joint popping too, this is all very new to me. Finally, I just started getting bumps and indents on all of my nails right above the half moon. I heard this could be caused by arthritis.  I do not feel stiff really, but am in pain. I have no swelling or redness at all.

My rhuem today said he thinks it is rhuem something or rather (cant remember the name) that may have been caused by a virus/cold I had a few months back. He said it should go away on its own,could last a month could last a few years. He said he could put me on meds but it takes 3 months to work. I do not buy that I got whatever this is from a cold. He said arthritis would show in my blood work but I heard otherwise in my research?

Can anyone offer feedback on the type of pain I am having and if you have nail issues. Also anyone heard of getting something like this from a cold?  Seems like he was plugging in an answer to give one.

Wow did not know you could get it that way. Yes, saw two RH. One said I was fine and it was just stress (got to love that one), the other said the above. I have no joint swelling or redness and it jumps from place to place lasting seconds to hours.....All my labs came back okay so I guess this is why he stuck with this comment.

What did your pain feel like when it started?

It is odd as I do have those new bumps on my nails and indents and from what I read that means anemia ( I have been tested and fine) or arthritis in the body. Also am getting weird bumps on the palm of my hand too though

Thansk for your feedback

Bumps on the palms of your hands? Do you have Cox sackie? That would explain the bumps on your hands, migratory pain (of cource the other classic symptom is sores in your mouth or the bottoms of your feet which you don't mention).
By the way one theory about how I developed RA is that I had Mono (I was in grad school so refused to let them test me since a positive test would have made me withdraw for the symester) and developed the RA initially as an immune response to that. (Infectious disease specialist, and head of Internal Medicine at the university hospital came up with that-Rhuemy disagreed said I would have gotten it anyway).
Sj

Hi King,

 

Hmmmm.  I read your posts, and all your symptoms, and the nails, endocarditis, and joint issues sound very much like the symptoms of lupus.  If you type into google "lupus nails".  See what you get.  Try to find an image.  See if the pictures look like your nails.  Endocarditis is very common in lupus.  Mainly attacks the mitral valve.  The joint pain, popping and fleeting pain is classic lupus.  It's very common to not have any redness or swelling with the pain. 

 

It's interesting that your labs came back fine.  Can you tell us which labs you had done?  I'm curious to see if your rheumy is looking for lupus or something rheumatic. 

 

How do you feel otherwise?  Any additional fatigue, foggy thinking, headaches? I don't want to all of a sudden freak you out. But it's one avenue to look at.

Take it easy!

Ginny 

Okay, this is interesting!  Colitis can definitely cause joint pain.  If you head yourself into the chron's forum, ask those awesome people about your situation and see what responses you get.  Chron's and colitis are cousins, so those folks really know what they're talking about.  The buzzing feet thing is very common in autoimmune diseases. Chron's and colitis are autoimmune. Inflammatory diseases.  No one really knows why we "buzz", but it's super duper common!  I feel like I have buzzing feet and an internal buzz most of the time.  It's weird.... Just know you're not alone and it's not rare!

 

I hope you get your answers very soon,

 

Ginny

 

 

Thanks for your feedback I have def considered this but I do live in San francisco so not sure how I could have gotten it. I get a colonoscopy for possibe colitis which could be the reason for the joint pain though would not explain feet buzzing. If the scope comes back ok I will then pay the $ for testing with igenex. Hope I get answers soon

Your doctor was probably refering to polymyalgia rhuematica, google it and see if the symptoms match yours. From what you have told us they are a pretty good match and it isn't the cold or virus itself that causes the migrating pain its your immune systems over response to it just like the rest of the AI disorders. If your rhuemy is right it is actually fairly good news as it is likely to resolve eventually without causeing lasting damage.
Your neck pain and spinal degeneration are likely seperate.
Arthritis does not generally cause muscle twitching that I am aware of but plymyalgia can as it involves the muscles at the point where they are closest to your joints.

Hi,
I started going to a rheumatologist over 5 years ago with migratory joint pain, aches, fatigue, etc, that all seemed to come & go in flare ups. All my bloodwork came back unremarkable, with occasional elevated RA factor, & once the CRP was elevated, SED rate only slightly elevated, but not enough for a RA diagnosis. My feet hurt so bad that I hobbled around for over a year, and I was scared off from getting cortesone shots because my rhuemy said it would hurt so much.
Finally, after a summer vacation spent in an agonizing flare up, I made a long list of my ailments and went off to the podiatrist. He xrayed my feet, gave me shots in each foot and my plantar faschiitis has subsided ever since (two years ago). At my rhuematologists, I saw the nurse practitioner (who had a much better bedside manner than the doctor did- and she actually listened to me) and took out my long list of complaints. She put me on a medrol pack for diagnostic purposes (I hadn't felt that good in years!). She felt that even though my blood work didn't show high out of range results, I may be developing RA. So she put me on plaquenil (which took 4 months to begin working), sulfasalazine, and voltaren. I had a 90% improvement in pain after the four month period. The next time I saw the doctor, he changed the diagnosis to undifferentiated spondylar arthritis.
By the way, prior to these flare ups, I had just completed treatment for hepatitis C. The rhuemy said something such as a virus (maybe even the hep c) caused the flare ups/USpA.
I understand your frustration in not knowing what the heck is going on. Hope you're feeling better and getting some answers, but it does take time. Best wishes to you.
Cindy

your muscle twitches are probably anxiety...i just got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis...and i have feet buzzing and muscle twitches when i'm under a lot of anxiety...i do some deep breathing and sometimes just fall asleep (although it takes me a long time to do that under all the anxiety) andusually the next day it is better until i have an anxiety attack about what disease i might have.

sooo all in all...i have UC, i have indents on my toenails as well, and feet buzzing/muscle twitches understress...annnnnd UC can cause joint pain, which i also sometimes have. my dad has ms and he has the indents on the nails as well but from what i hear they are caused by many many many different things...

Hi,

I've suffered muscle twitching in multiple areas and I am also currenly experiencing it down my arms during certain neck positions.

From what I know, twitches can be caused by many things, including spinal nerve compression, peripheral neuropathy, metabolic diseases, and anxiety (among other things). If you currenlty have problems in your spine, such as arthritis that is causing nerve compression, that could be a possible reason.

I have to say that before I had spins surgery (for lumbar stenosis), I had terrible nerve pain and symptoms all over, including my feet and legs. When I had severe sciatica, it was so strange. Just as you said, I could actually see and feel exactly where my twitchign was occuring. It was happening down the exact dermatome where my nerve compression was coming from. So it is a fact that nerve compression can cause it.

Currently, I think my cervical spine is starting in with something similar that I had in my lumbar spine. If my head tilts back a bit too much, I get pain. And If I cough or something, OMG....I get massive twitching down both backs of my arms. Once I tilt my head forward, it stops. I've also had and still get weird buzzing sensations all over the place as well. Again, sometime after surgery when I had  severe case of sciatica, if I bent my head forward at all, I would get this buzzing sensation in the bottom of my big toe area. My PT said that is because the dura around the spine is stretching and pushing into nerves. My twitching always happens when I have either some kind of lumbar compression or moving my spine in a way that actually causes the twitchign. LIke if I tilt my head forward now when I cough, I don't get the twitches. But when my head is too straight or bent back while I do it, both arms twitch for a while... plus my arms feel a deep achy pain and weakness for a few minutes. Just something you might want to have checked out.

Since you are getting symptoms in your spine area, I would probably look into that first to see if you have any spinal nerve compression that might be causing it. Like I said, I know for sure, from experience and professional advice, that compression can cause twitching symptoms. Perhaps, if you haven't already, you might want to get some imaging done on your spine.