Guys,

On Wednesday morning during a business trip both my hands started hurting, limiting movement and use, and I later realized they were swelled. Feet and lower legs are similar with some redness. By Wednesday afternoon while driving 3 hours between locations, my neck started hurting and limited by ability to turn it either direction. I can touch my chin to my chest, which is common check to rule out meningitis.

I took NSAID's Wednesday night and a Claritin and more NSAID's Thursday morning and continued my trip. Thursday night after work I took more NSAID's and Benadryl. After a rest I decided to drive home and see my doctor this morning. I could barely turn my head to look both ways at intersections. After getting home, took an Allegra and more NSAID's.

Doctor ordered blood tests and an Rx for Prednisone. No results yet. As of now my upper arms hurt and lifting them is not pleasant. So it's like the problem is spreading up my arms.

It's like I went from 53 to an elderly Mr. Burns with no hand/arm strength in a short time.

Any ideas?

None.

But it being the start of the weekend, might keep your inner circle aware to keep an eye on you and get thee to the ER, should it get worse.

Did the Dr. say how long before test results?

Any fever? Cognitive issues?

No fever, just checked again. I came home early to make sure I could go to the regular doctor today instead of ER or walk-in over the long weekend.

Admittedly it was hard to focus in work meetings when everything hurts, but otherwise no cognitive issues.

Test results should be in MyChart within a day, or that is the usual amount of time.

Only thing I can think of allergy wise is having some lobster Tuesday evening for dinner. I've had reactions to shrimp before, usually redness and hives that go away in a short time especially if I take an allergy pill. Never had a problem with lobster but there is always a first time.

And I’ll be lucky if the Chinese girl doesn’t start sticking me with needles or put hot rocks on my back. I’m sure there will at least be some herbal concoction tonight…

I would presume your doctor is on the lookout for heart failure (ask me how I know). Swelling in the extremities is a sign, neck pain not so much but you never know. Maybe time for an ultrasound.

That shellfish thing does get some people like a bolt of lightning.

I was thinking autoimmune/allergy thing being it was sudden and that sort of "fits", but that's guessing.

And some things you get mild reaction, often unnoticed until Mister Immunity gets really pissed and body slams you.



Happened to me with Poison Ivy.
All my life, I could roll in that stuff and nothing. Then one time, it ate me alive and now I have to be very mindful of it.

Could also be swelling in the lymphatic system (lymphedema).

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
<snip>
Test results should be in MyChart within a day, or that is the usual amount of time.
<snip>

My health care provider is UCSD here in San Diego, which also uses MyChart. That’s typical of the interval I see for test result reports.

Sounds viral to me…

I had a lymph viral issue that caused swelling in neck hands and feet…

It cleared in its own in about 5 days…

Hopefully it's just your lymph nodes doing their thing and reacting to some kind of infection, but I can totally understand being kind of freaked out about it. I would be too . Glad you got the tests done before the end of the work week and hopefully they get you some answers. Rest up and feel better!

Spider bite?
Did you see anything by that looked like a bite anywhere on you?

No sign of spider bites but I will look again.

Heart Calcification CT last November was surprisingly near 0 so no signs of arteriosclerosis.

Cholesterol was also a bit high so the doc put me on Crestor at that time. I stopped it a week or two ago to see if it changed some arthritic pain in my left thumb (diagnosed by MRI), and started back up Tuesday night for one day and stopped again after the swelling started.

A week ago Tuesday I felt like I had flu aches but no other symptoms and no fever. This was another factor in the decision to stop the Crestor for now.


Tests are in:

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone - Normal
Sedimentation Rate - Normal
Comprehensive metabolic Panel - Normal
CBC with Differential - Abnormal
Lymph # is low (0.6 vs. normal range 1.0 - 4.8 1000/mcL)
IMMGRAN# is high (0.2 vs normal 0.0 1000/mcL)

So my white count is a little low and I have some immature white cells being released early.

Seems I might have some kind of infection that the white cells are fighting?

This could be a reaction to Crestor. If your doctor ordered a CK (creatine kinase) test and it is high, it is likely from Crestor. That's associated with muscle aches primarily, but you could have swelling.

For some reason, the Peanuts sign "The Doctor Is In" comes to mind.....

Did the doc explain to you why prednisone was prescribed? What is his working diagnosis? Every clinic visit has to have a diagnosis.

1. Highly doubt typical allergic reaction, unless you can pinpoint something new that you ingested/took.

2. Unlikely a spider bite. You would have been able to localize it. If it were a spider bite that you didn’t know, the way it spread so quickly, you would be so sick that needs hospitalization.

3. Acute heart failure? Unlikely. With sudden generalized swelling, that would indicate your heart is having a very hard time pumping normally, so fluid backs up. And the first place the fluid backs up into is the lungs, not the extremities. Fluid in lungs = you would feel like near drowning. You gave no indications of that, i.e., difficulty breathing.

4. Severe hypothyroid can result in extremity swelling. But your TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) is normal.

5. Severe liver disease can also swell you up. What are the liver function test results?

6. Losing a lot of protein in your urine can also swell you up. Say, 4+ proteinuria will do it. Were the kidney function & urine checked?

7. Could be some sort of viral illness. I give you one example that happens a lot in children but can also happen in adults. Parvovirus B19. Distal extremity arthritic pain and swelling, with pinkish lacy pattern rash. In children, however, the most common presentation of Parvovirus B19 infection is the red slapped cheek appearance, hence the name slapped cheek fever.

You say abnormal/low white cell count (low lymphocytes). What is the absolute neutrophil count? Yes, it could be an infection as exampled above. But also, it would be prudent to ask the lab to look at the blood “smear”, if your condition does not resolve in a week or two. It can tell you if you have something else real bad going on.

8. All that, in addition to what doc goodheart listed.

Thanks.

I brought up the prednisone for general anti-inflammatory purposes. My dermatologist prescribes it for excema and there are no side effects. The N.P. didn't object.

1. Possibly the lobster, I have a diagnosed shellfish allergy but it's only ever been with shrimp. Hive reaction that goes away on its own or faster with any anti-histamine.

3. Blood pressure today was 114/84, normal pulse and oxygenation.

5. ALT 47 (0-50 normal), AST 39 (normal 17-59), everything normal.

6. Creatine and BUN both normal. Everything in CMP is normal.

7. Red lacy pattern on backs of hands and lower legs first noticed Wednesday night. Might explain flu ache symptoms last week?

Neut # is 3.9 (normal 1.8 - 7.7)

Are you on Blood Pressure meds?

You don't list any meds that you are on. I would think DRs here would want to know.
But you also should have your privacy.

Yeah, based on all that, I’m leaning toward a viral illness. Most likely Parvovirus B19. Should self resolve in a week. No more than two. You shouldn’t have to investigate any further, unless condition is unresolved.

Any tick bites? Could be Lyme disease. Or more likely a viral illness that should pass quickly. Kids are back to school and passing those around now. Hope you feel better soon.

No blood pressure meds, no known tick bites.

What is the test for Lyme disease? I've had various nonspecific symptoms for the past few years that no one has figured out yet. Would like to rule it out sometime.

Only regular daily med right now is crestor which I paused due to the joint pain.