Nerve Sensations in Response to Treatment

[Feliscumpleanos]

One of the first things I felt when getting sick was an unusual pain along the sides of my neck and into my chest - I couldn’t tell if it was a lung issue, heart issue, muscle tightness, etc. This largely went away as my other symptoms came on gradually (mainly PEM and Orthostatic intolerance), but there have been 2 times when I’ve noticed pains along a similar pattern again.

The first was when I started taking Equilibrant after seeing dr chia. I noticed some sharp pains in my neck and the back of my head. These faded after more time on Equilibrant and unfortunately, I didn’t get any better from it.

Now for the last couple of months I’ve been seeing a Chinese medicine doctor and doing acupuncture, tuina, cupping, moxibustion, and herbs. I haven’t really improved at all, but I’ve noticed even more in the way of these nerve sensations. Sometimes they are a sharp pain in the sides of my neck, behind my ears, or in the back of my head, but sometimes I also feel a tingling sensation and occasionally even a warm sensation in the same places.

It’s interesting to me that all of this seems to follow the pattern of the vagus nerve, which definitely seems to be impacted judging by my symptoms. Dr. Chia has said he thinks these places where I’m getting pain is where the virus is. I was just wondering if anyone was familiar with this and if it could be a sign of the nerve healing, killing off the virus, etc. The Chinese medicine is very expensive and this is all I’ve really noticed in the way of effects, but if it is a sign that it’s doing something I’m willing to be patient and see it through. I’m excited that at least there is some sort of response to the treatment, but wish I had a clearer sense of whether it’s really doing something helpful.

 

[Tammy]

What type of virus are you referring to? I agree with Dr. Chia that the places you're getting pain is where the virus is. Because of the sharp nature of the pain and the tingling sensation, a possibility is the shingles virus. Not all shingle viruses are the rashing type. In the past I've had shingles on the sides of my head and would have sharp pains behind ears and neck that went with it. After that healed I would have episodes of sharp pains in those same areas but not the rash on the sides of the head. I figure it is still the shingles virus in the same areas. I would have pain in all the areas but not the actual rash showing up.

 

[Feliscumpleanos]

What type of virus are you referring to? I agree with Dr. Chia that the places you're getting pain is where the virus is. Because of the sharp nature of the pain and the tingling sensation, a possibility is the shingles virus. Not all shingle viruses are the rashing type. In the past I've had shingles on the sides of my head and would have sharp pains behind ears and neck that went with it. After that healed I would have episodes of sharp pains in those same areas but not the rash on the sides of the head. I figure it is still the shingles virus in the same areas. I would have pain in all the areas but not the actual rash showing up.

I don’t 100% know which kind of virus it is, but Dr. Chia did examine a blood sample of mine and said he found enterovirus proteins in it. I’m not sure which enterovirus it would be though. To my knowledge, I’ve never had chicken pox or shingles. The sharp pains are very brief and feel mostly random as far as when they show up, and they don’t seem to be reproducible by massaging any spots, stretching, etc. Did yours get better over time and did it have any relationship to your CFS symptoms?

 

[Tammy]

Did yours get better over time and did it have any relationship to your CFS symptoms?

The symptoms do go away. They may come back when I am under stress or other reason I am not aware of? My CFS symptoms are mostly from the EBV. Shingles symptoms are a different story...............different virus/different symptoms. When I feel burning tingling, sharp pain, itching................I have concluded that I am probably mostly dealing with shingles. All the other CFS symptoms I have are from the EBV.

 

[Feliscumpleanos]

The symptoms do go away. They may come back when I am under stress or other reason I am not aware of? My CFS symptoms are mostly from the EBV. Shingles symptoms are a different story...............different virus/different symptoms. When I feel burning tingling, sharp pain, itching................I have concluded that I am probably mostly dealing with shingles. All the other CFS symptoms I have are from the EBV.

Got it… it’s especially confusing when you can have multiple viruses all causing different things at once. I do think in my case that the nerve sensations are somehow related to the CFS because I never had anything like that before this, but I’m hoping I’m correct in interpreting them as a sign of healing rather than just another random symptom coming and going.