Struggles since flu shot in Oct 2010

[RohnboSlice]

Although this has only been going on since October 14th, 2010 (the day I received a flu shot at my routine physical), it seems like it has been an eternity.

Going into my physical I was a healthy 41 year old male tennis player, trail runner, mountain biker, special education teacher. Ever since I have been somewhat of a shell of my oldself, struggling with health issues of the unknown kind.

Following the flu shot I suffered for three days of abnormal pains in whatever muscles I worked out that day. On day four I took off of work due to being so worn down and needing rest. When I woke up from a nap that day, I noticed that hives were starting to form all over my body. After a trip to the ER for a lip that swelled up in the middle of the night I started Prednisone, Zantac, and Zyrtec to shut down my histamine production. Although the hives left after five days, symptoms of dizziness and increased BP (150/90 consistently) persisted for the following two weeks. This coincided with weird pressure feelings in my head that would come and go, feeling like my ears were going to explode. I also had a weird feeling in my right hand and arm - a type of numbness and tingling that made my hand feel weak. (Looking back I don't know if this was because of the flu shot or a developing health anxiety disorder.)

After stopping the medications I felt better for about two weeks in early November until some weird pains started in my legs and feet and the dizziness/lightheadedness came back full force. The pains included burning feet, pain in my knee, pain in my groin area, etc. I really started to get extremely nervous that something was seriously going on from this flu shot or it awoke something in my body like an autoimmune disease. Throughout November things got worse and worse and I lost about 10 lbs from an already very low weight due to all the tennis I was playing up to my flu shot. I started to have nausea, muscle twitches, BP in the high 150's/high 90's, high pulse in the 80's (from the low 60's), and thoughts that I was dying. During this time I went to my primary doctor about five times and all the blood tests and urine samples came back fine.

In December things continued to go downhill. I ended up seeing many doctors. I saw a Cardiologist who did an ultrasound and stress test (Came back ok), a rheumotologist (ANA levels fine-couldn't help), a neurologist (brain MRI came back with five lesions but I was told not to worry - EMG of right hand and arm-OK), gasteroenterlogist (who did an endonoscopy and colonoscopy due to abdominal issues-OK and an abdominal CT scan-OK), a endocrinologist (adrenaline levels elevated during urinalysis- but ended up being OK), and finally a psychiatrist (who started me on Xanax and Lexapro for anxiety.) I tried telling the psychiatrist that it was the declining health that brought on the anxiety and not the other way around, but she didn’t believe this. When starting these meds, I was sleeping about two hours a night and had to stop going to work due to having absolutely no energy to get off the couch except for doctor visits. I also went on a BP med (Lisinopril 10 mg) that brought my BP down to normal levels.
In January I started feeling less dizzy/lightheaded, but many of the same issues remained. I had off and on muscle twitches, weird pains, lack of energy, brain fog, etc. I started seeing a new therapist and she and my primary felt that the Lexapro might be causing side effects and we weaned me off of this.
In February my muscle twitches got crazy and I had so many in my right calf by the end of the month that I started limping from the pain and weird loose feeling of the muscle. I had a writer’s cramp type feeling start in my hands, primarily in my left thumb, that is presently making it hard to do things.
Currently, I have developed thoughts that I could have MS or A*S due to the muscle twitches and weird feelings in my hands. I know my post is all over the place with some missing pieces and a lot of information, but so much has gone on that it is hard to keep straight. I just wanted some advice and thoughts from this forum. I have a follow-up this Thursday with a neurologist to get a second opinion on the brain MRI that found five lesions.

[sixpack]

since this is a double post, I'm going to lock this one.  If you have any helpful advice, you can post it here:

http://www.anxietyzone.com/index.php/topic,38474.0/topicseen.html