Pain And Numbness

MattH

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Dec 12, 2016
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I'm a 32 year old male with a recent flare up of quite a few different issues. Some of these go back more than a decade (off and on) but have been worse for the last 2 months.

1. Biggest concern (and therefore title): Pain / neuropathy / numbness
I have pain and numbness in my right hand, right side of my neck, and numbness on the right side of my face (I'm right handed). Now the pain has spread a bit; some in my left hand, some down my right leg on the inside, and some in my lower back (mostly right side). Over the years I've seen a few doctors, neurologists, acupuncturists, a chiropractor, and most recently a massage therapist. I've heard many different theories on the cause, but not too many fixes. MRI is normal, nerve conduction test normal, etc.

2. Anxiety / overactive adrenals
I'm in fight or flight most of the time. People have described me as "frantic" or "a cat on a hot tin roof". I feel foggy minded and tired a lot. I don't seem to be able to perform at work the way I used to. At least I have a good therapist (who told me about Ray Peat). I also have heart palpitations sometimes.

3. Sleep
Probably connected with stress hormones. I've always had some trouble sleeping. One recent recurring problem is waking up early with a strong feeling of depression and anxiety. I also sometimes have a hard time falling asleep, feeling restless, like I have to keep moving even though I am tired.

Some things I've tried

1. Acupuncture
I had an amazing acupuncturist from about 2011 to 2013 for the pain. While I was seeing him, my symptoms gradually became background noise for me and I was able to function normally till about October 2016. I now live far away, and have been seeing a few acupuncturists around here, but still having difficulty.

The pain / neuropathy seems to be connected with computer use, though I was able to contact my old acupuncturist and he says it is more about getting stressed, tensing up, and rolling on my side at night. Sometimes though, even when I fall asleep on my back, I wake up (still on my back) in the middle of the night with total numbness and tightness on the ulnar side of my hands.

2. Supplements

I take magnesium, niacinamide, L-Theanine, taurine, sea salt, gelatin, aspirin, 50 mg pregnenolone in the morning, a drop of progest-e in the morning and evening, sometimes vitamin D (too much seems to make me feel bad?), some thyroid (recently cut back because of crazy adrenals)

I've recently started taking coconut oil. I read that K2 might help if I am experiencing fibromyalgia, but I had a blood clot in my leg earlier this year (apparently randomly!) so I hesitate to take any K.

3. Blue light blocking glasses and red filters on my phone and computer.

4. Epsom salt baths with baking soda and essential oils

5. Diet
My diet is not perfectly Ray Peat style, but I try to lean that way. I'm very low carb, eat karigold butter, and plenty of cheese. I eat a decent amount of fruit, and I drink OJ every day. I have an egg every morning for breakfast. I try to avoid nuts, vegetable oil, and soy. I eat basically every kind of meat, (yes even kinds with PUFA).

Recently, I've tried to introduce more milk, partly because of something my massage therapist said. He said something about calcium in soft tissue preventing muscles from releasing after an ATP reaction. Reading about the calcium paradox, I thought I should introduce more calcium into my diet.

I'm also starting to eat more liver and carrots.

6. Buteko breathing
I try the techniques, have some progress and start to see some improvements, then get a runny nose, desperate need to gasp for air, etc. Then I stop. Then I try again. I think I'm slowly getting better at it. I've been drinking more carbonated water in the hopes that this will improve my CO2 levels.

7. Exercise
Running generally makes me feel better for a little while. I hesitate to do upper body work because I don't want to aggravate thoracic outlet syndrome if I have it. I use a computer at work, but switch between sitting and standing, and I walk around on breaks.

Other observations

1. Blood work
I recently had some fasting blood work done and everything was in the normal range according to the doctor, except my blood sugar is a bit high (108 mg/dL). Tests done include
  • tsh w/ reflex ft4
  • lipid panel
  • metabolic panel, basic
  • cbc
  • anti - tpo ab
  • t3, free
  • vitamin d 25_hydroxy, d2 + d3
  • testosterone
2. Pulse and temperature.
I haven't religiously taken pulse and temperature, but occasionally I do, and I'd say they are normally distributed within around 76-84 resting pulse, and temperature within 95.5-97.5.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 

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