Whole body muscle weakness/atrophy on right side

Yes man im still here!

How do you know you got carotid artery blockages? What tests did they order for that? Doppler ultrasound?

I have considered carotid artery stenosis before- As restricted blood flow to brain = low oxygen to brain = gradual death of neurones & brain tissue death & atrophy = corresponding motor, sensory, functional decline. And it would make sense if one artery is more restricted than the other then that would explain why one side is worse than the other.

Strokes run in my family. My mother had one her dad had one and had to have his carotids unblocked to try and prevent more strokes.

Also there are many arteries that supply the brain. Some large some smaller. I seem to have possible evidence of a brainstem stroke. Hard prolonged hiccup/diaphragm spasms. Without actually having a bout of hiccups. Heartrate regulation & breathing issues, digestive issues, autonomic nervous system dysfunction, sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous system dysfunction. As well as that bright spot that showed up on the brainstem on the MRI scan after I had a seizure.

Are you having treatment? Unblocking via catheter? Maybe have a stent fitted?

It would make a TONNE of sense if this IS the exact cause. My mother has had a stroke and she has a weak side. I feel just like that except i have atrophy, fatigue, tremor & seizure to contend with.

It really does seem like a "slow stroke".

Instead of an abrupt cutting off of blood supply- A gradual reduction of blood supply that causes gradual braincell death and gradual physical decline, as the brain & spinal cord, including nerve branches to motor function & internal organs begin to wither and die.

From what I read a year or two ago about Cerebral Vascular Stenosis, the prognosis is poor. It is a disease like heart disease that clogs up the arteries that supply the brain & spine(central nervous system). It can co-exist with heart disease and treatment is based on symptom management & prolonging life.

RESURRECTION.

I hope you are hanging in there.

I have recently noticed more signs/symptoms. More recently I have penis pain. It is neuropathic pain in the shaft of my penis. Sometimes when erect, sometimes when flaccid. It's 100% nerve pain as i have the same type of pain over my left elbow from a disc bulge in between C6/C7 vertebrae in my neck. Like a burning searing stinging stabby pain.

I have also had worsening penis atrophy, weak erections, painful erections, weak & painful ejaculations for the past year or so.

More recently if I masturbate despite the shooting pain my penis swells up for days afterwards. I can't notice any physical irritation, the swelling is everywhere underneath the skin of the shaft. It blows up like a swollen liquid sleeve.

It's f#cking tragic lol.

I don't know how I'm still alive. I claw myself out of the depths of hell every day. Wrestling with the suicidal thoughts that try to take over my brain.

Since Christmas I have noticed foamy urine. Sometimes it just looks like a film over the top of the toilet water. Sometimes it looks like washing up liquid and is so foamy you cant see the water. In my mind i put this down to the breakdown of muscle tissue, connective tissue etc being excreted in the urine. I am yet to get it checked out due to being medically gaslit for 7 years.

My fingernails and toenails have changed too. First i developed vertical ridges some years ago. Then some of those ridges became bigger than others, causing the nail to lose its round nailbed, as it resembles folded up paper. More recently I have developed horizontal dents in my fingernails and toenails. Looking this up online it is suggestive of underlying systemic illness. Obviously i have other things that have been worsening for years such as hair loss. Sunken eyes. Lopsided mouth.

The list is endless.

The one thing I do know for certain is, whatever it is impacts the muscles and the nerves. I know this due to the abnormal sensory signals, neuropathy, weakness, atrophy and intention tremor.

As well as the hyperintensity on my brain MRI, the seizure, and the double vision.

The muscles and nervous system need nutrients and blood to sustain them. So this is either an issue that is causing nervous system deterioration. Or it's an issue of blood or nutrient delivery.

I hope you're doing ok. I went back to the doctors after Christmas as my lower and middle back were constantly hurting me and my legs were going numb when i was sat down or in bed. Sometimes one leg sometimes both.

Not flopping around numb. But the skins surface was numb to the touch. I couldn't feel my skin. Walking around would alleviate this so i suspected it was due to spinal cord compression at the lumbar region.

My spinal x-ray came back normal.

I feel like giving up. Clearly my nervous system is f****d and no one in the medical system cares enough to do anything or is able to follow through with an exclusion plan to lead to diagnosis.

The institutions are failing me. They are failing all of us. They are not fit for purpose. They're only useful for writing prescriptions for drugs, doing blood tests and diagnosing the more obvious problems.

If the issue is not obvious and is progressing slowly they resort to telling you it's a psychiatric issue.

I don't think this is intentional or malicious. I think they genuinely think it is a psychiatric issue due to the number of tests we have had that come back normal.

After a while they begin to consider whether the issue is psychosomatic in nature. There is a direct link between the body and brain (neuropsychiatric) that they end up considering because there is no medical evidence in their eyes for what we are reporting.

For 2 weeks i have been walking for 1 hour each day. Some flat some downhill and some uphill included.

I have to go back to work in April as I will lose my job if I dont. So i need to at least try and build some strength and fitness to be able to maintain posture & walk around daily. This physical stress lead to a seizure before so i don't have high hopes. And previous attempts to get fit have failed. I'm not going to stop walking though while my legs still work.

I will say that i get way LESS numbness issues since walking. So maybe I have strengthened my back muscles somewhat, or increased flexibility in the lower back region so that compressed nerves can be freed.

Knowing what I have had to endure i dont doubt that someone has taken their life due to this. And i am not letting that possibility happen without trying to offer help.

Cheers,

Alex

Well, some of your symptoms haven't hit me yet. No seizure to my knowledge unless it happens when I'm asleep. I had a brain MRI in the summer of 2020 and summer of 2021 - the doctor claims the results were normal and seen no issue in my brain picturing. I also had the EMG in November of 2020 and as recent as December of 2022 - again, it is said that this test was normal. It was done on my left leg and left arm, as this side is my "poisoned" side. I say this because my right side has been affected too; however, it isn't the same. It still feels full & sturdy, while my left side feels hollowed and loose. Under your eyes should protrude out if you age/lack sleep, that is what is referred to as bags under your eyes. Mine used to be that way until this started happening, and now they are trenches under my eyes, as they sink in like a pothole. I had a grape look to my face before, baby faced (for my age) and round and healthy looking - now, it's sunken in (as is the rest of me, bottom of feet to top of head) and I resemble a raisin now. Of course this is a slow dripping death, I've lost all interest and feast off fantasies on the internet/T.V. to keep myself motivated to go on. It looks like I'm wasting my years, which in a sense I am. It's difficult for others to comprehend why I have given up because they can't know. I also have myself to blame slightly, I have a high body fat percentage now (25-27%) because of lack of activity and not caring about calories and other things. This is on purpose. If I was skinnier I would look even worse. My body fat % is so high - yet, the last doctor I saw and showed her my I.D. picture from 2017 she thought I lost weight in my face compared to my picture then. It's funny because my body fat % back in the 2017 picture was like 18-20%. It only looks like I've lost weight in my face because of this problem. I don't really get double vision. I did try to exercise in the summer of 2020 (for six months straight, and the problem was progressing anyway - so I stopped) and when I would get off the treadmill I would have a feeling of being lightheaded. I've always been in the upper echelon of physical ability (before this) and had never experienced being lightheaded, even when I could run a mile under 5:00m or two miles under 13:00m.

Well, I'm not sure if my left carotid artery is more clogged than my left, I'll have to find out. If my right is more clogged than my left this may be why I'm decaying like this. On the other hand though, why is it that my ears have shrunk when they are just cartilage? Also, my penis used to be large (slightly above seven inches in length (ya I measured when I was young) and decently thick) - now it's far shorter and even more thinner and the rare erections it gets are pathetic and weak (and short lasting). My sperm releasing isn't as strong either, no surprise as this is the theme of my whole body. The left side of the penis looks like it's been grafted to be smooth and smaller, as if I've even lost skin on it too. The right side affected like the rest of me, just in a less severe form. Left testicle area is more wrinkly than the right. It's as if the left side of us is dying and bringing the right side (or vice versa for anyone on the opposite side) for the ride. I've been losing more hair on my left side too. My left eyebrow (part furthest from the nose) has just lost a lot of hair and it's so obvious. Sadly I've been drinking again for the past couple months after doing so good in 2022 (taking 220 days off). I need to stop. I just have no hope so it's harder to control impulses like that. I'll never purposely kill myself because I'm dying so fast without my own help. I just hope I don't get a heart attack or stroke, and if I do it's in my sleep and I don't even know it. My suggested advice was to take a baby aspirin for my partially blocked carotid arteries. I don't like this suggestion. I hear people who take aspirin everyday end up getting strokes. And if they don't, they have to take them always for the rest of their life. It makes sense, it thins the blood so the body gets used to an "easier" time for blood flow which is unnatural due to the medicine being the reason. Then when you stop it doesn't know how to adjust to the thickened blood and it starts clotting and s**t.

One neurologist asked if I had my spine examined with an MRI. I told him the top of my spine in the summer of 2020, he meant my whole spine. I am always told that the spine can't affect your face or top of your head (which mine are affected by this) - so, I guess that's just an empty question. It's odd though, as they say the spine can give you head aches, so how can it not affect the top of your head if that's the case?

Well, my main doctor says he has tried all the tests he thinks will help and all that s**t. I explain to him time & time again and he acts like it's in my head. I'm sure this is a defense mechanism due to him not knowing. You know doctors are egotistical - so it's an obvious way of not blaming himself for the lack of diagnosis. This isn't only muscle and I know that now. The earlobe is made of (according to Google): areola tissues & fat cells. Mine have shrunk too, especially on the left side (as I keep repeating, right side is slightly affected, left side is severely affected). It's also made of skin. There is a crease in my earlobes, present on both sides. Penis has lost much mass as previously stated, this is said not to be a muscle also. Loss of hair affecting left side more so, etc. etc. That may be why these doctors are confused, they are only meant to be general practitioners or specialists. My primary physician doesn't think I have any blood flow problems to the brain. He says my partially blocked carotid artery isn't blocked enough (around 20-30%) and can hear my blood flow fine when checking me. He's the same one who thinks It's all in my head though, so his word may not be accurate. Maybe I should venture out to Germany, China, Russia, Cuba, or India as these American doctors aren't cutting it.