Muscle twitches, burning, and fatigue: anyone else dealing with this?

So, I’m 18—turning 19 in two months—standing about 6'6" and weighing around 200 lbs. Smoked for two years, but there's zero history of illness in my family. I’ve been running around to pretty much every specialist you can think of: cardiologists, rheumatologists, seeing a neurologist twice, pulmonologists, hitting up my primary care doc a couple of times, even a psychologist. Everything has come back clean... blood work, swabs, thyroid levels, chest X-rays, lung scans, abdominal ultrasounds, blood cultures, even an ELISA test for Lyme. I haven't gone the route of head or neck CT scans yet, or checked pituitary and adrenal hormones. I actually went to see this holistic energy healer who told me it’s an issue with my adrenal glands, but all my actual doctors say it's nervous system related. When I see the neurologist, he checks me out physically, does some reflex tests, and basically tells me it's psychological. Then I go to the psychologist and they tell me it's probably 80% mental and we just have to wait and see how things play out. All of this started after I absolutely trashed myself—stayed awake for nine days straight, pushing through total exhaustion to get stuff done. It kicked off with a cough and dizziness, then turned into tingling and burning sensations all over. Right now, I’ve got these aches and pains in every single muscle, and while I still feel strong, my muscles tire out incredibly fast. They feel constantly tense, my back hurts, I can't concentrate, and I'm stuck in this loop of obsessive thoughts about being sick. My eyes feel strained and look red, and I've got these muscle tremors... sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious, happening in my head, back, stomach, neck, arms, and legs. It’s freaking me out because I’ve been reading up on it and saw connections to ALS. Sorry for the messy typing, I'm doing this on my phone and my focus is just shot. If I had to sum it up in one sentence: I feel like my whole body is wound tight, like I'm losing control over my limbs because the pain keeps ramping up and everything is shaking... sometimes just under the skin, sometimes visibly. Any thoughts at all would be appreciated.

Seriously, I could use some input here. Does anyone have any thoughts or even just a gut feeling on which direction I should take? I’m honestly stuck between a few options and can't quite decide what's worth my time...

Nine days without sleep? Everything you’re describing sounds like classic burnout, but it could also be a sign that you're low on certain nutrients, like magnesium. Physical exhaustion definitely takes a toll on your mental state, too.

First things first: you need actual rest, plenty of sleep, decent nutrition, staying hydrated, and a solid multivitamin or mineral supplement. If you still feel this way after getting back on track, go back to your primary care physician and insist on some follow-up testing. Good luck.

northernowl11 said:Nine days without sleep? Look, everything you’re describing could definitely be burnout, but it could also be a nutrient deficiency—something like magnesium. Physical exhaustion absolutely takes a toll on your mental state.

First things first: you need real rest, plenty of sleep, decent food, staying hydrated, and a solid multivitamin/mineral supplement. If you still feel this way after doing all that, go back to your primary care physician and insist on more testing. Good luck.

I actually went 21 days straight without sleeping, and that was while living through the bombings back in the day... now, I just drink myself under the table after breaking up with my ex, and even though I'm drinking more and more, I can't close my eyes unless it's that brief moment right before dawn when I finally crash... if you ask me, it's pure tension. Also, height matters too, depending on your body type... and for blood pressure? Just eat some garlic every day.