BFS, Tinnitus and Visual Snow Connection?

[Anthonyr]

Hi, this year has been the worst of my life. At the start of January I was 25. I did not smoke, drink or do drugs. I also worked out 5 times a week (cardio and weights). I had a great girlfriend and was really optimistic for the future. With career prospects looking good too.

But, something happened at the start of February. My leg muscles started twitching and pulling. My big toes also showed a slight tremor. This all happened pretty much overnight. I wasn't that scared at the time. I put it down to exercise fatigue.

After two months with no sign of things stopping and brainfog symptoms creeping through. Plus, twitching spreading to my arm. I decided to go to my GP. I was given loads of blood tests. All came back normal. Vitamin B12, Folate, Iron, Ferritin, Urea & Electrolytes. Thyroid function, Vitamin D, full blood count and Copper. I was eventually diagnosed with BFS and basically sent packing without a follow up (no MRI or nerve tests).

Everything was returning to normal. Despite the twitches. But, over the last few months. I now have a constant ringing in my right ear and moderate visual snow (static everywhere I look). It's getting to the point where I cannot cope. My whole life has been ruined. I can barely get out of bed now with so many problems and depression in such a short time.

A 25-year-old in military shape to bed ridden in 10 months. This can not be normal. What do I do? And is there a connection to my symptoms?

 

[threefirefour]

I had visual snow too. There's a definite connection. Try having your suboccipital muscles massaged. Almost completely got rid of it for me.

 

[Anthonyr]

I had visual snow too. There's a definite connection. Try having your suboccipital muscles massaged. Almost completely got rid of it for me.

I'll look into that. Thank you. I am almost 90% sure my problems are all neurological though. But, I am open to trying anything at this point.

I did have a few bite marks before my first symptom and I live in the British countryside. Is Lyme disease a possibility?

 

[threefirefour]

I did have a few bite marks before my first symptom and I live in the British countryside. Is Lyme disease a possibility?

It could be, but you may have other symptoms with that. That being said, tinnitus and visual snow; despite being neurological, can be heavily modulated by muscles. That's why the sternocleidomastoid muscle can cause/worsen tinnitus.

 

[linearb]

I did have a few bite marks before my first symptom and I live in the British countryside. Is Lyme disease a possibility?

Describe 'bite marks.'

I would be very suspicious of Lyme or some other pathogen with all these symptoms. You could look into an IgeneX test; the standard tests for Lyme (ELISA/Western Blot) are a lot more capable of giving false negatives. IgeneX is likely to be very expensive, though.

 

[Anthonyr]

Describe 'bite marks.'

I would be very suspicious of Lyme or some other pathogen with all these symptoms. You could look into an IgeneX test; the standard tests for Lyme (ELISA/Western Blot) are a lot more capable of giving false negatives. IgeneX is likely to be very expensive, though.

Sorry. I should have gone into a bit more detail. I meant that I was getting a lot of bug bites just before all my symptoms came about. I live next to a woodland area. Which I walk my dog through daily.

Thank you for the suggestion of IgeneX. I can have the test done for £320. Which isn't too bad.

Hopefully I will have an MRI soon too. As I'm seeing a ENT next month and my neurologist (due to persistence, he wanted to forget about me after the BFS diagnosis) again soon.

I'll keep this thread updated and if I ever get answers. I'll make sure to post them here.

Just to be on the safe side and rule out everything, I went to a STI clinic a few months ago. I was cleared for HIV and everything else.

 

[Anthonyr]

Update:

My spasms have calmed down a lot since I stopped focusing on them. I have had an ear MRI and Lyme disease test. Both came back normal.

Although, there's still question marks over MS.

I hope to have a brain and spine MRI some time this year. If that comes back normal, then, all my problems have to come from anxiety and stress. As there's no other test that I can take. My body would also jerk by the way. That has also gone away since I got my stress levels down.

 

[Bluemoon]

Hi @Anthonyr, I know this is an old post but I wondered if your BFS went away eventually?

Along with everything else, I seem to have developed the muscle twitching. I'm starting to think everything is connected.

 

[Jon R.]

I have visual snow. I am 42 now and I have had it since I was 19. My tinnitus began 3 years after my visual snow.

 

[kev154669]

Hi, this year has been the worst of my life. At the start of January I was 25. I did not smoke, drink or do drugs. I also worked out 5 times a week (cardio and weights). I had a great girlfriend and was really optimistic for the future. With career prospects looking good too.

But, something happened at the start of February. My leg muscles started twitching and pulling. My big toes also showed a slight tremor. This all happened pretty much overnight. I wasn't that scared at the time. I put it down to exercise fatigue.

After two months with no sign of things stopping and brainfog symptoms creeping through. Plus, twitching spreading to my arm. I decided to go to my GP. I was given loads of blood tests. All came back normal. Vitamin B12, Folate, Iron, Ferritin, Urea & Electrolytes. Thyroid function, Vitamin D, full blood count and Copper. I was eventually diagnosed with BFS and basically sent packing without a follow up (no MRI or nerve tests).

Everything was returning to normal. Despite the twitches. But, over the last few months. I now have a constant ringing in my right ear and moderate visual snow (static everywhere I look). It's getting to the point where I cannot cope. My whole life has been ruined. I can barely get out of bed now with so many problems and depression in such a short time.

A 25-year-old in military shape to bed ridden in 10 months. This can not be normal. What do I do? And is there a connection to my symptoms?

Are you sure it's got nothing to do with your neck posture? You describe similar symptoms to me and I realized years after that I had developed forward neck posture with rounded shoulders/hunchback from sitting down too much in front of the computer looking down at my laptop screen, which was the cause of my tinnitus and eye floaters/visual snow.