I've never used a moonboard although that does look a bit like some of the overhanging walls at the old City Climbers in NY; a service of the Parks Department. Super cheap so that's where all the young climbers went--I was 26 and the old man of the group. Bunch of absolute monsters.

Sorry to hear about the sciatic and hand numbness. Do you do low bar or high bar squats? Tried front squats or lunges?

Nick sorry I haven't read this whole thread, but I've had a few similar problems. Whenever I would do heavy DLs (405+) my sciatica would hurt for a week. It never hurt when squatting though.

I used a lacrosse ball on it a lot. Then I would do the pigeon stretch for a really long time and also pull the leg across my body while lying on my back. After a while the pain finally went away.

I had finger numbness for a long time. (Mine was from work though) I started a low dose aspirin to help with circulation and it eventually went away too.

Holiday,

I used to only LB, but my plan was to restart doing HB. Those light sets with bar were HB.

hobie,

Thanks for the suggestions. So you were targeting piriformis? Mine has definitely been was very tight prior to PT and then again after the light squatting. Was sore today actually at PT. I've recently been thinking it's playing a role.
Also interesting what you say about circulation because I'm pretty suspicious alot of these things are either circulation/cardiovascular related. I'm going to pursue that with doctors coming up.

Full list of symptoms TLDR;

Damn man, that stinks -- good luck getting a diagnosis. Are you still on creatine, or have you cycled off while trying to figure this stuff out?

12/7

OHP

175x1, 180x1, 135x9, 2x5x145. Nice still got it. I should cut and try for that bw OHP.

Wide grip PU, 6x5xbw 1 sec pause at top

T. Pushdowns 4x8x57

Strict wall curls 4x8x+40lbs

Weighted bench T. dips 4x8x45lbs

Seated lean back curls 4x10x20


Monte,

Thanks me too, it's been real frustrating. Yeah I'm off creatine for some time now.



Went to podiatrist today. He said the buzzing and foot pain in morning were because of pinched nerves. He used some ultra sound thing but who knows tbh. He has really good reviews though. Said it was not plantar fasciitias, and circulation in foot was fine. What do ya know, another nerve issue.
Thank god I do not have any weakness or wasting, that would be ****ing brutal and very likely a degenerative neuro disease.

Full transparency as always, I think I mentioned I used to dip tobacco (quit when the swallowing problems happened), but I found a fake dip substitute that has nicotine in it. The podiatrist said it can constrict small vessels (iirc) and doing research there is a definite link between nicotine and neuropathy. Wonder if that's it. I've gotta cut this **** out for good.

Past 2 days I've been doing some ulnar nerve flossing and the hand numbness has been better. Lets see what happens tonight after barbell work. If it flares again I may be taking a long break from barbell exercises and sticking with dumbbell/cables.

Hey, I've been following this thread for a while now after doing SS/BBM programs myself. Have you considered a BBM consult for all the symptoms you're having? I don't want to sound like a dick, but it seems like you have a symptom of some kind, assume its something bad, and then go to a doctor assuming you need "fixed."

The BBM guys have a couple specialists on staff now that sound great with injuries / pain management. Just hate to see you on and off all kinds of drugs, and in and out of PT, trying to fix something that maybe is just going to get better on its own.

Regardless, I hope you start to feel better!

Nah you don't sound like a dick I appreciate the opinions.

I originally did try to hire them through steadyMD, but they didn't have my state available for them. But Spencer Nadolsky was so I went with him. Not sure if you're familiar with him but he lifts/has been on a podcast of theirs.

I don't bat an eye at going to the doctor at this point because I've hit my deductible and while maybe some of these things will fix themselves, they've been going on mostly for 4-8mo. At this point I don't believe they're all independent events, I feel some are connected I just can't figure out how. I agree it's all very bizarre stuff but there's too many things that have happened many of which are not subjective (pain) but actually visible (xiphoid sticking out of my chest, fasiculations in calves all the time, visible heart palpitation below pec, pulse, etc).

I agree about the meds, I've cut out everything except vitamin supplements and short term clomid. Was just losing my mind for a while feeling desperate to find/try something.

Like look at this crap lol;

12/11

T. Rope Ext. 4x10x47
DB curls 4x8x35

Cable shoulder press 4x8x70
Lat PD behind neck 4x10x90

R. T. EXT 4x10x47
Double DB row 3x10x55lb

Cable curls 4x12x20
DB shoulder press 4x8x50

Do you need some rest?

Nick, sorry I forgot to write on the last post that this is your friend John D. from Atlanta. I don't post here much and I found this by accident. My wife has a disease called myasthenia gravis.

She had all kinds of crazy symptoms (all different from yours) and then one day she woke up and one of her eyes was noticeably pointed towards her nose. That's when we got serious about getting a diagnosis. Finally after at least 4 neurologists we found one that was familiar with the disease. She got on the right medication and ultimately had a surgery to help with the symptoms.

So my advice is to keep going to doctors and getting different opinions. Hope everything works out. Let me know if I can help with anything

John.

Have you tried not to do any exercise at all for say 2-3 weeks? You could watch which symptoms would get better. Then figure out if something could be done differently.

Oh hey John! I knew I knew the screename somehow but couldn't put my finger on it.

Wow man how long ago was the diagnosis? How long were the buildup of symptoms? Did she do an EMG test--what were the results of that? MG was actually one of the first things I thought about and my PCP agreed. PCP did the blood test for it (reportedly 90% accurate for general MG and 50-70% for occular MG).

Actually just looking through mychart notes, I found the first EMG (June) results, I'd not actually read his detailed report.

"This is a mildly abnormal study. Abnormalities on cardiovagal testing are consistent with a mild widespread small fiber polyneuropathy. This may be seen as an early manifestation of neuropathies owing to a wide variety of conditions including abnormal glycemic control, thyroid dysfunction, connective tissue disease, and toxic neuropathies. Clinical correlation is recommended.

There is no electrophysiologic evidence of a widespread large fiber polyneuropathy, motor axonopathy (e.g. motor neuron disease), or myopathy. The complete normality of single fiber electromyography of the left frontalis argues strongly against an underlying defect in neuromuscular transmission.

As the attending physician, my signature affirms that I personally participated in the clinical assessment of this patient, performed or reviewed all electrodiagnostic procedures, and prepared or reviewed the conclusions of this report. Pertinent nerve conduction study waveforms have been embedded within this report; all waveforms are available for review upon request."

This is fairly consistant with what I've been experiencing because thankfully I do not have any weakness or atrophy or anything.

I have my follow up EMG tomorrow actually. So we'll see.

Thanks for the posts man. We should catch up in person someday!

I've been considering doing this, but dreading the idea of it. I took 1 week off a couple months ago. Generally speaking I'm trying to go a lot easier.

This happened at least 7-8 years ago. She was feeling really tired and she was having a lot of muscle aches. She was just running for exercise at the time. She was having a lot of sinus pain and her tongue would hurt a lot slurring her speech. Then one day she just woke up cross-eyed. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. She wore an eye patch for at least 2 months.

She ultimately had a thymectomy and most of her symptoms went into remission and she could stop taking the steroids. She said that she had a EMG test but doesn't remember the results. She just found a doctor that knew what it was. I remember he was right by Gwinnett Medical Center.

We live in Forsyth County now right by 400 so let me know if you're ever in town and we can meet up. Hang in there.

Followup EMG came back completely normal, so that's great news.

12/12

Climbed

12/13

Hip stuff

1 arm T. EXT 4x10x27
Hammer curls 4x10x30

Chest cable flys (going light) 4x10x45
Overhead T. Ext DB 4x10x50
Seated lying back curls 4x10x25

Not to say Chattanooga is as bad as Mobile, but we have seen such a huge upgrade in doctoring since moving to Atlanta that I have to recommend trying to find a neurologist here. She's with a specific brain tumor group, but I can ask her doctor for a recommendation based on your symptoms and the trouble nailing down your diagnosis.

I don't mean to be pushy or insult your current doctor, but you've been in this holding pattern for so long and, like I told MLYLT in her thread, it may take months to get an appointment which you could always cancel if things work out before then.

Good dude ime. He helped me with some questions a little while back.

12/14

Climbed.


A few things;

-Got my new saatva mattress in, it's lovely.

-I started dieting 3 days ago. Going to try to lose 5-7lbs of fat. Also, during the last gut study everything was pretty much great except the anti-gliadin Iga (marker for gluten sensitivity). Not the first time I've been told I have a positive marker for it this year. Not sure if it was the same marker or a different one. But yeah I've decided to go gluten free for a month and just see what happens. It hasn't been as depressing as I though it would be, especially since I already cut out bread a while back.

-I had a really great PT session today. My hips/hamstrings were surprisingly mobile, like several "notches" looser than previously. Also during the pec/shoulder stretches I did not get any numbness in my hands. Previously these were replicating the numbness while doing them.








I appreciate that and may take you up on that down the road. I had an appt with a neuro named Bruce Bosse in Roswell but ended up cancelling because I found a cancellation for the one here I had in the works (originally a 6mo wait ). On one hand it's frustrating because the symptoms recently have been mostly minor, seemingly unconnected, and tough to pin down.

I know medicine is hard and they've been kinda scratching their heads at me, I don't blame it's been some very obscure ****. The main thing I haven't liked is just how much responsibility is on me to follow up, research into things, make suggestions, and ask* for referrals to specialists. I've felt like I've had little help in terms of managing' this, for a lack of better word.

I just empathize with those who are going through health struggles in our current system especially those who don't have the resources and ability to really be their own advocate.

His Instagram is pretty entertaining too. He seems into and willing to go by current science/studies, which is surprisingly more rare than one might think for MDs...

Oh I sent him a msg at like 9pm one night through the portal, wasn't urgent or anything and just figured he'd get back to me the next day but he replied then which was cool.

12/16

Hips stuff

12/17

Weight: 182. Dude so close to bw OHP. Also 1 arm PU lately feels somewhat potentially doable for me. Maybe with some more specific training.

OHP
165x1, 175x1, 3x3x155

DB Curls
10x35, 3x8x40
ss
T. Ext Rope
4x8x50

R. T. EXT 1 arm cable
4x10x20
ss
Wide grip PU w/ 1 sec P at top
6x5

Rope curls
4x10x20
ss
Side lateral shoulder raises
4x9x25

12/18
Climbed.

12/20

Z-press (first time doing these--they are challenging!)
6x115, 4x5x125

DB inc press
4x7x65s

T. Pushdowns
4x8x60
ss
1 arm supported curls
4x7x30

Supinated rows ~45°
4x8x175

Hammer curls
4x10x30


Diets good, I'm looking a good bit leaner already. Been feeling pretty solid lately.
Been putting off the sleep study redo they wanted me to do, but finally did it earlier this week. No apnea, though 30 leg twiches/hr (this is NOT the fasiculations). Whatever I've been sleeping great lately and I don't think the twitches while asleep bother me. Think those are technically under restless leg syndrome.

12/23

Diet is coming along nicely, definitely the leanest I've ever been @ 180lbs. I prob have 4-6lbs more to get to same BF as last cut. I think in the future I will just do perpetual 1-7 day cuts on weekly-bi monthly basis.

We are visiting GF's family near Mobile and couldn't find a gym other than the hotel's which had some DBs at least so that's fine (went up to 50lbs).

Curls
4x8x35s
ss
R. T. EXT behind head
4x8x50

T. Kickbacks
4x10x15s
ss
Hammer Curls
4x10x25s


DB OHP
4x6x50s

Lat side shoulder raisses
2x6x25s, 2x10x15s

Tried a few handstand pushups but was too fatigued to >1.

Did 5 40yd sprints outside. Feel like I can run at least 4.7 but I may be delusional.

Lol there are NFL LBs (and maybe some safeties) running 4.7-4.8 so def delusional.

Lol there are NFL white quarterbacks with 4.67-4.84 range so idk about that.
Brees, Mannings, Luck , Big Ben(?!). Cam and Wilson are in the 4.5s, thats pretty crazy.

"Near Mobile" can mean a lot of things but you can always hit up my old (slightly cramped) gym:

Next Level Fitness & Performance
4622 SpringHill Ave, Mobile, AL 36608

Or the Omni on Airport in the Fresh Market shopping center is the biggest in town. There are a couple of chains but outside of the city it's pretty thin.


Also, ahem, as you get older, it often seems like things are moving faster around you but in reality you're just getting slower. Similar to the music getting too loud.

We were staying in Spanish Fort. Drove around Mobile a bit, it's a neat city from what I could tell.

12/26
OHP
4x5x140

Curls
4x8x35s

CG BP
4x6x190

R. T. Ext Cable
4x10x60
ss
Cable curls
4x10x60

Measured vertical at 30in

Spanish fort just a few chains I think Orange Theory, Anytime, Planet Fitness. Somewhere a YMCA. Probably more golf courses than gyms. No climbing anywhere I know of, actually the only wall is at the USA rec center. I grew up further south in that county.

I have a hard time thinking of Mobile as anything but a horrible town, but I suppose that's largely due to dealing with the people there. Picture you are walking in a park and you see someone pushing a woman in a wheelchair who's obviously sick and disabled. They smile and wave at you and say "Hello". You'd say hello or something and smile, right? Who wouldn't? Those ****ing people, that's who.

Actually the black people would, the Asians, the muslims. Even teenagers, who should be busy acting cool, they'd say "Hello, beautify day isn't it?" ask how we're doing and ****. Except the white people--they wouldn't do anything other than ignore me or shoot dirty looks; the white males would get this, "Oh no--this must be one of those homoerotic come-ons I've heard so much about! Better put on my disgusted hate face!" Talking about years there.

Some of the oak trees are nice though.