u/Salty_Hovercraft5495

I’m 28F and looking mainly for similar experiences, not a diagnosis.

I became quite sick with what doctors believe was a viral infection around July 24. I had severe fatigue, sore throat, respiratory symptoms/wheezing and body aches, and was also treated for a possible secondary bacterial infection.

The respiratory symptoms have now mostly resolved, but I’ve been left with symptoms that honestly feel worse than the original illness.
I have severe widespread pain affecting both legs as well as my arms, hands and joints. My legs feel extremely heavy and sometimes internally hot/burning, I get burning/nerve-like pain particularly in my feet, and I have frequent twitching/pulsating sensations throughout my legs, arms and occasionally my face.

The fatigue is also intense regardless of how much I sleep, and I feel genuinely weaker than I did before getting sick. Walking feels difficult, carrying heavier bags has become hard, and sometimes even holding a large water bottle feels difficult. The pain can be severe even when I’m completely still or lying down.

I’ve been to the ER, my GP and internal medicine and have had quite a lot of testing. So far nothing has really explained the severity of the symptoms. My CK/CPK is normal, along with several other routine tests. My CRP was elevated during the illness.

Initially my doctors thought this was post-viral, but because the musculoskeletal symptoms are persisting, they’ve now mentioned that rheumatological causes may need to be investigated, including inflammatory arthritis/fibromyalgia. I’m seeing internal medicine again on Friday to discuss the next steps.
I know infections can sometimes trigger inflammatory conditions, so I wanted to ask people here:
Did anyone’s arthritis/rheumatological symptoms begin suddenly during or after a viral infection?

If so, what did the beginning feel like? Did you experience widespread muscle/joint pain, heavy limbs, burning sensations or weakness before developing more typical joint symptoms?
And how long did it take before your doctors were able to determine what was actually going on?

I’m not trying to self-diagnose, I think I’m mostly looking for reassurance that other people have gone through a confusing period like this where they felt awful but the initial tests didn’t provide an explanation.

I’m 28F and looking mainly for similar experiences, not a diagnosis.

I became quite sick with what doctors believe was a viral infection around July 24. I had severe fatigue, sore throat, respiratory symptoms/wheezing and body aches. I was treated for a possible secondary bacterial infection as well.

The respiratory symptoms have now resolved, but I’ve been left with symptoms that honestly feel worse than the original infection:
Severe widespread muscle/body pain, especially in both legs but also my arms/hands, legs feel extremely heavy and sometimes internally “hot”/burning, burning/nerve-like pain in my feet, frequent muscle twitching/pulsating sensations throughout my legs, arms and sometimes face, significant fatigue regardless of how much I sleep, feeling weaker than normal, walking feels difficult and I struggle to carry heavier bags that normally wouldn’t be a problem and sometimes even a big water bottle! Pain is often bad even when I’m lying completely still. I also developed diarrhea during the illness that hasnt resolved until now.

I’ve been to the ER and my GP several times and done numerous tests. So far all tests seem normal! Which is reassuring yet confusing.. My doctors have mentioned post-viral symptoms, and more recently said that if this persists they may need to consider things like fibromyalgia/rheumatological causes. I’ve been advised to see internal medicine as well and she asked me to do further tests and they’re all normal as well, I’m yet to see her on Friday for further suggestions.

What scares me is how intense the muscle/nerve pain and heaviness are despite the reassuring tests.
Has anyone had a viral illness followed by this level of widespread pain, burning/heavy limbs, twitching and fatigue while CK and routine bloodwork remained normal?

If so, how long did it take before you started feeling like yourself again, and what specialty/tests ended up being most useful?