A virus or something else?

[chakachumchom]

I am naturally quite an anxious person, however I'm becoming increasingly concerned about some symptoms I've been having, especially as I've experienced similar twice in the last 5 months.

Around 3 weeks ago I was experiencing inflammatory type pain in my legs, to the point I had to go to bed because walking felt difficult. I couldn't seem to warm my feet and felt cold. It faded but I felt exhausted all week and had a pain in my neck. 1 week later I came down with a heavy cold, temperature, pain in the ears, throat etc. It last 2 days of which I stayed in bed. The throat and ears symptoms eased off in the following 2 days, however I was left with weakness in my arms, pain in my neck and extremely achy legs along with a bit of diarrhoea.
It's been a week since then and I'm in bed yet again with terribly achy legs, stiff neck and stomach cramps. Usually I get a cold and can get rid of it within a few days, but this is the second time I've had a cold like this within 5 months. The cold seems to have gone now, but I'm left with a lot of muscle aches and weakness. I've Googled and now feel worried by the C word and other horrible diseases! I should know better than to Google!

But seriously, should I be concerned? Does it sound viral or do I need to visit my doctor for some blood tests?

Also- has anybody heard of or had a virus similar to this recently?

I had almost exactly these symptoms awhile back and it took a good six weeks to recover! Started in my legs, ended up in neck and shoulders and respiratory symptoms didn't manifest til about week 3/4! Also had stomach symptoms. It was like a flu I think and was driving me nuts because I couldn't figure out what was going on! Doc said lots of strange, long viruses going about so u could well have fallen victim to one of them. I had bloods done and they all came back fine. If you're not feeling better go to doc for some reassurance! X

Thankyou Ellen. I went to the Docs in tears last week as I was feeling worse and they have taken bloods. Results should be back on Monday.
It's good to hear I'm not the only one experiencing these strange symptoms so thanks for commenting. Similarly to you, the aches and pains have made their way up my body too, now mainly in my neck and fingers. Still having stomach issues which are driving me mad, Dr thinks the virus could have restarted my IBS even though I've had no symptoms for at least 5 years now.

Oh poor you, that sounds rotten! Hope you're getting some rest and taking some good vits. Hopefully it will just be an IBS flare up and things will settle as you recover. The doc said the virus might or might not have showed in my bloods, and of course there was nothing so either way I expect you'll get some answers on Monday, don't assume the worst! Viruses can last a while and it can take a while to recover, as I discovered. Made me really anxious! So much so I ended up on mumsnet like you looking for someone who might have same symptoms. Let me know how you get on X