Hello I hope someone can help me.
I am 38 and to give a bit of background, I have a longstanding tremor, since age 16 which has been put down to benign essential tremor. I have a strong family history of this. Over the last few years it has got worse and I saw a neurologist last year (well actually one of his junior team members, he just saw me for the last minute of the consultation) and he gave me topiramate as my propranolol had stopped working. This has made a big difference.
In December I was really ill with a chest infection (covid negative) This went on for three weeks, initially felt to be viral, got worse, first antibiotics didn't work. Then I was given one called levofloxacin. The first day I took it I started to get what I thought were probably side effects - insomnia for one which was awful! Three days after taking it my chest was much better but I felt I couldn't walk properly. I was shuffling, I struggled to get up the stairs and my legs felt really weak. I read the information leaflet that said to stop the tablets which I did and I eventually managed to see a GP. They couldn't find anything to examine me, my blood tests were all normal and they referred me to a neurologist. I have just yesterday seen the neurologist (the same one I saw for the last minute of my previous consultation) I am much better now, probably 90% better but I am still weak at the end of the day and after exercise. Also if I skip a meal my legs feel weak which is weird! Before January I could run 5km but now I can't even manage 1km. I can walk ok though.
I didn't feel my neurology appointment went well. I was in there less than 5 minutes. He only briefly examined my legs, said they were normal . Said there was nothing wrong, I was obviously getting better, nothing needed to done, suggested I might be anxious (I do get a bit anxious but am not under medical care for this) I mentioned to him that I had experienced some very very mild muscular weakness in both legs about 18 months ago also but that I hadn't seen a doctor at the time as we were on holiday and I thought it was from just being a bit more active than usual. (this went on for about 2 months and then got better) He discounted this and said it was likely nothing to worry about. He didn't seem to think the levofloxacin had triggered anything either. The only thing he mentioned very briefly was a 'possible functional neurological disorder' and then he rushed me out of the door so quickly I felt I didn't have any kind of explanation as to why my legs have been weak and why I'm still not quite back to normal.
I have since looked up functional neurological disorders and am wondering does anyone have this or think this could be what I have and still am experiencing? Could this be what is causing my tremor also? I am a lot better with the topiramate I have but I still do have a tremor. Has anyone had similar leg weakness after being unwell? I'm just worried now that I don't have any definite explanation for this weakness, what if it comes back in the future and is worse (it was quite bad in December and I could only just get up the stairs) is there any way I can prevent this? I don't want to go back to the consultant again. He was so rushed and disinterested. I would love to see someone privately that has a bit more time as I realise how stretched the NHS is but not sure there's much point when I am getting better and I can't afford it anyway. Thank you for your help anyone that can offer advice!