Severe Pain and Immobility

I’ve just stumbled upon this site and decided to post because there is an active forum of Bikram Yoga practitioners. I’m looking for someone who has had or knows of a similar experience as my wife and can recommend a treatment. She has been nearly immobilized for more than a week now. Here is her story:

My wife is 41 and of medium fitness. She does some aerobics, a little bit of resistance training, stretching, and has a reasonably healthy and balanced diet. She’s Japanese. Recently, she left a job she was unhappy with and took some time off. She enjoyed regular yoga and decided to pick up Bikram yoga as there is a studio a few blocks from our house. Starting from about two weeks ago, she went every morning for about 6 consecutive days. She really enjoyed it and her instructor noticed and commented on her improvement.

The sixth day, which was last Saturday May 7th, we actually did it together. I do some yoga at home on my own as advanced stretching for my active team sports lifestyle. The Bikram session ended up aggravating an existing knee injury, but I dialed it down in the end and made adjustments. Anyway, we walked home after the session. My wife immediately started saying she felt tired and wanted to lay down. We didn’t think it was severe fatigue or anything other than just resting after a yoga session. Saturday night she was tired but not terribly so. However, she started complaining about back pain. This was the first she’d ever experienced it. She acknowledged that she may have stretched too far a couple of times in the last few Bikram sessions and so spent the rest of Saturday evening stretching out and trying to get loose. She didn’t sleep that well. The next day, Sunday, her back continued to bother and she began complaining about neck pain. I was gone most of the day and when I returned Sunday evening, she told me that her entire body ached, especially the joints and especially her back and neck. I gave her fluids and a couple of Alleve. Monday morning she felt worse. I had to go to work. I checked in on her frequently and she continued to feel worse in the joints and the back. She managed to take another dose of Alleve and go out for lunch and walk around a little bit. In the evening, she complained that she felt even worse than before. She felt severe fatigue and the same aches and pains- especially in joints and aforementioned areas. She could no longer maintain homeostasis either and fluctuated between chills and sweats.

Tuesday we went in to see a doctor. I was concerned it was meningitis or something severe. She could barely move and needed my help to literally walk a few steps. The doctor took standard BP, EKG, temp, and took blood. Her BP was lower than normal. The doctor had never heard of Bikram yoga, so we had to explain it to her. The appointment ended with a promised follow-up the next morning to review blood results and check on condition. I had taken off on Tuesday but had to go in to work on Wednesday. My poor wife had somehow managed the short bus ride to the doctor’s office alone. Around noon I received a call from her. Her condition was no better. She felt worse. Blood tests did not reveal anything. The doctor recommended she go to the Emergency Room to receive urgent care. They had to send my wife in a car service car because I couldn’t get there in time. At this point, besides aforementioned condition, my wife started to have severe pain in her legs. This is why she could not walk. Her legs weren’t particularly tight and there was no discoloration. However she complained that the pain was severe.

When I arrived at the hospital, she was being fitted for an IV of electrolytes. They also drew blood. After several hours spent here, the doctor concluded my wife had suffered from dehydration. The blood tests they took at the hospital revealed no liver, kidney, nor thyroid conditions. The released her and suggested she would heal up in a few days. That was last Wednesday. We are nearly a week later and her condition has barely improved. She is nearly immobile. Her legs suffer from severe pain. We’ve switched from applying heat to icing as much as possible. We’re not sure if this helps or heals the condition, but it relieves her pain considerably. Nevertheless, she can barely move. There are moments she says that she feels worse than any other time in the last two weeks.

I’m seeking more expert medical help in NYC. But if anyone on this forum has any experience or knowledge of this condition, please provide some insight. She is literally bedridden, in severe pain, and we can’t figure out what the hell is wrong. I’m thinking nerve damage at this point, but I have no idea. She’s tried stretching a bit but it only aggravates and worsens her condition. Please, if anyone knows anything about this, let us know.

M