little bumps along my muscles???

[Aleesha Sattva]

the oddest thing happened during my juice feast. at least i think that's when it happened.

when i run my fingers along the muscles in my upper arms i can feel these little bumps all along the muscles. i can feel it in my thighs as well. we aren't talking one or two here... we are talking many... along the length of the muscle.

anyone else have this? anyone have any idea what it is?

i was thinking that perhaps it's the remaining fat, which is getting leaner on my body. perhaps it's just remaining in areas and is feeling bumpy???

[Aleesha Sattva]

hmmm... no one eh? i've been doing extra skin brushing hoping that will assist them to disappear.

i hoped someone would chime in and say... "oh i totally had those when i released weight too... no problem, they'll be gone soon" LOL

[spicyfull]

WELL..........Its because........I don't know!!! But lets play Doctor. Maybe you are getting SO Healthy and the FAT is Dissolving and this is the way it is suppose to be. I think I can feel the same when I press HARD on My Thighs. Anyway take it from Me...Its NOT a Bad thing because I'm NO Spring Chinken but the other Chickens in the Barn Yard DON'T KNOW IT.

If you EAT RAWight........You will be CUTE the rest of your LIFE. Now....SHA-SHE', WORK IT, TURN..........

[freespirit]

maybe it is fat being released from your muscles-

Im going to use a gross analogy here- you know how certain cuts of meat are fattier- namely ribeyes as opposed to a filet?

considering women carry the majority of their weight around the hip and thigh area, it would make sense that those muscles also contain more fat as well.

just a guess

[Aleesha Sattva]

can't be keratosis pilaris cause it's under the skin not on the skin. ;)

emily, that would make sense... cause it's in my upper arms as well and as a 300 pound woman becoming a 160ish pound woman in a matter of 10 months... that would make sense!

spicy... yup i feel healthy all right!

anyone else wanna play "guess - be a doctor"?

[iamacranberry]

Sorry, I missed the under the skin part. I don't know, in that case, but a qualified dermatologist might be able to give you an idea. You don't have to take the prescription he gives you if you don't want to.

[Aleesha Sattva]

i don't 'do' doctors... so i won't be seeing one. i'm not concerned, just curious is all :p

[MrsJohnnyG]

I have two things like that... one is on my upper arm... you can't see it, but if I run my hand along it (pressing down fairly hard) it feels like a small lump. Of course I freaked out that it was cancer but at least I know I'm not feeding cancer with anything I eat!

The other one looks like a very small raised lump on my abdomen. NO clue what these things are so I'll be curious to hear more theories!

[saxmaam]

This just clicked with me ... could be a "fatty lipoma." Sounds scary, but it's just a glob of fat with a membrane around it, sort of like a little sausage. I had one removed from my upper arm a few years ago. It's standard procedure to biopsy these, but I gather that they are not usually dangerous. I have a coworker who grows these regularly ... he has so many scars on his arms that he always wears long sleeves. Another friend tells me that he has several that he and his doctor are "watching." IE, he hasn't had any of them removed.

[Aleesha Sattva]

no it's not like that. it's more like a tiny string of beads - loosely strung - and they are getting smaller.

must be fat and it's leaving my body. it was soooooo apparent to me weeks ago (kept meaning to make a thread and forgetting to do so) and that is when i was doing my juice feast.

i'm voting for fat folks... :P and it's leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaving the building!!!

[iamacranberry]

Glad to hear it's going away. But if it becomes a concern for you in the future, seeing a decent doctor might not be a bad idea.

I am fairly anti-pharmaceutical, but I still see a doctor from time to time to get the "ok" that I'm healthy. There has been a lot of nonsense created by the pharma industry, true, but there is a lot of real medical knowledge hidden somewhere in there.

The way I see it, it is indeed a problem that much of the medical industry functions as a massive funnel for money toward the drug company industry. However, just because a doctor is part of the field of professional practice that perpetuates such things does not implicitly mean that he is also a money-hungry, bribable, and corrupt person.

Not saying you have to change your stance on doctors, but just something to consider. A GOOD doctor can help you stay on track and/or catch an illness before it gets too complicated. No one is perfect, and illnesses can happen even to raw fooders.

[Aleesha Sattva]

my doctor is amazing. love that i'm raw... LOVES that i'm raw! he's a huge supporter for me.

so that's not it... it's just not something i'm concerned about... more curious is all :P

[iamacranberry]

kudos for finding an awesome doctor :)

[Cabbager]

I have this EXACT same condition and I finally found this thread on google. Aleesha, have you managed to figure out what it is? I have hundreds of these small hard slightly-tender lumps on my calves thighs biceps etc, that I can only feel if I press on the skin while clenching the muscle. They seem to be slightly elongated but I don't think they're veins and they are not visible at all. I am less concerned and more curious

[Raw Angel Mom]

You probably detoxing in a deeper level.

If this is muscle, it seems like scar tissue, maybe you couldn't feel them before but now that more lair of fat are being release, you can feel them more.

Does this seem to be part of the muscle or in the skin area.

If you are detoxing to a deeper level, it could be all the toxin that were trapped in tumor or cyst that are getting release.

Of course, i am just guessing here but i hope you find the answer that you are looking for?

[Cabbager]

Hi Raw Angel Mom,

Were you replying to me? I don't know what you're talking about at all to be honest. I don't know what detoxing is and I certainly don't have a cyst or tumor. I also have no toxins to speak of and these bumps are not related to fat in any way, they are hard and elongated and only on muscle tissue

[walnutty]

I also have no toxins to speak of...

Well, if you are a human being on planet earth you have toxins!

I have these same bumps as well. I believe they are fat, but that is just my opinion.

I just googled this topic and it appears it may be fat. If you see an MD or ND you may want to ask
on your next visit.

[Cabbager]

It's not fat, and I don't have "toxins". All organisms function on chemistry, and have a urinary system for eliminating blood waste products. On that level yes, everyone has toxins, but I don't want any new-age answers that skirt the question. I don't have any tumors or cysts that you mentioned, fat is soft not hard, I am not "detoxing", and there is no scar tissue that covers all leg muscle with large individual lumps. I want a real answer to a tangible physical question. Sorry

[walnutty]

Of course, I am not an MD or ND, but my lumps are hard and they are definitely fat. In fact, they are hereditary as my father had a lot of them too and had chosen to have them surgically removed. I am, though, choosing to exercise and eat raw to see If I can diminish them.

Good luck with your search for an answer. Please share here when you find it! Ü

[happylife]

I have them from my arm pit down the arm half way. Not worried about them at all. Have had them for years and they have never got bigger. I am sure that when I lose more fat the will just go away.

[Raw Angel Mom]

Hi Raw Angel Mom,

Were you replying to me? I don't know what you're talking about at all to be honest. I don't know what detoxing is and I certainly don't have a cyst or tumor. I also have no toxins to speak of and these bumps are not related to fat in any way, they are hard and elongated and only on muscle tissue

I was replying to Aleesha.

If you have bump on your muscle, it could comes from old injuries that lead to scar tissue. They go away with massage (therapist). I learned that from a massage therapist. I had them on my arm. I injured my shoulder few years ago. Carrying heavy purse, can lead to that etc... Nothing to worry about, if this is the muscle itself.

p.s I am not a medical doctor, please research

[Cabbager]

Of course, I am not an MD or ND, but my lumps are hard and they are definitely fat. In fact, they are hereditary as my father had a lot of them too and had chosen to have them surgically removed. I am, though, choosing to exercise and eat raw to see If I can diminish them.

Good luck with your search for an answer. Please share here when you find it! Ü

Hi walnutty,
I feel I was a little too harsh in my response. The more I think about it, it does make sense to me that all the chemicals we're exposed to in modern living probably do have some harmful effects on the body. What do you recommend? Eating more unprocessed foods?

[walnutty]

I recommend raw, organic food and exercise to battle toxins and fat!

I am only high raw right now as I add in a little whole foods. This is because I have a lot of health conditions and am very toxic so I detox pretty severely.

This is not what Alissa Cohen advocates, but it works for me.

[Charybdisjim]

They sound like lipomas; though I suppose I should explain that this term is not as specificly descriptive as it might seem. Lipoma is a term desecribing a tumor composed of adipose tissue - fat. Keeping in mind that tumor can be used to describe almost any abnormal growth of tissue (non-cancerous and cancerous alike), all this means is that a "limpoma" can describe a large number of abnormal fat deposits. As you yourself have guesed, these are probably deposits of fatty tissue - which are called limpomas. Malignant transformation (carcinogensis) of limpomas is beleived to be incredibly rare and there is little in the litterature to support the idea that it actually happens in existing non-malignant limpomas. So yeah you probably don't have to worry about cancer - and with you having so many of them it is almost certain they are benign limpomas with a common cause as opposed to being related to a cancer.

Since you have described losing quite a bit of weight then it seems likely that these limpomas formed initially when you had a lot more body fat from which to form them. If this is the case then they would likely take far longer to dissapate than normal fat deposits because they are deposits which formed in locations not as easily accessible to the catabolic processes which broke down the rest of your body fat. They may eventually and slowly break down with continued diet and excercise. Excercise and/or massage may indeed be helpful in promoting their breakdown down but they may also remain indefinitely.

If they are not causing you pain and you do not have fibromyalgia then they'll probably continue to be benign and, as long as you remain on a good diet, are unlikely to increase in size. Also, if you don't have fibromyalgia, then some treatments may be effective at reducing them without excessively high risk. Still it would be understandable, espescially if they are non-painful, that you may prefer to attempt more natural methods or to simply let them be over using cortisol steroid injections. The other alternative, besides massage+excercise+continued good diet and hoping, is surgical removal. Again, if they are not painful then I do not suspect you would want to go this way.

[Cabbager]

well, personally I have had 2 lipomas before and I do not think these are lipomas because they are smaller, more elongated / almost like thick fibers rather than lumps, are more tender actually (when pressed), don't grow over time, there are tons of them, and most importantly they seem fairly attached to the underlying tissue (they don't really move when pressed like a lipoma does)

[Charybdisjim]

Sorry, was replying to the OP. They have not said theirs are not motile and hadn't said they were tender. Limpomas can be small, don't always increase in size, and can be numerous. That is not most people's experience but those characteristics vary more with the cause of the limpoma (again - refers to numerous types of adipose tumors regardless of source).

For what you describe...

If these are abnormal tissue growths- irregular growths of connective tissue, muscle cells, or adipose tissue - then this is technically a "tumor." That's a broad term but it is often conflated with cancer, though most tumors are non cancerous and some (including limpoma) are incredibly unlikely to become cancerous to the point where it is questioned if anecdotal examples of malignant transformation are merely misidentified. The next category of possibilities besides what would be classified as "tumors" would be a variety of cystic formations. The final possibility would be a localized tissue swelling which would actually signify more significant conditions such as fibromyalga or inflammatory connective tissue conditions.

"Tumors"

Based on your specific description you're right that they may not be limpomas - unless they are all embedded in muscle tissue which would be unusual in the case of numerous limpomas, but no unheard of. That would explain the tenderness, shape, texture and no-motile qualities you describe as the surrounding muscle tissue distorts and compresses the limpoma while fixing it in place. The fibrous texture is that of the distended muscle fiber around the limpoma rather than the limpoma itself. Also, limpomas are known to occur in clusters even in individuals without fybromyalga with some individuals having hundreds. In men between 30 and 50 in particular, this sort of intramuscular limpoma most commonly occurs in the muscles of the leg.

The other possible tumor would be an intramuscular myxoid tissue of irregular muscle cells. This would match your description but would be incredibly rare. These benign soft-tissue tumors are clusters of irregular muscle cells and would most likely be hereditary. They would also be very slow growing if they grew at all and would only appear either around puberty, after/during periods of significant muscle gain, or gradually over many years. In the first two cases they would appear relatively suddenly and generally only completely vanish with significant muscular atrophy, otherwise they would most likely remain relatively static or diminish very gradually over many years. As you describe it these would be wholly benign but if they do grow noticeably or become increasingly tender/painful, then a biopsy would be recommended.

Cystic formations

The number and placement of them makes it unlikely that they are ganglion cysts, though the texture and tenderness does remind me of the ones I've had on my index finger before. Intramuscular ganglion cysts not connected to a joint are incredibly rare but have been documented and can occur specifically in leg muscles - most notably the quadriceps. The only treatment I know of for these would be excisement by surgery, though there may be some less invasive means of diminishing them. They do not tend to grow and this sort of cyst in general is associated with repeated moderate stress or accute severe stress on the tissue.

The other type of cyst that can present in muscles and match your description would be intramuscular hydatid cysts. These would be caused by a larval parasite of some sort such as a tapeworm which had embedded in the muscle tissue. This would happen if the parasite was aquired during the "wrong" part of its lifecycle when it would normally (in humans) be expected to be found in the intestines. For parasites like tapeworms this tends to happen when foods contaminated with infected human feces are consumed by humans - the normal lifecycle for this parasite would be see it consumed by another animal at this stage and re-infection of humans would occur usually occur by consumption of the infected animal. This condition is relatively rare but on the rise for the same reasons there have been e-coli scares associated with spinach in years past - unsanitary farming conditions.

Localized soft-tissue swelling

It is possible but unlikely that what you describe are myofascial trigger points which one would see with fibromyalgia as they are more solid, non-motile and tender. These can be hard to correctly identify though and would also potentially be warmer than surrounding tissue and cause the associated muscle to twitch when pressed. You'd also probably notice other symptoms too - like chronic pain and iritable bowel. So what you describe might not even be that. It could be something like swelling of tendons and/or connective tissue which would also be in line with your describing them as fibers.

They also could be connective tissue swelling within or between the leg muscles. As with the possibility of ganglion cysts in the leg muscles this would most likely require you to have either accutely damaged your leg muscles or to subject them to regular moderate stress. It would also require you to be predisposed to inflammatory connective tissue conditions. I think this is very unlikely though as they would tend to become more sensitive and swell larger when you are active and possibly diminish with bed rest (specifically with your legs in an upright position. If you find no change after sleeping with a pillow under your legs for a night then this would probably rule out inflamed connective tissue.

[walnutty]

They sound like lipomas;



Yep, sounds exactly like what my dad had and he chose to have them surgically removed. I am totally against removing parts of the body unless absolutely necessary (fatal if not removed), so I have chosen exercise and raw food to fight my fat deposits. So far it's working!

[Charybdisjim]

That's good to hear. The most stubborn fat deposits (limpomas are among the most stubborn of all) can be quite a challenge to reduce by diet and excercise, and when they are its a slow process that is almost more a function of will and dedication than anything else. So if you're making progress then you've got more willpower than I do and I hope you win the fight.

[walnutty]

Heavy duty weight lifting for my arms. The expanding muscle seems to depleting the fat there!

[VeggieMel]

Do you have arthritis? It can cause hard bumps under the skin.

[Aleesha Sattva]

my bumps are gone. and they were never tender. :)