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Jennifer-

From the onset, my glands under my arms have always been sore and swollen. It has been a constant symptom for me. It comes and goes now (almost 2 years into it for me) but is still there. Other glands/Lymph nodes are affected for me too.

They say a trampoline is great for your lymphatic system, I jump rope instead.

Just something to consider here - DO be careful with steroids. They are not a good match with West Nile. You may have immediate relief, but they do tend to "stir" up the virus.

I too get muscle pain (mostly fatigue and spasms in any muscle, each attack is different and you never know what part of your body will be affected), joint pain (especially in my elbows and hips) and limb weakness. Some days it it really hard for me to move my arms. I can say when my lymph nodes start hurting again it does seem to be an indicater that I am having a flare up and other symptoms occur as well. It usually tells me a bad flare is on the horizion.

If you have not already noticed, You may want to pay atention to how your symptoms are according to you cycle. You should notice your symptoms worsening roughly around the week before your cycle starts (especially the lymph node involvement) and then you should again notice differences in how you feel a few days after your cycle starts. From what I have learned, even if you are pre-menopausal or post-menopausal your body's "cycle" time should bear weight in how you feel whether you actually have an active cycle or not.

For me- I think we can drive ourselves crazy trying to figure "it" out.......when something feels wrong we automaticlly think there is a "cause" and believe a test will reveal the answers. By "It" I mean all the wierd symptoms that seem to have their own magic act........one week it's this, the next week it's that...two months down the road it's something new and may be persistent for several weeks and not go away.....you know the game.
I have found that I always come up empty handed with "tests" and have to continue to learn that it's just part of the illness and try to have some peace with it. That is my major hurdle right now with the "new" stuff that comes up. You would think that after 2 years there should not be any "new" symptoms poping up....but wow, this WNV is a crazy thing.

I hate feeling like I have an 70+ year old body every day....all the aches and pains and such.