DannyGatton1993
New member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2023
- Messages
- 6
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
I'm a lifter. Oh September 28th I think I irritated my lower back as I felt a terrible ache after my hack squats and slight pins and needles in my left foot. Went to see an ortho who took an x-ray and found that I had some disc shrinkage in the L5/S1 region. I couldn't get an MRI approved so I've been doing physical therapy, which I think has helped.
Around October 7th I started feeling a light pricking sensation in my left foot and thought nothing of it until I started feeling that same prickling sensation occasionally in my hands and torso (a random little prick a few times an hour, nothing continual), so I went back to the ortho. The Doc saw no reason why I'd be feeling this sensation in my upper body so he ordered an EMG/NCS for my arms and hands. During this time I thought it might be Multiple Sclerosis, so that's one of the things the tech and Doc were looking for. This was done on 10/13.
The results came back with apparently only the concern of pre-clinical carpal tunnel. This made me feel pretty good for a day or two as the prickling sensation ceased shortly after, and I thought I could put my worries about MS to bed.
However, on October 15th I began getting these random muscle twitches in my legs and arms/hands. Doing the Googling led me to ALS, but in the last few days I was reassured by the fact that, after calling back and asking, the ortho didn't see any concerns for ALS on the EMG/NCS either. I had just done a leg strength analysis with my PT and he said I've got one of the strongest resistances he's seen so I wasn't super worried.
Cut to approximately a week ago when waiting for PT for my back I noticed a pretty large muscle twitch in my left calf that I didn't feel, and a few other smaller ones following. I was shocked that I didn't feel these. I noticed then that I couldn't flex my left calf from a seated position the way I can flex my right calf.
I'm now getting the muscle twitches in my legs (quads, calves, outside of knees), arms (triceps near elbow, inside elbow, sometimes the bicep - usually on my right arm), sometimes on my back and torso, and eyelid. These twitches come and go and are not constant, but I will feel a few twitches every couple of minutes. I've also noticed that my left bicep seems to be larger than my right. I'm still able to squeeze 135 lbs on my right hand on my grip meter, but I can do up to 145 lbs on my left hand. I haven't fumbled or dropped anything yet, and I can still type fine, but I'm dreading the idea that that is muscle atrophy.
I've scheduled an appointment with a neurologist, but the earliest one I could find was December 18th so I'm very, VERY nervous...
1) Does any of this sound like the beginning stages of ALS?
2) Despite the EMG/NCS being done by an ortho tech, is this 'clean'? It's worth noting that I was not experiencing the twitching around this time, just the sporadic prickly feelings. The twitching only came about a few days later.
Around October 7th I started feeling a light pricking sensation in my left foot and thought nothing of it until I started feeling that same prickling sensation occasionally in my hands and torso (a random little prick a few times an hour, nothing continual), so I went back to the ortho. The Doc saw no reason why I'd be feeling this sensation in my upper body so he ordered an EMG/NCS for my arms and hands. During this time I thought it might be Multiple Sclerosis, so that's one of the things the tech and Doc were looking for. This was done on 10/13.
The results came back with apparently only the concern of pre-clinical carpal tunnel. This made me feel pretty good for a day or two as the prickling sensation ceased shortly after, and I thought I could put my worries about MS to bed.
However, on October 15th I began getting these random muscle twitches in my legs and arms/hands. Doing the Googling led me to ALS, but in the last few days I was reassured by the fact that, after calling back and asking, the ortho didn't see any concerns for ALS on the EMG/NCS either. I had just done a leg strength analysis with my PT and he said I've got one of the strongest resistances he's seen so I wasn't super worried.
Cut to approximately a week ago when waiting for PT for my back I noticed a pretty large muscle twitch in my left calf that I didn't feel, and a few other smaller ones following. I was shocked that I didn't feel these. I noticed then that I couldn't flex my left calf from a seated position the way I can flex my right calf.
I'm now getting the muscle twitches in my legs (quads, calves, outside of knees), arms (triceps near elbow, inside elbow, sometimes the bicep - usually on my right arm), sometimes on my back and torso, and eyelid. These twitches come and go and are not constant, but I will feel a few twitches every couple of minutes. I've also noticed that my left bicep seems to be larger than my right. I'm still able to squeeze 135 lbs on my right hand on my grip meter, but I can do up to 145 lbs on my left hand. I haven't fumbled or dropped anything yet, and I can still type fine, but I'm dreading the idea that that is muscle atrophy.
I've scheduled an appointment with a neurologist, but the earliest one I could find was December 18th so I'm very, VERY nervous...
1) Does any of this sound like the beginning stages of ALS?
2) Despite the EMG/NCS being done by an ortho tech, is this 'clean'? It's worth noting that I was not experiencing the twitching around this time, just the sporadic prickly feelings. The twitching only came about a few days later.
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