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Now stay at home dad

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Joined
Oct 7, 2015
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33
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
09/2015
Country
US
State
CA
City
Coarsegold
This may be a long shot but has any with ALS ever experienced a sharp stabbing pain to the rib cage area when taking a deep breath or coughing, laughing, etc. I have felt this pain in my shoulder, my lower back and on both sides of my body. This has been going on for months. It used to only be painful for a few hours and then go away for a few weeks. It progressively got worse and I have had this pain for a week straight. I went to the ER last week and after all the testing, they could not pin point a problem and sent me home. I don't have a clinic appointment until the end of the month so I was just curious if this could possibly just be ALS symptoms. I'm going on three years diagnosed and am nearly completely paralyzed.

Thank you all!
 
I have pain in my intercostal muscles and back that comes and goes. I've had pain since day 1 even before my diagnosis so I can't say if it has anything to do with ALS or not. I have a ton of sensory symptoms and they started in the first place I had weakness.

At one point we had 12 PALS in my support group. Four of them were confined to wheelchair/bed. They all complained of pain. Have you tried medical cannabis? One PALS said he was able to get off Oxy and I've been off Oxy since taking medical cannabis.

Does someone help you with range of motion? How is your breathing?
 
Could be pleurisy, but I’m unaware of that having anything to do with ALS.
 
I'm thinking pneumonia. As breathing becomes more compromised, we don't clear mucous from the deeper parts of the lungs. This creates a dark, warm, moist place for bacteria to grow. I'd get a chest x-ray ASAP. Pneumonia is a real risk and can go south quickly.

Vincent
 
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Intercostal pain, as Kim noted, could be an issue. Your diaphragm could be cramping also. A back that's out of alignment due to weak/spastic muscles creating imbalance could be pinching nerves.

Did you get a chest xray when you went to the ER?
 
yes I did. But I didn't do an CT scan or MRI. Should I have?
 
The fact it's been going on so long, sadly makes it sound like it is muscle pain from weakness. I would ask for a good session with PT and/or OT to look at how to keep you positioned in ways that will support your upper body as much as possible.
 
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