Hi-I am joining this forum in hopes in getting feedback from some of you of what possibly be going on with my husband. He is 57 years old & up until 3-4 months ago, something changed. He began to have back pains...ended up going to a chiropracter, getting adjusted, only for the pain to return or to jump to another area. Then one day when we were out walking, he said he had to go back because he just couldn't walk anymore with his back pain. So the walking stopped, and for several months, it was just complaining of back pain, etc. Then we noticed he started to lose weight unexpectedly...along with muscle tone! Then the weakness started, hard for him to walk upstairs, gait became off, and still having back pain. Went to the doctor, he did a MRI which came back C3-C4 spinal stenosis. Went to a pain specialitst, and 3 tx. sessions for injections were set to go. He then got an UTI, which set the tx.'s back. (In the meantime I didn't mention that other tests came back ok....chest x-ray, blood work, colonoscopy, which was a relieve, so we were figuring all of the pain was due to the cervical problem.)
The more I thought about it, and reading about cervical stenosis, weight loss, gait difficulties, and some voice changes (voice started cracking at times like he was going through puberty) wasn't much mentioned. We went back to the pain specialist yesterday because I wanted him to tell me if this was what cervical stenosis suppose to look like, and once again we went over his symptoms, and I even had him watch my husband walk. He said to me as my husband was at the end of the hallway, "I think something else is going on with him, and I think you do too, don't you?" Wow, that confirmation was hard to hear, but I never shared it with my husband. He suggested setting up an appt. for another MRI for the lower back, and to see a ENT for the voice issues.
I have a bad feeling this is really, really serious....thinking MS, ALS, and other muscle diseases. (I also didn't mention he has broken out in a sweat after taking a shower, occassionaly!) Any feedback would be appreciated if the above symptoms relate to your ALS. People at work are starting to commented on his weight loss-maybe 15 lbs. now, and/or asking him if he is feeling ok. This is just scarey, no doubt about it! Thank you all! Cathy
The more I thought about it, and reading about cervical stenosis, weight loss, gait difficulties, and some voice changes (voice started cracking at times like he was going through puberty) wasn't much mentioned. We went back to the pain specialist yesterday because I wanted him to tell me if this was what cervical stenosis suppose to look like, and once again we went over his symptoms, and I even had him watch my husband walk. He said to me as my husband was at the end of the hallway, "I think something else is going on with him, and I think you do too, don't you?" Wow, that confirmation was hard to hear, but I never shared it with my husband. He suggested setting up an appt. for another MRI for the lower back, and to see a ENT for the voice issues.
I have a bad feeling this is really, really serious....thinking MS, ALS, and other muscle diseases. (I also didn't mention he has broken out in a sweat after taking a shower, occassionaly!) Any feedback would be appreciated if the above symptoms relate to your ALS. People at work are starting to commented on his weight loss-maybe 15 lbs. now, and/or asking him if he is feeling ok. This is just scarey, no doubt about it! Thank you all! Cathy