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lordpats

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Joined
Dec 24, 2011
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Reason
Learn about ALS
Country
Aus
State
NSW
City
Sydney
I am twenty years old and live in Sydney, Australia.

I have been having a bad year in terms of illness. I have been hospitalised with possible meningitis, have been on a protracted course of PEP for suspected HIV transmission (now largely resolved with a test appearing negative), and have had influenza. I also suffer from serious anxiety, which has morphed into health anxiety. Most significantly, I have been suffering from poor sleep and numerous instances where I have worked in the day having received no sleep the previous night. This is not related to tossing and turning about ALS but probably the ever-present anxiety which also contributes to a few OCD behaviours.

I am an odd case: I have recently been aware of ALS and it's basic symptoms- it is a disease I had begun to be fearful of before I ever thought it might be causing my symptoms. A month and a half ago I woke up with stiffness in my small finger on the right hand and the small toe on my right foot. Though I can't recall vividly, I believe it also accompanied numbness in much of the right arm, but numbness certainly followed after and has remained an intermittent sensation. Immediately, however irrational it may seem, I suspected ALS. At the same time, I acknowledged that I also slept in a very poor position with my right arm wrapped around my pillow with the full weight of my head on the numb part of my arm. While I was confident that at worst it was a pinched ulver nerve or something of that variety, I couldn't understand why it was affecting my right leg as well.

Even though I am a health anxiety tragic, I still didn't rationally suspect ALS. So it was a particularly frightening experience when I felt a fasciculation in my right arm. At first this lasted only a few seconds. A further symptom occurred around the same time. I was brushing my teeth, and the brush and other items felt heavy, and my arm somewhat numb and peculiar. However, I was still able to hold it and exert as much strength on it. In a way, it was not so much heaviness, but as if the muscles were rubbing together and exerting to much effort. They felt sensitive and overly reactive. I felt nauseas and a wave of dread at this point, and immediately proceeded to book a doctors appointment.

At the appointment, the doctor performed various reflex and strength test. He was not concerned by the results, noting I had sufficient strength. I was relieved by this. He suggested that the fasciculations were BFS. Although I agreed this was probably the case (I suspect I have had twitching before as the sensation felt familiar, though I cannot be sure), I had a lingering anxiety about why the fasciculations only appeared in the right side of my body, particularly in the arms and legs. He offered sage advice about my anxiety with ALS: to paraphrase: 'wait and see, and don't get anxious because if it's ALS theres not much we can do".

The symptoms remained over the proceeding weeks. The fasciculations got worse, they appeared almost entirely in my right arm in leg, culminating in a huge twitch that lasted about eight minutes. However, the fasciculations have all but disappeared in the right side of my body. I felt similar twitches around my right knee. However, these fasciculations occurred when I was experiencing a lot of anxiety or when I was very tired. I feel however the occasional shock of 'electric current' and single twitches throughout my body, but which aren't visible and almost undetectable. I also experienced a strong fasciculation on my stomach where the liver is located, but I think this is something I have experienced prior to the ALS scare.

However, after work one day I found that walking felt stranger. I noticed one foot seemed a bit out of place. I panicked about foot droop. However, my feet are quite flexible, and seem to be functioning well. However, this has continued, and now I have a constant cramp on the right side of my foot, hurting when I place pressure on it. In addition, my right leg continues to ache. Aching now appears in my left arm and leg, though, this is intermittent and often not present.

I don't come here seeking to prove to myself that I have ALS. In fact, I want one of the commenters to savage me for being ridiculous and confidently declare that my symptoms do not remotely match ALS. Realistically, I accept the probability is low. My approach to my symptoms is to allow them to play out, and I plan to wait and see what happens rather than undertaking an appointment with a neurologist or seeking an EPG. As my first Doctor said, "if it's ALS, you'll know pretty quickly".

Thankyou for making ALS forums possible to worriers like me, and merry Christmas.
 
An A for grammar -- which is a pleasant change around here with the "texting" generation -- and an F for argumentation. You don't have ALS. You know you don't have ALS. You don't even know what the symptoms of ALS are because, if you did, your post would have been a fifth of its current size.

You're just here in the vain hope that someone will take you seriously and engage with you. Instead, all you're going to get from this forum regular is a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The "and many happy returns" goes without saying since you don't have ALS and may just have barely enough common sense to stay out of the automobile traffic.
 
Merry Christmas lordpats! You don't have any ALS symptoms.
 
You are fortunate to live in the city with one of the top ALS experts in the entire world.
However, concentrate on having a lovely Christmas
 
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