Bulbar early symptoms?

[mike.delgadillo]

I'll try to keep this simple and to the point, but I've been dealing with speech issues and random twitching for a while now. Below is some information:

• Age/Gender: 27 / Male
• Medication: Celexa (for anxiety, 4th week)
• Background: I'm naturally a shy person, not really good at socializing (used to be!) and would consider myself an anxious person. However, for about 2 years now, I've been having difficulty with my speech. In the beginning, it's not like I started slurring my words or anything like that, but I found it really hard to communicate with people, to come up with the right words, etc. I had memory fog and I thought that I had a mini-stroke or something. I also went through some stressful times around that time, so I'm not sure if that kickstarted this whole thing. At any rate, I carried on as best I could.
  
  It wasn't until recently (July 4th of this year) that my whole body started experiencing twitching. It's random twitching (legs, shoulders, biceps, arms, sometimes fingers) and it comes and goes, but I feel it on a daily basis. And you can pretty much guess where Dr. Google led me too.
  
  I've learned about BFS, but so much more of ALS. Below are some reasons why I'm concerned of ALS and some reasons why I'm not
  
• Symptoms:
  Concerned about:
  --Random twitching
  --Right leg behind knee-cap feels like it's cramping, but it's a very minor feeling and I usually get this when I stand/walk on my feet for long periods of time.
  --Speech issues: have had this for a while (2 years), but recently I noticed that my tongue does weird things. And certain letters I feel like I don't pronounce right (L's, R's). In addition, my tongue slaps the bottom of my mouth, kinda of like when you make that popping/clicking sound with your tongue (you do it as a kid all the time).
  
  Why I'm not concerned:
  --No weakness anywhere
  --No swallowing or slurring issues (sometimes I think I do slur) - I do clear my throat a lot of but I've always had that bad habit, and usually hock out a loogie
  --Can sometimes talk okay in pressure situations or when I'm angry
  --Can read books out loud without any problems (Question: would I be able to read perfectly fine if I had bulbar-onset?)
  --No fasics on tongue

As I mentioned above, I am being treated for anxiety, but the hardest thing for me to overcome is that I don't have a physical illness. I can usually speak okay when I'm talking about my symptoms, but with small-talk I am absolutely terrible at it- can't come up with the right words, certain letters I can't enunciate correctly, etc.


I would appreciate any feedback and advice you guys give me. Thank you very much!

 

[notme]

BFS much more likely. Bulbar issues for two years would have resulted in substantial issues by this time, not just some problem with some letters, believe me. Most have heard people ask if they were drunk.

No weakness, no slurring, no issues when you read--you don't have ALS. Go see your Gp for a blood panel just to be sure you don't have any low potassium or B-12, but I'd venture to say you're fine.

 

[rachelg]

I would say it doesnt sound anything like bulbar onset - my husband was bulbar onset and once his speech problems were apparent (slurring) it didnt "pick" times to play up. He slurred all the time whether he was speaking in general, reading out loud or whatever.

Notme is right, 2 years in bulbar world is a long time with only slight speech changes. My husband started with slurring in August 2008 (sounded like he was drunk) 12 months later his speech was incomprehensible.

You mentioned that under pressure you can speak ok or when you are angry. In the early days for my husband, under pressure or when he was angry, his speech was actually worse than when he was relaxed.

Please dont under estimate how much anxiety can have an effect on not only your speech but your whole body. Maybe worth a visit back to your GP to discuss your concerns and to check out if they are anxiety related because I dont think they are ALS related.

Take care.

 

[MommyRissa]

The stickies on twitching are extremely informative and helpful. Even if you've already read them you may want to take another look at them. Fasics are not considered an indicator of anything serious, a neurologist will tell you that. The twitching that comes with ALS is most often not noticed and comes after weakness. It also generally isn't widespread so quickly. It tends to affect the weakened area and then spreads with the weakness. As far as the Bulbar questions, if you had Bulbar onset you would probably be oblivious. Other people would notice that you sounded different and point it out to you. You would slur all the time, not just some of the time. Clearing your throat is normal. This is allergy season after all. You may have sinus drainage. On top of all of that, your age makes it extremely rare for you to develop ALS. It would be even more rare for you to develop Bulbar onset of the disease. Make sure you go see your GP. Don't waste time and energy dwelling on it. After two years you would know, without a doubt, if you had ALS. The disease does not come and go, it doesn't get better with time and they call it insidious for a reason. But please, take it from someone who just went through all of this, and came out with a clean bill of health, that you should be more concerned with your anxiety than anything else. Anxiety will cause you to feel all kinds of things and while these things are very real, they are not pointing to anything MND like. I'm not a doctor and I'm no expert. I've just been in your shoes and scared out of my mind. =)