rickson407
Member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2013
- Messages
- 19
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- FLORIDA
- City
- ORLANDO
Hi All,
As you can imagine from the title I'm a bit anxious. This past May I just randomly couldn't swallow. When I say I couldn't swallow I mean I would chew and chew and chew my food and it's like the swallow reflex didn't kick in. This of course freaked me out and it is now the middle of July and I've still had no such luck. I've been to the Emergency Room three times and all the doctors I see tell me that it is because of stress/anxiety/depression, etc. More less telling me I'm a mental case and this is all in my head.
I'm definitely scared now about bulbar onset ALS and it is reeking havoc on my mind and probably just making the situation worse. Funny thing is that I have no problems eating chocolate, chips, and some other things. All the symptoms I've read about bulbar onset ALS is that it usually starts out as slurred speech and then progresses to dysphagia (trouble swallowing) because the tongue doesn't do what it needs to do to get food back. I have no trouble chewing my food or moving my tongue around or anything like that. My speech is definitely not slurred or anything either but still I'm a nervous wreck thinking I could possibly have this.
One person in another thread said that its not the act of swallowing the food that the patient has problems with, it's the fact that the food goes back to quickly and then he/she can choke and aspirate. This being very true with liquids.
I don't know but if someone could PLEASE give me some peace of mind it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance. :wink:
P.S: I respect and mean no harm by this post. I don't mean to make a mockery or anything so please don't think this. I just truly need some input and someone to ease my fears. By the way: I'm a 26 y/o male and have been relatively healthy up to this point.
As you can imagine from the title I'm a bit anxious. This past May I just randomly couldn't swallow. When I say I couldn't swallow I mean I would chew and chew and chew my food and it's like the swallow reflex didn't kick in. This of course freaked me out and it is now the middle of July and I've still had no such luck. I've been to the Emergency Room three times and all the doctors I see tell me that it is because of stress/anxiety/depression, etc. More less telling me I'm a mental case and this is all in my head.
I'm definitely scared now about bulbar onset ALS and it is reeking havoc on my mind and probably just making the situation worse. Funny thing is that I have no problems eating chocolate, chips, and some other things. All the symptoms I've read about bulbar onset ALS is that it usually starts out as slurred speech and then progresses to dysphagia (trouble swallowing) because the tongue doesn't do what it needs to do to get food back. I have no trouble chewing my food or moving my tongue around or anything like that. My speech is definitely not slurred or anything either but still I'm a nervous wreck thinking I could possibly have this.
One person in another thread said that its not the act of swallowing the food that the patient has problems with, it's the fact that the food goes back to quickly and then he/she can choke and aspirate. This being very true with liquids.
I don't know but if someone could PLEASE give me some peace of mind it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance. :wink:
P.S: I respect and mean no harm by this post. I don't mean to make a mockery or anything so please don't think this. I just truly need some input and someone to ease my fears. By the way: I'm a 26 y/o male and have been relatively healthy up to this point.