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Sabah

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Sep 13, 2013
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Learn about ALS
Country
TR
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Adana
Hi,

My wife is 31 years old and has that odd symptom yesterday. All of a sudden she couldn't move her left toes and there was pain in the thighs. She slept and in the morning there was nothing, no pain or paralysis. Everything has gone and she came back to her normal life. She can move her toes like normal person and she can drive a manual transmission car so she can push the clutch with her left foot in order to shift the gear. No other symptoms in the arms or the other leg but there is a mild weakness on her left leg but I don't know if it is perceived or clinical. She doesn't have muscle twitches, fatigue and/or other symptoms.

She is under great stress at the moment and unable to relax because the problem is at her office.

We saw a neuro just about a year ago and the examination and MR results came back normal. Could it be a pinched nerve or something else or just can be related to excessive stress that she has been dealing?

Thank you very much.
 
It could be anything or nothing.

If it were me, and it happens again, I'd go to the doctor.

Really, ALS should not be anywhere near your radar. Your wife's one brief occasion with stubborm toes does not warrant you thinking she may have a fatal illness.
 
Dear ottawa girl,

Thank you for the message. You have made me feel a lot better.

Kind regards

It could be anything or nothing.

If it were me, and it happens again, I'd go to the doctor.

Really, ALS should not be anywhere near your radar. Your wife's one brief occasion with stubborm toes does not warrant you thinking she may have a fatal illness.
 
I love Istanbul! Had the most beautiful time there. I wish I could return.
 
So do I but I live in the capital city, Ankara. I hope someday you can find an opportunity to visit again or even live.

Be good.

I love Istanbul! Had the most beautiful time there. I wish I could return.
 
Sometimes the subconscious gets the idea that if it just made you mysteriously incapable or ill, people would back off and let you relax. Maybe in some age that worked, but in ours instead people hit the internet for their answers and become full of fear, and more stressed. We live in the worst year yet to have episodes of any kind of stress related or psychosomatic disorder. Many of them end up as feedback loops.

I wouldn't worry about it if it doesn't happen again. If it does, go to a doctor... but go lightly. Going through rounds and rounds of testing, particularly if it is painful, makes it harder to recover from psychosomatic diseases. It roots the mind firmer in the reality that there is an illness, and the sunk cost fallacy comes into play subconsciously. So if the doc says "you look fine, you don't need to go to a bigger doc", take him seriously. If he directs you to some kind of specialist, go there. This is a case when it doesn't pay to push for a third and fourth opinion.

A sign it may be something like episodes of conversion disorder would be if it only happens in settings where it causes no immediate problems. Your subconcious seems to be smart enough not to turn your limbs off when you're driving, jogging down stairs, etc. If it would cause immediate and obvious injury, no paralysis generally occurs. If it does happen while in a dangerous situation, that increases the priority of getting doctor help.

If it is psychosomatic, remember that doesn't make it not real. It isn't faking, it isn't malingering, and your wife can't control it. They've done some awesome petscan studies on this stuff. In conversion disorder particularly, they can watch someone with a paralyzed left arm send the same command to it that they did to the right, and it just.... stops. The brain stops sending it. In some ways, it sucks more, because aside from waiting for it to go away or treating any underlying mental illness, there is no treatment. But it is as real, as little her fault, as any "organic" illness. It is just a different part of neurological system misfiring. You accepting that obviously will actually help her recover, if she's in that sitatuation. Having to defend the reality of psychosomatic neurological problems can make them longer lasting, again that "digging in" problem. If you treat them as the symptoms they are, dealing with the practical logistics, and living your life normally otherwise, they have a better chance of going away.
 
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