Can sombody help explain my symptoms away?

[Keken90]

Ok this is my first time posting here and I feel bad for posting here because I know there are people with this disease and I feel like I am over reacting.

I am wanting somebody to take a different approach to this and tell me what I could have other than ALS/other neurological dieses.

Background Information, I am a 23 year old white male,290lbs, 6'3. I have pre-existing conditions Ibs (irritable bowel syndrome),TMJ,and I just got over a massive kidney infection, and kidney stones about a week ago.

I have talked to my doctor about the twitching I am having but he didn't attempt to diagnose me he just simply ruled everything out due to age and told me to relax. Well that was about 2 months ago.

When this first started it started like a "numb" sensation in my tongue. I was talking to my wife and my tongue got very tired to the point I couldn't any longer form words without sounding like I had a sock in my mouth. I didn't talk/ open my mouth for 2-3 hours and the entire time my tongue was shaking back in forth hitting each side of my teeth. If I tried to stick my tongue out it would do the "tango" and move back in forth. I waved it off because I was quitting chewing tobacco at the time so I thought no big deal.

Well a week after that I was sitting at my computer and my bicep started visibly twitching and I moved my bicep and it stopped. But when I put it back down it continued twitching. At this point I got curious as to how I could relieve this twitching so I typed in on google "God help me" and 50 things popped up for als and I was like thanks crackpot Dr. Google I just want to know how to make it stop twitching. Well I stretched and that would make it stop but after a little bit it would start again. About 2 hours later it stopped. Then later that night I was watching tv and my back shoulder started "twitching" so I was seriously? Just please go away already and it did after awhile. When I tried to lay down with my wife my bicep started twitching again. At this point I was getting frustrated because all I wanted to do was go to bed and I had the ALS thought in the back of my mind. So I looked up simple home tests to do to see if I had any muscle weakness and got my wife to help me with them.

I passed holding my arms straight out with my eyes closed for 1 minute and a half and neither of my arms drifted. Did the same thing with my legs and passed. Had my wife push down on both hands as they were straight out and she said she felt the same amount of resistance. So that put my mind at ease and I went to bed. I woke up to my bicep twitching again so I said that's it I am settling this once and for all and went and dug out my old weights and held to 35lb weights up till both arms gave out 15 minutes later.

About to 3 days later even tho the twitching continued I tried my best to push it to the back of my mind until it started in my legs as well. At this point I was convinced I had something so I went to my family doctor and asked him to find out what I am having and he wrote it all off as stress due to my wife being pregnant, having 2 children,and etc.

I was inclined to believe him until I talked to my mother about it later and she told me that my great grandmother died of ALS in her earlier 30's. So that just made me hit the google search bar like a mad man and everything I read says ALS isn't "suppose" to be hereditary.

The scariest symptoms I have had just happened this week tho. My right pinkie won't type. I try to type and it gets very stiff and I get kind of a numb sensation out of it. And my right toes feel like I am trying to left a 30lb weight with them when I try to curl them. And lastnight my feet actually felt like they were on fire to the point I went and sat them in a cold bath water to no avail...


Sorry I didn't mean for it to be this long but I thought I might aswell get everything out there and ask what I might have. The reason I remembered to do this is due to my right calf muscle spasming as I am typing this. I can stretch and it will stop then continue again after I relax.

Thanks ahead of time for any answers I might receive.

 

[Tokahfang]

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to write in paragraphs. So many worried folks forget that, and get less helpful replies than they would if we could read their post!

So, here's the thing. ALS is a spinal disease, and it works by spine levels. Generally it starts in one part of the spine, makes lots of symptoms there, and then progresses. It doesn't make tongue symptoms, then bicep symptoms, then pinki symptoms, then toe symptoms in a short span like that. Honestly, if you hadn't explained your search, I'd be asking how in the world you ended up even thinking about it.

To answer the question that started you on this path, there isn't a lot that you can do for the twitches. Cutting down your caffeine will help. If they become so distracting you have trouble day to day, docs sometimes prescribe mild anti-seizure meds or those sneaky part-psych part-neuro drugs. That can help. Anti-anxiety drugs can help, but they take many months to work when they do. If none of that helps, you are just kind of stuck with them until they go away on their own.

I don't think you have a disease of any kind, although if you experience anything new and bad, check with your doctor! The neurology of your body is a very, very complex electrical system. Just like your computer, it fritzes out occasionally in small and annoying ways. If you don't go looking those up and let them pass, they generally do just that. If you toke yourself up on fear by reading about scary things, your resulting anxiety makes a chemical called a pro-inflammatory cytokine, floods the body, and you get more real (you aren't faking them) but completely benign symptoms. It takes a few months for your body to flush that stuff.

Alternatively, you could develop an annoying chronic condition called Benign Fasciculation Syndrome. How it works is a bit of a mystery, but you could kind of think of it as a benign form of MS. Nothing is damaged, there is no permanent disability or life interrupting issues, but all sorts of mild neuro symptoms come and go. It causes increased anxiety, often health anxiety, or is caused by it - a bit of a chicken and the egg paradox there. It comes and goes, has good times and bad, and many people eventually get entirely better. It takes a few years, though. It doesn't have any treatment beyond the same symptomatic stuff, so other than putting a name to your experience a diagnosis isn't worth much.

Ultimately, if your doc isn't worried, you probably shouldn't be either. Go for your checkups, see if you can get symptom relief, and follow your doctor's advice and orders. ALS shouldn't even be on your radar! I think you'll be ok. A BFS support group/forum/chat can be helpful for ranting or seeing how many other people are in your situation. Otherwise you are pretty set to just live your life normally.

 

[JEB1979]

From what I've read, the fasciculations are usually in one part of the body and then they spread out further.

In my case, I have fasciculations in the calves, but then they occasionally jump to my feet, arms, upper legs, even my stomach and tongue. So that makes me hopeful that I might not have ALS.

Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[TeresaElizabeth]

Ok! So your post totally souds like me... and you know what?! I don't have ALS.... I am just a twitchy person who had one mild twitch then consulted Dr. Google... and started twitching all over. I actually came on to ready Beky's post and you know what she gave you some pretty awesome advice. Truthfully this post could have been applied to me.

 

[Rone]

Hi I am a new member here and I am just seeking some advice.

I am currently having tests with my GP however he has not indicated what the situation is as yet but has ordered and EMG for me.
My symptoms are as follows -

I was a keen body builder who visited the gym at least five days a week and worked out using quite heavy weights.
I noticed I began to get pain in my right shoulder when pressing but paid little attention to it as it eased through the session.
Then about 2 months ago I awoke to find my right arm completely numb and hurting as I had been asleep on that side for most of the night feeling soon returned so I was not alarmed.

I thought nothing of it until it happened again and again and since then every time I rested on my right side even for a short period of time.
A few months ago I noticed my right calf muscle was considerably smaller than my left and I started working it a bit more but with little signs of improvement.

I am right handed but then noticed my strength on my right side dwindling until my left became the dominant side which resulted in bigger and better growth on my left side.
Since then my entire right hand side has dwindled down to a fraction of the size it was three months ago and I am now experiencing the muscle twitches in my biceps quads and calves.

Can anyone shed a little light on whats going on with me or your similar experiences please?

Thanks
Ron

 

[ottawa girl]

Ron,

What did your doctor tell you?

 

[Rone]

Hi
My Dr has said its just a precautionary measure to to see what exactly is going on with me.
I have had a few blood tests to rule out other aliments however I have been told nothing conclusive as yet.

Ron

 

[vickim]

Well my advice at this point is wait and see what the results are. Don't worry until you have too. Stress can make things worse so try and relax. It could be a long process. Hopefully soon your dr will order the emg/nvc. It would be hard to guess on what is going on with you. These things mimic each other and can be hard to narrow down. I will hope for the best for you and pray it is something easy and curable.

 

[Keken90]

I know I haven't posted here since my OP but I was reading everything everyone had to say and I am thankful for it. I am having so many other issues rightnow it is hard to get to a neurologist. I brought my neurological symptoms up with my doctor and that was basically an after thought to him. I am currently having extensive tests to determine what is going in in my GI tract due to some unfortunate turn of events and family history. I have a colonoscopy coming up to make sure I don't have colon cancer.

But to update everyone I am still having muscle twitches all over mainly in my biceps,thighs, abdominal, and shoulders. I know I am not making the twitching because no matter how hard I try I can't get my bicep to twitch like it does involuntarily.

I do have another symptom... I have lost sensation with right toes and no muscle control over the pinky toe. I had my wife sit down and I put up a blinder infront of me so I couldn't see. She poked what I thought was my middle toe but turned out to be my right ring toe. She touched my pinky toe and I couldn't feel it so she pinched down hard and the only thing I could feel was pressure.

That to me was a relief and scary at the same time. I know ALS doesn't cause loss of sensation or any real sensations for that matter. But I can flex pinky toe along with the rest but I can't move it individually.

Is this a sign that I have something else going on or should I ignore it and see if other symptoms appear before going to a neurologist?