LukeL
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2014
- Messages
- 44
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- Texas
- City
- Houston
First and foremost, I want to apologize to those responders who are afflicted or have been directed impacted by ALS/MND. I do not have a diagnosis yet, but fear has consumed me. I have a history of depression, severe anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. Ever since my first fasciculation, I have been an absolute basket case. My story is as follows:
I'm 34 years old and a very active person. I workout at least 5 days/week with weights and an very aware of my body. I randomly noticed about a month ago that my right upper arm had lost mass and there was a commensurate loss of strength. It's odd because I can't pinpoint exactly when either occurred, but it seems like I noticed the strength difference around the time I noticed the atrophy. It definitely isn't "perceived" weakness either. I can lift definitively less weight with my right arm, especially with tricep, shoulder and chest exercises (biceps are still fairly even). Make no mistake, I am not weak...just weaker than my baseline. I was obviously bothered by this unexplained change in strength, but no morbid thoughts initially crossed my mind. I became gravely concerned about a week ago when I noticed twitching in the area of atrophy (tricep). A little Google action coupled with my already detailed history of anxiety/OCD led me directly to ALS. Within a week, my fasciculations have spread everywhere. My right arm (tricep especially) is still by far the most common site of fasciculation, but I now have them intermittently in my feet, calves, left upper arm, and forearms. The twitches in my tricep and calves "pop" in and out, while those in my bicep actually shake (just once) the whole muscle. I feel slightly more spastic on my right side (arm/leg) as well, but that could admittedly be in my head. I am fully aware that anxiety can exacerbate fasciculations; however, I have had anxiety (severe on numerous occassions) for almost 20 years and have never experienced "twitching" as a symptom.
Nevertheless, I was able to get into a neuromuscular neurologist rather quickly and went through a full neurological exam yesterday. Not surprisingly, I passed with flying colors. Because my baseline strength is already so high, I exhibited no weakness during the test. Despite diffuse fasciculation, my tongue was clean and reflexes were basically symmetrical. I have blood work, an MRI of c-spine and brain, a spinal tap and an EMG scheduled over the next 2 weeks. Nevertheless, fear has overtaken my entire life. I'm not a strong person given my psychological history. I just want any opinions from the group on my seemingly odd progression of symptoms. It seems like the mild atrophy/weakening was only noticed because of my weight lifting. The fact that I have no other evident weakness yet have body-wide fasciculation seems odd to me...very progressive. I would default to BFS, but the "coincidence" of fasciculation onset coupled with the focal upper arm atrophy (about a 1" loss of mass; 15.25" right vs. 16" left) and weakening seems too incriminating. Any thoughts as I await further testing? I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful replies. God Bless.
I'm 34 years old and a very active person. I workout at least 5 days/week with weights and an very aware of my body. I randomly noticed about a month ago that my right upper arm had lost mass and there was a commensurate loss of strength. It's odd because I can't pinpoint exactly when either occurred, but it seems like I noticed the strength difference around the time I noticed the atrophy. It definitely isn't "perceived" weakness either. I can lift definitively less weight with my right arm, especially with tricep, shoulder and chest exercises (biceps are still fairly even). Make no mistake, I am not weak...just weaker than my baseline. I was obviously bothered by this unexplained change in strength, but no morbid thoughts initially crossed my mind. I became gravely concerned about a week ago when I noticed twitching in the area of atrophy (tricep). A little Google action coupled with my already detailed history of anxiety/OCD led me directly to ALS. Within a week, my fasciculations have spread everywhere. My right arm (tricep especially) is still by far the most common site of fasciculation, but I now have them intermittently in my feet, calves, left upper arm, and forearms. The twitches in my tricep and calves "pop" in and out, while those in my bicep actually shake (just once) the whole muscle. I feel slightly more spastic on my right side (arm/leg) as well, but that could admittedly be in my head. I am fully aware that anxiety can exacerbate fasciculations; however, I have had anxiety (severe on numerous occassions) for almost 20 years and have never experienced "twitching" as a symptom.
Nevertheless, I was able to get into a neuromuscular neurologist rather quickly and went through a full neurological exam yesterday. Not surprisingly, I passed with flying colors. Because my baseline strength is already so high, I exhibited no weakness during the test. Despite diffuse fasciculation, my tongue was clean and reflexes were basically symmetrical. I have blood work, an MRI of c-spine and brain, a spinal tap and an EMG scheduled over the next 2 weeks. Nevertheless, fear has overtaken my entire life. I'm not a strong person given my psychological history. I just want any opinions from the group on my seemingly odd progression of symptoms. It seems like the mild atrophy/weakening was only noticed because of my weight lifting. The fact that I have no other evident weakness yet have body-wide fasciculation seems odd to me...very progressive. I would default to BFS, but the "coincidence" of fasciculation onset coupled with the focal upper arm atrophy (about a 1" loss of mass; 15.25" right vs. 16" left) and weakening seems too incriminating. Any thoughts as I await further testing? I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful replies. God Bless.