Status
Not open for further replies.

StephenR

New member
Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
3
Reason
Other
Country
US
State
PA
City
Pittsburgh
Hey y'all!

Look, I am extremely new to all of this. I never thought it would get to the point that I would have to post on here but, here is goes.

I am a 23 year old college student. I am a smoker. I am not in the best shape, but I am actually underweight.

This all started this past summer when I began to experience almost daily headaches. They did not bother me much at first but eventually they bugged me enough to visit the dreaded google. After reading up on brain tumors and the symptoms of them, I was convinced, that is what I had. My headaches immediately got worse after that. Lightheadedness for days on end coupled with the headaches and fatigue. It was at that point that I made a visit to the ER. They ran some tests. The main two being blood and a CT Scan. The blood tests showed that I had a "slightly high white blood cell count" but that was attributed to stress. The CT came back totally normal and I was told to stop worrying and that I was fine. This eased my mind a ton for a few weeks. I thought I was past all of it. No headaches at all the past month and the lightheadedness is completely gone.

Then, earlier this week, I headed home from school for thanksgiving break. I woke up one day with slight back pain and just thought that it might be from sleeping on a different and less comfortable bed. For some reason, that night, like an idiot I went back to google for answers and awake old demons. I started reading about ALS and just how terrible it really is. The next day, I woke up and had a constant heaviness in my legs along with the feeling of having pain or a knot in my back. It was then that I made the worst realization of all, I wave swelling on the underside of my wrist. It looks like it is stemming from one of the muscles or tendons that come down from my hand. A few weeks ago, I was screwing in a new banister on the steps at my house and I did put quite a lot of strain on my hand and wrist but that was so long ago and I just noticed this now. I have been twitching off and on all over my body for the past week and I feel so tired and fatigued all of the time. My wrist and hand have no pain where the swelling is but even while writing this, my entire body feels tight and my left hand feels off (I am a lefty). I have been looking at my biceps in the mirror for the past few days and I am almost positive that my left bicep is smaller than my right. I am scared that the wrist is the start of atrophy and that would be my biggest fear.

My sister is a registered RN and she seems to think that there is nothing at all wrong and it is all in my head. How can she be so sure? I just don't want to act like nothing is happening when there really could be. The physical evidence is there in my wrist. Has anyone else been though something like this? What else could be wrong with my wrist and why do I feel so weak and off?

Any reply is appreciated. I don't want to live a life like this. I feel like this is the start of a long and nasty road and I want to try and get off of it now before it is too late.

This seems so selfish and stupid to be worrying about this when it could just be me making stuff up. For that, I am sorry but believe me when I say that I need answers because this is ruining my life.
 
Your posts is almost identical to other posts we have seen. You obviously didn't read the stickies. Please leave this forum immediately. You absolutely don't have ALS with the symptoms you are describing. We frankly don't have the time to deal with your anxiety or the game playing that you may or not be doing? This disease is not a joke. It is pure hell for the people with it and their families. If you sister who is a RN thought you had something seriously wrong with you she would have told you to see a specialist. You need a psychiatrist and that's all at this point.
 
Honey you need serious help. If you were my son I would have you to a psychiatrist today. Would you promise me you will do the following things as though I am your mum?

1. Immediately make a doctors appointment
2. STOP googling symptoms
3. Tell your sister you need her help to stop coming online
4. Think about others and their feelings

Now the first step to starting to feel better is to never come here again and be so rude to people who are dying. We forgive you for being so rude, so long as you never post again.

There is no way on this earth you have ALS, absolutely no way!
 
Skipper,

I am terribly sorry for that and I understand the seriousness of the condition. I was not trying to make jokes or anything about it. I respect what you said and I thank you for your response. Again, I apologize. Just looking for some answers from people that are going through it. I respect your battle.
 
Tillie,

I am sorry. I thought that this was a place that I could post a few questions but I was wrong and I will not be on here any longer. Again, I apologize and you will not be seeing me on here anymore.
 
I wrote a very long and detailed reply with my experiences with anxiety/health anxiety and how to cope with it, but when I tried to post it it was gone! How frustrating. Anyways:

Anxiety can make you more conscious about your body but it also makes you extrapolate the most simple symptoms into the most obscure, unlikely, dangerous diseases: in your mind you are sure you have them. I sure did. For moments I thought I had cancer or other horrible diseases for very minor symptoms. Anxiety can also produce symptoms that will increase its levels: palpitations, increased hart rate, sense of heavy exhausted limbs, tingling extremities, shortness of breath, dizzyness, etc.

All this becomes a positive feedback loop as you become more agitated/scared and anxiety starts to rise, and rise. Seek help, as I did, and you will be fine. It will not happen overnight, but be constant. All this started for me at 19 and I'm 27 now, and I'm doing really good. Most of the time my worries are mostly what will I eat for dinner or such triviliaties.

I entered here because with all the fuss with the ALS Bucket Challenge I read some of the symptoms and some were similar to mine. I was/am having some trouble with my right hand for the past year, but after reading the stickies and visiting the neurologist I'm almost certain that I don't have ALS. Now I know the difference between my problem (perceived weakness) and real weakness (ALS weakness). I still got to do an EMG and an MRI to find why my hands feel weaks at times (intermittent weakness is also not sign of ALS).

Also I've been going for the gym the last 6 months and I've put some muscle and strength gains, and I've been playing guitar as usual; all impossible feats if I were suffering from ALS.

Just focus on the positive, not the negatives.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top