Oldfriend1
New member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2016
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- 8
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
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- US
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- New Hampshire
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- Derry
...and I apologize for that, but I've been extremely worried about what has taken place these last few months and I'm another (which I know you see a lot of) person who has myself absolutely convinced my symptoms are als.
I am 31 years old, and by reading through many old threads, I realize that I fall into the "most likely to become anxious, but least likely to be a candidate" category. I am not trying to waste anyone's time, and I just want to say I am truly inspired by all of you who have received a diagnosis of ALS or know someone who has.
There are a couple factors I will first admit to: 1. I was rehired by a previous employer in August of last year and started back up at a rather stressful job. 2. I know I often do not get enough sleep.
That being said, I'd like to go back to when the most alarming symptoms began.
1. Around October or so, I noticed a mild buzzing (like a cell phone) that would occasionally happen in my leg leg. Around that same time, I also noticed strange sharp pain in the areas surrounding my left elbow. My job can be physical at times, and I only noticed these symptoms during those times...at first.
2. Not long after these symptoms, I noticed a strange tightness/discomfort in my inner thigh/groin area. Once again, this was left sided. Over the course of a month or so, I had pretty constant tightness/discomfort, especially when lying/sitting in certain positions, which seemed to spread across my lower ab/pelvic area. It all seemed connected, and I still have those symptoms unfortunately. I saw a doctor about this, who thought it was sciatica and gave me injections that didn't work. I noticed twitches in my left calf, and also woke up one night with an extremely painful left calf cramp.
3. Over the course of the next month or so, the left leg buzzing got worse and more persistent, and the tightness/discomfort of my left groin/thigh spread up the left side of my torso up to the rib cage, which is most noticeable when I try to lie on my side. It tends to twitch after I attempt lying on the side.
4. Fast forward to Jan, and now I have a feeling in my left shoulder and down my arm that I will describe as a mixture between a dull ache and limb fatigue (burning/soreness) that I have at many moments throughout the day. At this point, I wasn't monitoring how much I used the arm, so I can't support that it was brought on due to activity. Some serious twitching begins in the right shoulder. This, along with the discomfort in my abs/groin, and buzzing, twitching in my left leg, had me worried, but I tried to continue working/living as normally as possible.
3. Feb - My RIGHT leg starts bugging me. I drive a fairly decent distance to work and back each day, but I'm used to driving a lot, so the fact that my leg (particularly the areas around my ankle) became so fatigued so quickly really had me worried. Early in the month, I wake up to another painful calf cramp. This time it's the right leg. Fatigue continues while driving, along with all the other symptoms I mentioned. Pain/tightness in my neck muscles including upper traps, mainly on left side with pain down the arm.
4. March - Twitching is happening more frequently and more often. This past Thursday at work both of my legs became extremely fatigued. Granted, I was on my feet a lot, but still. Then, I had to drive down to class, which was nearly 2 hours driving. While at class, twitching is happening everywhere...and I mean everywhere. I start to notice it in my RIGHT bicep, especially when leaning and resting my head on that hand/arm. The neck pain is now noticeable on the right side, with the pain doing down the arm. I woke up Friday with more of a sharp pain from my right side neck muscles down my arm whenever I moved my neck towards or away from the shoulder. My legs were still quite fatigued and painful, particularly around the ankles. I left work early to go to the doctors. He did a strength test, which seemed to go well (although walking on my heels tired me out quickly). I asked about a neurologist, but he told me a physio guy might be better (and he did mention that they would do an EMG). He told me I wasn't really painting an MS picture for him, but he decided to order some blood work (including Lyme) and an MRI of my brain, which I am waiting to get approved by my insurance. He recommended we wait and see the MRI results before deciding about the referral. I spent most of last night freaking out and of course googling all of symptoms. My wrists became fatigued much quicker than usual just from typing.
At this point, everything is twitching, but I'm not sure I'd call it random twitching, like with BFS. The muscles tend to twitch when I try to use them or lean on them, though there are times when it seems like rapid fire throughout the body. Not to mention, I have a pretty significant tremors. When I lean on any one limb when lying down, if I try to move into a sit-up position, snake position, or push-up position, the tremors are extremely noticeable. I've had a mild tremor when holding certain positions for years, but this is different. I woke up with some tightness, pain, and mild fasciculation in my left calf, and my right leg (around the ankle) still feels pretty fatigued, though not as bad as the last couple days. I need to do some driving today, so we'll see how that goes. Some twitching around my neck/traps, with tightness as well.
At this point, I am a mess. I have basically given myself a diagnosis before getting all the facts. I realize that. I still need the MRI. I still need the EMG. At this point, I do not seem to show actual clinical weakness. So I'm sure everyone on this forum is going to wonder why I am bothering to do this yet. I guess the biggest thing that concerns me is that this all started in specific areas and branched out. It didn't feel random at all....and it's been getting worse. That does seem to point to ALS at least to some extent based on my....googling (I know...bad idea). I FEEL like my body is failing me, but I realize there's a difference between that and my body ACTUALLY failing me.
As I said at the beginning of what is turning out to be a pretty terrible novel (my apologies for that), I have been under a ton of stress at work. People keep telling me that stress can REALLY take a toll on the body. I also realize I do not consistently get enough sleep. Take last night, for example. I am currently typing this on about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Maybe these are contributing factors. Perhaps, and I certainly hope so.
Any thoughts you guys have would be appreciated, though I realize it's hard to get to deep into this conversation without the proper testing. Thankfully, I just typed a ton and it doesn't SEEM like my wrists are as tired as they were yesterday. Maybe that's a good sign.
Thank you all so much! I'm done rambling for now....I promise!
I am 31 years old, and by reading through many old threads, I realize that I fall into the "most likely to become anxious, but least likely to be a candidate" category. I am not trying to waste anyone's time, and I just want to say I am truly inspired by all of you who have received a diagnosis of ALS or know someone who has.
There are a couple factors I will first admit to: 1. I was rehired by a previous employer in August of last year and started back up at a rather stressful job. 2. I know I often do not get enough sleep.
That being said, I'd like to go back to when the most alarming symptoms began.
1. Around October or so, I noticed a mild buzzing (like a cell phone) that would occasionally happen in my leg leg. Around that same time, I also noticed strange sharp pain in the areas surrounding my left elbow. My job can be physical at times, and I only noticed these symptoms during those times...at first.
2. Not long after these symptoms, I noticed a strange tightness/discomfort in my inner thigh/groin area. Once again, this was left sided. Over the course of a month or so, I had pretty constant tightness/discomfort, especially when lying/sitting in certain positions, which seemed to spread across my lower ab/pelvic area. It all seemed connected, and I still have those symptoms unfortunately. I saw a doctor about this, who thought it was sciatica and gave me injections that didn't work. I noticed twitches in my left calf, and also woke up one night with an extremely painful left calf cramp.
3. Over the course of the next month or so, the left leg buzzing got worse and more persistent, and the tightness/discomfort of my left groin/thigh spread up the left side of my torso up to the rib cage, which is most noticeable when I try to lie on my side. It tends to twitch after I attempt lying on the side.
4. Fast forward to Jan, and now I have a feeling in my left shoulder and down my arm that I will describe as a mixture between a dull ache and limb fatigue (burning/soreness) that I have at many moments throughout the day. At this point, I wasn't monitoring how much I used the arm, so I can't support that it was brought on due to activity. Some serious twitching begins in the right shoulder. This, along with the discomfort in my abs/groin, and buzzing, twitching in my left leg, had me worried, but I tried to continue working/living as normally as possible.
3. Feb - My RIGHT leg starts bugging me. I drive a fairly decent distance to work and back each day, but I'm used to driving a lot, so the fact that my leg (particularly the areas around my ankle) became so fatigued so quickly really had me worried. Early in the month, I wake up to another painful calf cramp. This time it's the right leg. Fatigue continues while driving, along with all the other symptoms I mentioned. Pain/tightness in my neck muscles including upper traps, mainly on left side with pain down the arm.
4. March - Twitching is happening more frequently and more often. This past Thursday at work both of my legs became extremely fatigued. Granted, I was on my feet a lot, but still. Then, I had to drive down to class, which was nearly 2 hours driving. While at class, twitching is happening everywhere...and I mean everywhere. I start to notice it in my RIGHT bicep, especially when leaning and resting my head on that hand/arm. The neck pain is now noticeable on the right side, with the pain doing down the arm. I woke up Friday with more of a sharp pain from my right side neck muscles down my arm whenever I moved my neck towards or away from the shoulder. My legs were still quite fatigued and painful, particularly around the ankles. I left work early to go to the doctors. He did a strength test, which seemed to go well (although walking on my heels tired me out quickly). I asked about a neurologist, but he told me a physio guy might be better (and he did mention that they would do an EMG). He told me I wasn't really painting an MS picture for him, but he decided to order some blood work (including Lyme) and an MRI of my brain, which I am waiting to get approved by my insurance. He recommended we wait and see the MRI results before deciding about the referral. I spent most of last night freaking out and of course googling all of symptoms. My wrists became fatigued much quicker than usual just from typing.
At this point, everything is twitching, but I'm not sure I'd call it random twitching, like with BFS. The muscles tend to twitch when I try to use them or lean on them, though there are times when it seems like rapid fire throughout the body. Not to mention, I have a pretty significant tremors. When I lean on any one limb when lying down, if I try to move into a sit-up position, snake position, or push-up position, the tremors are extremely noticeable. I've had a mild tremor when holding certain positions for years, but this is different. I woke up with some tightness, pain, and mild fasciculation in my left calf, and my right leg (around the ankle) still feels pretty fatigued, though not as bad as the last couple days. I need to do some driving today, so we'll see how that goes. Some twitching around my neck/traps, with tightness as well.
At this point, I am a mess. I have basically given myself a diagnosis before getting all the facts. I realize that. I still need the MRI. I still need the EMG. At this point, I do not seem to show actual clinical weakness. So I'm sure everyone on this forum is going to wonder why I am bothering to do this yet. I guess the biggest thing that concerns me is that this all started in specific areas and branched out. It didn't feel random at all....and it's been getting worse. That does seem to point to ALS at least to some extent based on my....googling (I know...bad idea). I FEEL like my body is failing me, but I realize there's a difference between that and my body ACTUALLY failing me.
As I said at the beginning of what is turning out to be a pretty terrible novel (my apologies for that), I have been under a ton of stress at work. People keep telling me that stress can REALLY take a toll on the body. I also realize I do not consistently get enough sleep. Take last night, for example. I am currently typing this on about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Maybe these are contributing factors. Perhaps, and I certainly hope so.
Any thoughts you guys have would be appreciated, though I realize it's hard to get to deep into this conversation without the proper testing. Thankfully, I just typed a ton and it doesn't SEEM like my wrists are as tired as they were yesterday. Maybe that's a good sign.
Thank you all so much! I'm done rambling for now....I promise!
