Neurology appt tomorrow

[JamesB88]

Hello all my name is James. I'm 27 years old and have been having symptoms that can possibly be ALS. I be scared myself with numerous Google searches. I've also read a lot of your stories and it gave me strength to make appts. I started with a slight slur in speech and a nasally voice back in December. I also have tongue fasciculations for a couple months and slight twitching in my arm. I haven't had any weakness or problems doing any tasks so I'm hoping it can be attributed to something else. Like I said before I've read slot if your stories and thought I'd come out from the shadows lol

 

[Atsugi]

Welcome to the light. You'll be fine.

(I got married in Henrietta. Didn't work out. But I won't hold that against you.)

 

[JamesB88]

Lol hopefully Henrietta doesn't have that effect on my relationship. I was told at the appt its possible I may have bulbar pulsy or at best a benign tumor. Hoping for the tumor ironically. MRI on the 22nd

 

[JamesB88]

Im halfway between thinking about death and not thinking about it at all. Never been this scared in my life

 

[Atsugi]

James, you're getting way ahead of yourself. Like a man who blinks his eyes and then swears he just had a stroke.

Twitches, you probably already know, are so common to many conditions that they are not diagnostic of anything. Even perfectly healthy people twitch.

Who said you have tongue fasciculations? Our tongues rarely stay still. But when we're worried, we're likely to see symptoms of whatever the Disease of the Day is. When the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge told everyone about ALS, this site was swamped with people certain they were going to die.

Have other people noticed the slur? Look in the mirror. Move your tongue up, down, left and right. Then come back and tell me if you could do it.

 

[Nikki J]

This was a neurologist? Or a neuromuscular specialist? Whichever, start looking into who you would see for a second opinion. Sorry you were told that , but until you have at least an mri do not panic. Given the choices of course hope for a benign tumor, most of us ( all of us probably) would be happy with a malignant tumor as an answer.

 

[JamesB88]

Well I saw a neurologist. He did say that I had tongue fasciculations. He also did a test where he put his hand on my cheek an had me press my tongue against it. He said it appeared to be weak. There were no fasciculation or weakness anywhere else on my body. As far as my speech I worked at a call center and noticed the nasally quality around november/december. My family says its not as much a slur as i appear to be mumbling more. He told me I cant be diagnosed until they rule out everything else with the MIR but he mentioned ALS clinic and things like that that scare the heck out of me. Mind you Ive never been in the hospital before so its a totally new experience

 

[JamesB88]

Also if you youtube :"tongue fasciculations" my tongue literally looks exactly like that...not physically but as far as the quivering

 

[Atsugi]

James, you still have plenty of room for doubt. Let the process look for more common, less fatal conditions.