Any help would be appreciated

[hambone2]

Hello all,


A quick back story on my conditions. Every sense I can remember(as far back as being 14 and I am 22 now), my body has shaken any time it is against gravity (postural tremor). This includes my hands, arms, trunk, legs, feet, face(when smiling), and pretty much any other random part of the body. When younger, I never thought anything was weird about it until it was pointed out to me by some friends at random times. About a year ago, I get very nervous of what the cause could be so I had an appointment with a neurologist who ordered an MRI, and did an exam on me. The mri of the brain came back clean, while nothing on the neuro exam showed any problems. I was never officially diagnosed with anything but he did point toward essential tremor.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago, my thumb started twitching and caused me to google what the cause could be (mind you this was during midterms and I was constantly drinking energy drinks). It stopped after two days, and I haven't noticed it sense. Unfortunately, what I stumbled upon was ALS. At this time, I started to take notice of the amount of twitching the rest of my body does. It is not non stop, but I would say a lot of random twitches throughout my body( this includes, arms, back, butt, hips, feet, face, but more so calfs). My feet at the bottom seem to twitch very frequently. They are my hotspots. Most of the other twitches are one hits, and don't repeat for a fair amount of time. A couple days ago, I got this cramp like feeling in my left calf(not severe, but more of a burn), and it has been off and on for a while. This yesterday while resting, my right hand(the one with the thumb twitch) got very stiff, and almost like a numb feeling. The feeling left as soon as I moved my fingers, but I still have an odd sensation in my hand after that moment(hard to explain), which makes my hand feel a little uncoordinated at times. Now keep in mind, I have been doing many strength tests in my hands and legs daily which I think my be the cause of the cramp like feelings.

In this time, I have noticed no signs of weakness. Still able to do every activity as before. I lift weights frequently and have noticed no decrease in amount. I even played basketball with some friends last week for a while and didn't notice anything different.

With no loss of strength, I feel ALS is not likely. Also considering my age of 22(witch no knowledge of family with ALS). Also with having a clean neuro exam 6 months ago, that is also a positive (I have not done an EMG).
I still can't get the thought of having it as a possibility out of my mind. It has stressing me a lot lately.

I guess what I'm asking, from all your experience, does any of this sound at all like ALS? Are tremors at all an indication of ALS?
When going to my nuero exam the first time, I thought MS was a possibily because of the tremors, and feeling dazed a lot. But with the clean exam and MRI, I don't see how that is an option any longer.

Any input is appreciated. Thank you all.

 

[affected]

Ham we have this thread just near the top of this section where you hit the start a new thread button that says NEW MEMBERS READ BEFORE POSTING.

Please go do that now as it answers everything you describe.

ALS is a disease of the motor neurones, (nerves) not a disease of muscles.

Twitching means nothing.

You are talking yourself into this mate, but you don't have any sign of ALS. Great news, I'd suggest you go back to your doctors and be very honest about your very high anxiety.

 

[lgelb]

ALS, no. Essential tremor, maybe. Whatever causes the tremors, energy drinks won't help; bananas and salads might.

Best,
Laurie

 

[hambone2]

I appreciated both the responses.
Anxiety is def. a huge problem for me. I hope to get some help with that in the future.

And the tremors are there no matter the diet. I cut out caffeine and saw no improvements. My neuro offered some medication to help them, but I declined because at the moment that do not affect any of my daily activities.