Worried 22

[Joshh]

Hello everyone. First of all i want to express my support to everyone here whos been diagnosed with this disease but also to the families having someone with this disease struggling. You guys are strong.
Ive read the stickies and my concern is that im dealing with muscle weakness all over my body for the past couple of weeks. I also have some troubles breathing (although this might be because of anxiety). Recently had blood tests, chest xray and heart checkup and everything was good.(before muscle weakness occured).
I wouldnt say that my weakness is clinical since i can do all the things i used to but it feels like its getting there. Stiffness and weakness is worse when i wake up in the morning especially calves thighs and fingers of my hands. I also noticed my jaw gettin weak pretty easy while eating.
Is it even possible for the weakness to be spread all over the body that quickly with ALS? (A couple of weeks)
Im 22 years old and male.
I know you guys deal with people who have real problems, but i hope youd be able to use a minute of your precious time to respond to my question. Thank you!

 

[starente15]

Your answer was in the stickies. You've said the weakness isn't clinical and your tests didn't show anything. Good news.

Clinical Weakness—ALS is about failing, not feeling.
ALS is about failure—falling down, being unable to stand on your toes, being unable to button your shirt, being unable to lift your hand, etc. It is not about these things becoming more difficult. It is about these things being impossible… no matter how hard you try. If you can do normal things, but it is more difficult, you do not have ALS. If you used to be able to do 100 curls and now one arm can only do 50; that is not ALS. If you used to run 2 miles and now you can only run 1; that is not ALS. If you used to run 2 miles and now you can’t lift up one of your feet, you may have clinical weakness.
It really does happen that something stops working all of a sudden. It is generally one muscle so it will not be a whole limb but the movement done by that muscle is suddenly gone. An example is a calf raise. It won't happen. Think of it like your wifi signal. You are surfing the net, then signal is lost and you can't do anything online no matter how hard you try or how long you wait for a page to load. This is what happens to a muscle in beginning ALS it has lost the signal from the nervous system that tells it to work

 

[affected]

As the sticky says - only clinical weakness counts. You are 22 with anxiety that is high and perceived weakness and there is no way you have ALS.

Coming here is the most unhealthy you can do. You say we are strong and our time is precious - yep. Now stop, go see a doctor and start living but don't come back here for your own health's sake.