dcush1992
New member
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2017
- Messages
- 5
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
- City
- Manteca
Hello,
I'm sorry to be posting here and taking up some of your valuable time reading my message. I'm concerned and very afraid that what I'm experiencing could be the first symptoms of ALS. My health scare saga began about six months ago, and I'll try to summarize it as briefly as possible. Also, I'm a 23 year old male with no prior health issues (other than asthma), and no smoking, drinking, or drugs.
Everything pretty much started when my uncle, to whom I was very close, passed away in July 2016. Several weeks after his death, I started feeling some persistent dizziness and fatigue that didn't ago away. I wouldn't describe it as vertigo or "room spinning" dizziness, but more lightheadedness that made it hard to stand, focus, or concentrate for long periods of time. My first trips to the ER yielded what the doctor said was either a virus or anxiety. CT scans and EKG showed nothing abnormal.
Next, I saw my GP who did not seem to think anything was seriously wrong but referred me to a neurologist since by this time my lightheadedness/dizziness had been persisting for about two months. At my first neurologist visit the doctor did some tests and ruled out MS and stroke, and had a brain MRI done, which came back normal. This was in October 2016.
Since then, my dizziness/lightheadedness has dissipated for the most part, which I'm thankful for. But starting in late October/early November, I started noticing something going on with my voice. I wasn't able to articulate words as clearly as before, nor was I able to project my voice as loudly as I could before. I thought I might just be losing my voice and the sensation would go away, but as of today I feel that the problem has slowly been getting worse. Now I feel like I'm not even able to articulate to the point where I have to slow down my speech in order to speak clearly. No one around me has said anything about how I speak; I keep asking my wife how my speech sounds and she keeps telling me it sounds fine. Also the past several weeks I've been having a a slight problem swallowing food. I'm not choking on it, but swallowing takes more of a conscious effort than it did before.
In addition to what I've been experiencing with my voice, I've been feeling a sensation of weakness in my fingers. It started on my left hand (I'm right-handed), where moving my fingers (such as to unscrew a lid or cut through food with a knife) has become more awkward and difficult. It now feels like it's spreading to my right hand. The biggest problem I've been experiencing with my fingers is that they feel more clumsy and uncoordinated, and they don't feel as strong as they did before (i.e. I feel tired right away after writing, cooking, or typing). I haven't noticed any twitching except for an occasional twitch in my leg or fingers here and there.
The original diagnosis of anxiety was something that I thought made sense considering I had just suffered a big loss, but what alarms me the most is that I feel like my symptoms are persisting and getting worse instead of slowly going away. I'm going to see an ENT for the throat/swallowing issues and my next neurologist appointment is in 3 weeks. I haven't brought up ALS to the neuro yet but I'm wondering if my worries about it have merit or are completely crazy. Again, I'm sorry for my rambling and for taking up your time. Any bit of insight into my symptoms is deeply appreciated. I just want some definitive answers into what I'm going through.
I'm sorry to be posting here and taking up some of your valuable time reading my message. I'm concerned and very afraid that what I'm experiencing could be the first symptoms of ALS. My health scare saga began about six months ago, and I'll try to summarize it as briefly as possible. Also, I'm a 23 year old male with no prior health issues (other than asthma), and no smoking, drinking, or drugs.
Everything pretty much started when my uncle, to whom I was very close, passed away in July 2016. Several weeks after his death, I started feeling some persistent dizziness and fatigue that didn't ago away. I wouldn't describe it as vertigo or "room spinning" dizziness, but more lightheadedness that made it hard to stand, focus, or concentrate for long periods of time. My first trips to the ER yielded what the doctor said was either a virus or anxiety. CT scans and EKG showed nothing abnormal.
Next, I saw my GP who did not seem to think anything was seriously wrong but referred me to a neurologist since by this time my lightheadedness/dizziness had been persisting for about two months. At my first neurologist visit the doctor did some tests and ruled out MS and stroke, and had a brain MRI done, which came back normal. This was in October 2016.
Since then, my dizziness/lightheadedness has dissipated for the most part, which I'm thankful for. But starting in late October/early November, I started noticing something going on with my voice. I wasn't able to articulate words as clearly as before, nor was I able to project my voice as loudly as I could before. I thought I might just be losing my voice and the sensation would go away, but as of today I feel that the problem has slowly been getting worse. Now I feel like I'm not even able to articulate to the point where I have to slow down my speech in order to speak clearly. No one around me has said anything about how I speak; I keep asking my wife how my speech sounds and she keeps telling me it sounds fine. Also the past several weeks I've been having a a slight problem swallowing food. I'm not choking on it, but swallowing takes more of a conscious effort than it did before.
In addition to what I've been experiencing with my voice, I've been feeling a sensation of weakness in my fingers. It started on my left hand (I'm right-handed), where moving my fingers (such as to unscrew a lid or cut through food with a knife) has become more awkward and difficult. It now feels like it's spreading to my right hand. The biggest problem I've been experiencing with my fingers is that they feel more clumsy and uncoordinated, and they don't feel as strong as they did before (i.e. I feel tired right away after writing, cooking, or typing). I haven't noticed any twitching except for an occasional twitch in my leg or fingers here and there.
The original diagnosis of anxiety was something that I thought made sense considering I had just suffered a big loss, but what alarms me the most is that I feel like my symptoms are persisting and getting worse instead of slowly going away. I'm going to see an ENT for the throat/swallowing issues and my next neurologist appointment is in 3 weeks. I haven't brought up ALS to the neuro yet but I'm wondering if my worries about it have merit or are completely crazy. Again, I'm sorry for my rambling and for taking up your time. Any bit of insight into my symptoms is deeply appreciated. I just want some definitive answers into what I'm going through.
