Good morning all,
To start, a few things about me: I'm a 33 year old male with 2 previous EMG/NCVs of the arms in 2012 and 2014. These were done as I suddenly had muscle twitching all over the body. My neurologist assured me that it wasn't ALS.
Fast forward to 7 weeks ago (around 3/1/17). I can no longer talk for any length of time without my throat feeling incredibly awkward. Every word, even if it's just a yes or no, isn't right-it's a mid throat feeling of a vocal cord not working right. It feels like a vocal cord isn't working right-it's very hard to describe other than it takes much more effort to talk. Also, people have noticed that I'm talking a little bit quieter than usual. If I have a conversation with someone for a few minutes, my throat has a tired, dull pain to it like it ran a marathon. My tongue also has a somewhat tired feeling (very dull pain-just started about a week ago).
Also, I have a near constant, very small cough because of the feeling of my throat-like I need to clear my throat constantly. I can't breathe clearly without that small cough, and I've never had a cigarette, done any drugs, or had an alcoholic beverage in my life.
I've gone to urgent care twice, where they prescribed me antibiotics and a cough medicine. That didn't do anything.
I went to my family doctor, who prescribed me Zantac (possibly GERD he thought) and to suck on throat lozenges. Neither have done anything.
Both ready care and family doctors examined my ears, throat (say ahh), and nose. Both said absolutely no redness or irritation or lesions. My family doctor listened to my lungs-said they were "perfectly clear."
This leads me to believe something is amiss that nobody can see. I've never had anything close to this before. This is an ultra scary feeling that is causing me to lose sleep and has ruined the quality of my life.
My questions:
1-does this seem like Bulbar ALS?
2-has anyone ever had EMG/NCV done on the arms years prior, have it come back clean, only to be diagnosed years later with Bulbar ALS?
3-What else in the world could cause these symptoms? I'm extremely worried as they are very slowly getting worse. 7 weeks seems like a long time to be experiencing this. The throat issue when talking has gotten most noticeably worse-as I said, there has been a noticeable change in the sound of my voice, there is a constant need to have a very small, unproductive cough, and it's to the point where I don't even want to talk anymore because it feels so uncomfortable and is so difficult and has a dull pain (like a worn out dull feeling) after I'm done having a conversation.
Thank you very much for your help.
To start, a few things about me: I'm a 33 year old male with 2 previous EMG/NCVs of the arms in 2012 and 2014. These were done as I suddenly had muscle twitching all over the body. My neurologist assured me that it wasn't ALS.
Fast forward to 7 weeks ago (around 3/1/17). I can no longer talk for any length of time without my throat feeling incredibly awkward. Every word, even if it's just a yes or no, isn't right-it's a mid throat feeling of a vocal cord not working right. It feels like a vocal cord isn't working right-it's very hard to describe other than it takes much more effort to talk. Also, people have noticed that I'm talking a little bit quieter than usual. If I have a conversation with someone for a few minutes, my throat has a tired, dull pain to it like it ran a marathon. My tongue also has a somewhat tired feeling (very dull pain-just started about a week ago).
Also, I have a near constant, very small cough because of the feeling of my throat-like I need to clear my throat constantly. I can't breathe clearly without that small cough, and I've never had a cigarette, done any drugs, or had an alcoholic beverage in my life.
I've gone to urgent care twice, where they prescribed me antibiotics and a cough medicine. That didn't do anything.
I went to my family doctor, who prescribed me Zantac (possibly GERD he thought) and to suck on throat lozenges. Neither have done anything.
Both ready care and family doctors examined my ears, throat (say ahh), and nose. Both said absolutely no redness or irritation or lesions. My family doctor listened to my lungs-said they were "perfectly clear."
This leads me to believe something is amiss that nobody can see. I've never had anything close to this before. This is an ultra scary feeling that is causing me to lose sleep and has ruined the quality of my life.
My questions:
1-does this seem like Bulbar ALS?
2-has anyone ever had EMG/NCV done on the arms years prior, have it come back clean, only to be diagnosed years later with Bulbar ALS?
3-What else in the world could cause these symptoms? I'm extremely worried as they are very slowly getting worse. 7 weeks seems like a long time to be experiencing this. The throat issue when talking has gotten most noticeably worse-as I said, there has been a noticeable change in the sound of my voice, there is a constant need to have a very small, unproductive cough, and it's to the point where I don't even want to talk anymore because it feels so uncomfortable and is so difficult and has a dull pain (like a worn out dull feeling) after I'm done having a conversation.
Thank you very much for your help.
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