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Lumocolor

New member
Joined
May 7, 2017
Messages
3
Reason
Learn about ALS
Country
Ger
State
Bavaria
City
Ratisbona
Hello everyone,

i´m a Medical Student from Bavaria, Germany and first of all, i want to say sorry for my english. I hope everyone can understand what i´m talking about.

So, i´m here, because i think i could have ALS and tomorrow i have an appointment at a neurologist. As there are only 15 hours to go, im starting to panic even more and i hope, some of you can tell me, if my fear is legitimate or not. Here are my symptoms:

- Tremor since about 10 years ago, especially in my hands if i try to hold something or tense the muscles

- Fasciculations and Muscle twitching since around october 2016. I dont remember when this started, but in the beginning, there where only 1 or 2 a day . Now they are all over my body but more "left" then right.

- I counted the Fasciculations for 15 minutes after:

*trinking coffee,
*taking 300 mg of Magnesia,
*2 beers
*in the morning after waking up.

Results:
15 Minutes after trinking coffee: 40Fasciulations/15 Minutes,
300 mg of Magnesia: 25 in 15 Minutes
2 beers: 20 in 15 Minutes,
In the Morning right after waking up: 23 fasciculations in 15 minutes.

The distribution in every case was about 70:30 for the left side.
I hope, you can understand what i did and what im talking about :/

- The number of fasciculations is also varying (differing?!) from day to day, sometiimes i have online 1-2 in 5 minutes without doing anything, sometimes i got over 20 in one minute.

- Stress like heavy work, sex or sport is decreasing the number of fasciculations, or maybe (i dont know) i dont notice them so much.

- If i´m looking in a mirror and put my tongue out, my tongue is "twitching", even more if i try to put my tonge to the right or left side. Also, if i put my tongue out, my tongue is standing to the left and is not "straight". If i want to stand my tongue out "straight" i have to do this actively. (Is this clear what i mean? Ì´m so sorry !)

- As i am a Med. student, i had a practical training in physiology and neurophysiology. There, i could only lift 28,2 N/cm² with my biceps. The reference was 40-60 per cm² for men and 30-50 for women. Other students got those results, only i got such bad numbers.. I know, that this was only an training for students and we did these tests not as good as a neurologist, but... i dont know... does this mean anything?

- I have hyperreflexia for my patellar-reflexes, and i realy mean "hyper". When my colleague hit my tendon, my leg was kicking up so hard, i hurt my colleagues balls :(

- I´m feeling weak, but this is subjective and i dont know, if this is a real symptom or hypochondria. I get "Delayed onset muscle soreness" (sorry, i got the word from wikipedia..) realy fast, my muscles are hurting if i´m walking up stairs and so on.

- Babinski is negative, masseter reflexe is also negative.


As you can see, i realy am in panic, even more since i started to evaluate some things, and all of the results are leading to ALS.
I could not sleep for 3 days, tomorrow morning is the appointment. I hope, some of you can calm me down, even if i know that the symptomes are quite clear..

Again: I am realy sorry for my english. I´m so bad in learning languages, but german ALS-forums dont have such a great community, so i tried to get help here!

Greetings from Bavaria,

M.
 
Your English is really good - perfectly understandable.

Some thoughts- incredibly common fear in med students, qualified doctors and other health professionals and students.

Tremor, twitching and hyperreflexia are all common complaints. Tremor is not considered related and the others are so non specific and usually benign that you should not worry

Of course your tongue twitches when you stick it out. This is common and normal. Even resting twitches are usually benign. The tongue is muscled after all.

Able to lift less than your colleagues? No I would not panic there either. What in your everyday life can you now not do?

You have become hypervigilant, particularly dngerous in a medical student with some knowledge but not the perspective of a qualified physician.

Relax, get some sleep and tomorrow will very likely bring relief. In my mind I am certain it will but I am not your doctor

I hope you will remember your experience of fear and learn to be an even better doctor. If you get repeated health scares please address the issue. It can cripple you

Good luck
 
Hello, and thank you so much for your answer!

I'm now sitting in the Bus, driving home from my Neurologist. He told me, i have to wait until Friday 12:00, because he took Blood and the results will be there at Friday.

But maybe you can tell me, if i can calm down or not:

- EEG was normal, his comment: I cant see anything going on in your Brain.

- Reflexes: He also said, my patellar Reflexes are too strong, but my feet were normal. In My Arms He said, Reflexes were "very vital, but normal".

- I had to walk on my toes and heels, also i had to do some tests with my Fingers, all those Things were normal

- He said, he wants to check my TSH, Copper and my CK (Creatininkinase, i dont know the english word for those things..)

- My "Nerve speed" (?!) was too slow, it should be > 55 Meters/s in my Arms and >45 Meters/s in my Feet. He didnt comment anything, but on the screen i saw 48 m/s für my Arms and 41 m/s for my feets..

He said, the results will be discussed at Friday, because he wants to wait for the blood Test.. EMG was not done, because he said, he doesnt want to put needles in my muscles before checking anything else, also that its luck if you measure fasciculations in an EMG if they are so random like in my case...


Thank you for your answers!
 
I forget to mention the movements of my tongue, i had to show my tongue, then he raised his eyebrow, said "ahmmmm", went to his computer, wrote something and then he told me not to think about fasciculations and repeat the Test, then he said "i see fasciculations, but everyone has them in different ranges".

Why did i have to repeat the Test? Is this meaning anything ?

I thought, the Visit at the docotor would calm me down, but now i'm more concerned then ever:(
 
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