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imscared

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Jul 31, 2017
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Loved one DX
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FIN
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Finland
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Helsinki
Hi! Please be kind to me, I'm scared and I'm trying to receive help from our local hospital but they won't do much. So lately I've been having some difficulties with pronouncing some consonants, for example three days in a row I've hade problems with saying words with L and R. I was saying the word "alarm" really fast without thinking about it and it either comes out as "ararm" or "alalm" and I have no idea why. I also have minor jaw tremors, my lower teeth bumps together with my upper teeth row. I also keep biting my lip when I'm not thinking about it. My mouth also feels kind off weak, and I've found saliva in the corners of it for around two weeks now. I should include that I'm a 17 year old girl and right now I have a grandfather who's struggling with bulbar ALS right now (1 1/2 years since his diagnosis) and his ALS started with consonant difficulties. I know that the odds of having ALS at this age are almost non-existent. But the fear is sadly there at the moment. I also have problems with stress and anxiety due to working two jobs and studying a lot at the same time. Last week I had problems with muscle twitching, feeling weak, and some pain in my muscles, but they were caused by a viral infection. The hospital is known for its laziness and their lack of caring about their patients.
I don't think that my speaking problem is caused by a viral infection as they told me a few days ago. So could this be onset bulbar, anxiety/stress or just a viral infection?

Thank you and sorry. I do not mean to offend anyone. Also this is not my native language so be gentle :)
 
Hi imscared! Sorry to hear about your Grandfather. ALS is a horrible disease which you already know.

I completely understand your concerns. Sometimes when I get super anxious I have a hard time pronouncing words. I also have more twitching when I am under stress. I honestly feel like at your age and with the stress that you under, that stress and anxiety are probably causing you are seeing.

Again, I am sorry to hear about your Grandfather. I hope things get better for you soon.
 
Hi scared,
I certainly understand your anxiety as you are watching your grandfather but those symptoms don't sound like ALS. 17 is way too young for ALS. It sounds like you have a lot of stress in your life and it is very common for stress to come out with physical symptoms but it doesn't sound like ALS.

Best wishes,
Tracy
 
Thank you both for replying, I appreciate it a lot! I'm going to the hospital tomorrow for a muscle test to see what's wrong. I also noticed yesterday that the lateral side of my right foot seems thinner than the other one, it feels thinner and my tendons are showing. It feels like I have som excess skin on that foot but I'm not sure. I asked my parents to look at them, and they did and said they felt different compared to each other, but dismissed it as "no foot can look the same". But the reason I'm so scared is because I've felt tingling/ants in the very place. Haven't felt any twitches in the area, but it feels like ants crawling in the lateral side of my right foot where it now looks thinner. I stand all day at work, like 6h a day, so when the crawling feeling started in my foot my dad told me it could be due to wrong shoes or that I'm standing so much. When I see my foot now, and notice that it's thinner than the other, I get so scared and in panic mode
 
Foot atrophy

To start off:
I'm a 17 year old female
Weight: 50kg
Height: 158cm
My hobbies include: Dancing, running and going to the gym
School and work: On summer holiday, but work at a shop, and I stand all day

I noticed yesterday that the lateral side of my right foot seems thinner than the other one, it actually FEELS thinner and my tendons are showing. It feels like I have som excess skin on that foot but I'm not sure. I asked my parents to look at them, and they did and said they felt different compared to each other, but dismissed it as "no foot can look the same". I also asked my brother to compare them and he said that it felt a lot thinner. The reason I'm so scared is because I've felt tingling/ants in that exact location. Haven't felt any twitches in the area, but it feels like ants crawling in the lateral side of my right foot where it now looks thinner. I feel it when I go to sleep, and it also very annoying. I stand all day at work, like 6h a day, so when the crawling feeling started in my foot my dad told me it could be due to wrong shoes or that I'm standing so much, like the blood circulation would be "cut off". But when I see my foot now, and notice that it's thinner than the other, I get so scared and in panic mode.

I'm going for a muscle test tomorrow to the hospital and I hope they take me seriously. This is causing me to be depressed and anxious and I don't want to feel like something is up in case it's not.

I've also had some speaking difficulties as I said in another thread. Now I know that with ALS you can't have limb onset and bulbar onset, it's not possible. As I also mentioned in the other thread that my grandfather is battling with Bulbar ALS, and that's what I originally was scared of, but when I noticed that I might have lost some muscle in my foot I got scared of that instead. I have twitching all over my body, but started taking magnesium supplements for that and I think it helped a bit. Also some weird pain in random places, often my joints, but can also occur in muscles. So I'd appreciate some opinions here.
 

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Imscared, you have told us here and in another post that your doctors ignore you and the hospital is lazy. Now you have come to a website for terminally ill people to compare your situation with people who are dying.

The odds of you having ALS are, as you know, quite miniscule, nearly non-existent, even less than the average healthy adult walking down the street.
The odds of you having terrible anxiety are 1:1. That's 100%

Think about which one is most likely to significantly impact your life. Go to the doctor and get that fixed.
 
Mod Note:
Had you read the Sticky post titled 'please read before posting' you would have seen:
- everyone twitches, it means nothing,
- 'feeling' odd/tired/ twitchy is not ALS, and
- stay in one open thread ONLY. I merged your two threads: stay in this one.

Please read that post now. Lots of information there!
 
Hand atrophy? Is this ALS?

Hi! I posted in thread about my speech difficulties, they have gotten better. My new problem is that I am afraid that I might have hand atrophy and my feet also look smaller.

So I've been having following symptoms for a month: twitching in muscles, muscle pain, joint pain, stiffness, cramp like feeling in muscles and I've been feeling very tired. I get sore muscles, like I have worked out, really easily. And a slight weight loss.

I'm a 17 year old female. I am dance, run and gym, but since my symptoms started showing I have taken a break in these.

I noticed very recently that my calves are smaller than they used to be, and one calf seems smaller than the other. And I experience twitching especially in the lateral side of my feet (started in one and spread to the other one). The thing that really scared me today was that the area between my thumb and index finger was twitching for about 20 seconds, calmed down, and the same thing happened again. I look at the area and it seemed "bigger" than it used to be and I noticed more loose skin and I could feel the tendons more than normally. (compared to the other one). I look trough some videos/pictures of me petting my dogs, the hand look different. And now as I'm writing this, I can feel some small twitching in the area. My hand also feels numb, like it's about to fall asleep. And it scares me.

I've been to the doctors and she actually tested for ALS. She tested my reflexes (oddly not the babinski, which they tested when my grandfather was diagnosed) and my strenght, and she said they were symmetrical and ok. This was about two weeks ago. She suspected rheumatoid arthritis. She wouldn't test me for that since I was told I had a viral infection.

I know I have a magnesium and B-vitamin deficiency, but I've been taking supplements for that now for about a week, so if my symptoms were caused by that they should be gone now right.

My question is does this sound like ALS or should I start to calm down? Could it be something else that is serious or is this something I should consider normal.
 
Mod note: Per forum rules, only one open thread allowed.
 
Only a doctor can tell you if it's something to be concerned with. Unfortunately, the people here would not be able to provide such advice for a variety of reasons. Not least because we are mostly laypeople who are experienced in our own affliction- Motor Neuron Disease and are not experts in other disease processes. I will note- Any improvement of function points away from ALS.

Keep working with your doctor to track down cause of symptoms now that a medical professional has ruled out ALS. Focusing on a single disease makes it harder for a doctor to track down reasons for symptoms- they're so busy trying to reassure you about ALS that other issues can be missed or glossed over because of leading conversation.
 
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