Terrified of ALS

[Efroni90]

Hello everyone. My name is Efrain and I’m a 27 year old male. I’ve been reading these forums quite a bit recently and you guys have such a wonderful community here.

I would really appreciate some advice on some of these symptoms I’ve been having recently.

Back in June was when I first realized I could feel some kind of weakness in my left leg/foot and also my left hand. Went to see a neurologist in Mexico and he did strength tests and ruled me to be fine.

Over the course of the next 3 months I’ve had other symptoms develop. Mostly pain in both my calves and ankles. I went to see a new primary doctor who ordered MRI of brain, cervical spine, lumbar spine.

My brain MRI was normal but my cervical and lumbar spine both showed disc degeneration. I’m still waiting to see the new neuro I was referred to.

Last week I had lots of pain when flexing my foot upwards leading me to not be able to walk on my heel. But that went away recently.

The reason I finally decided to post on here was because just yesterday I developed a bad pain in my right forearm whenever I try to pinch something (with my middle finger and my thumb). Noticed it when I was in the restroom and I tried to wipe like I normally do. It hurt so much to do it.

I read the sticky about “do I have ALS” my question is about the “failing not feeling”

When you say failing to do something I understand he muscle just doesn’t work. But does it cause any pain at all?

 

[lgelb]

Not like you describe.

Pinching can often cause pain and stiffness, though, if you are not stretching enough (it helps to wiggle/lift your fingers morning and night). I would follow up with the new neuro and talk about massage, PT, whatever is recommended for your disk problems.

Best,
Laurie

 

[Efroni90]

Thanks for the reply. Would you happen to know if disc degeneration might be causing some of these issues I’ve been having? I know cervical spine issues can cause issues in the shoulders, arms, and hands, and lumbar spine issues can cause issues with legs, calves, feet?

 

[lgelb]

That is correct. So the logical approach is to follow out the extent of the damage to the spine and see what can be done to alleviate your symptoms from that perspective. The vast majority of spine problems do not need surgery, but other therapies can be very effective.

 

[Efroni90]

Thank you. One more question: would ALS affect more than one limb at a time? I currently have both forearms in lots of pain when doing certain motions and both legs as well (calves and by ankles) it’s really causing me a lot of trouble lately.

 

[lgelb]

ALS typically does not show up in four limbs at once. Pain and stiffness can also be "referred" from other sites with damage. You compensate for a muscle that doesn't work as well, you start to get pain in more places...again, I would follow through with the new neurologist.