Worrieddaughter1000
New member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2017
- Messages
- 6
- Reason
- Loved one DX
- Country
- CA
- State
- British Columbia
- City
- Port Coquitlam
Hello everyone,
This is my first post to the ALS forum and my 62 year old dad was diagnosed with ALS several days ago by a neurologist in Vancouver. He's seen two other neurologists prior who could not discern what issue he was having but I am not totally convinced that ALS is what he has...
From my understanding, ALS is a disease diagnosed by ruling out other potential issues and involves both upper and lower motor neuron damage. I personally tried to elicit the Hoffman and Babinski reflexes on him to which were negative suggesting no upper motor neuron damage. I am a registered nurse and not a neurologist but my many hours of research on ALS make me think his latest Neurologist may have been jumping to conclusions.
My dad began to have balance issues two years ago and about a year ago found that he could not lift his right arm higher than shoulder height. He walks with a slight limp in his right foot but for some reason, the limp disappears after he's been walking for about one to two minutes. His grip on both sides is equally strong which is further perplexing and he has little to no fasciculations or cramping.
I'm only 24 and I'm not ready to lose my dad... I've done research on other possibilities such as Multifocal Motor Neuron disease or even Lyme disease...
He's had many blood tests, an MRI, CT scan, and two EMGs. I do not personally know the results of these tests but both my dad and I felt the neurologist did not explain well enough why she thinks ALS is his diagnosis.
I guess I'm posting here to get some comfort and to talk to someone about this...I feel very alone with this...I'm very worried about my dad...
This is my first post to the ALS forum and my 62 year old dad was diagnosed with ALS several days ago by a neurologist in Vancouver. He's seen two other neurologists prior who could not discern what issue he was having but I am not totally convinced that ALS is what he has...
From my understanding, ALS is a disease diagnosed by ruling out other potential issues and involves both upper and lower motor neuron damage. I personally tried to elicit the Hoffman and Babinski reflexes on him to which were negative suggesting no upper motor neuron damage. I am a registered nurse and not a neurologist but my many hours of research on ALS make me think his latest Neurologist may have been jumping to conclusions.
My dad began to have balance issues two years ago and about a year ago found that he could not lift his right arm higher than shoulder height. He walks with a slight limp in his right foot but for some reason, the limp disappears after he's been walking for about one to two minutes. His grip on both sides is equally strong which is further perplexing and he has little to no fasciculations or cramping.
I'm only 24 and I'm not ready to lose my dad... I've done research on other possibilities such as Multifocal Motor Neuron disease or even Lyme disease...
He's had many blood tests, an MRI, CT scan, and two EMGs. I do not personally know the results of these tests but both my dad and I felt the neurologist did not explain well enough why she thinks ALS is his diagnosis.
I guess I'm posting here to get some comfort and to talk to someone about this...I feel very alone with this...I'm very worried about my dad...