scdsco
New member
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2018
- Messages
- 5
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- Iowa
- City
- Storm Lake
I'm a 19 year old male worried about bulbar ALS, to the point where I can't enjoy my life anymore. I've been to my primary doctor about it but not a neurologist yet. He didn't seem to be worried about it. I've had an MRI and that was normal.
I've been having sleep apnea for almost a year and read that was a symptom of ALS. Then about a month ago my throat muscles (the front part of my neck) became very tight and twitchy. That went away after about a week and my doctor attributed it to stress. Following that I started having episodes at night where I suddenly would not be able to initiate a swallow, it felt like my muscles completely froze up/stopped working and I'd have to take a deep breath and relax in order to swallow again. This only seems to happen at night and only when I'm swallowing spit, NOT with food or drink. I can generally get those down fine other than the occasional crumb of food getting stuck in the back of my throat.
My doctor believes I have laryngeal reflux and that's what's causing much of this in addition to stress. However, the past week or so I have even more symptoms that are bothering me. First of all I have been slurring words here and there, mostly the letter "s" like people with lisps do. When I make the "s" sound my tongue slips in front of my teeth so it ends up sounding more like a "th" or "sh". It kind of feels like I have to make more of an effort to talk, but my family members haven't noticed much slurring.
I've recently started on an anxiety med that can cause problems with mouth and throat muscles as a side effect, but online it says those side effects usually only begin after months of taking it. I'm trying to tell myself it could be a lot of things causing this but my ALS fear keeps returning. I've stuck out my tongue in the mirror and it was shaky a little bit at the end.
I'm also worried about the sleep apnea since online it says ALS is one of the things that causes that and I can't figure out anything else that could be causing it.
I've been having sleep apnea for almost a year and read that was a symptom of ALS. Then about a month ago my throat muscles (the front part of my neck) became very tight and twitchy. That went away after about a week and my doctor attributed it to stress. Following that I started having episodes at night where I suddenly would not be able to initiate a swallow, it felt like my muscles completely froze up/stopped working and I'd have to take a deep breath and relax in order to swallow again. This only seems to happen at night and only when I'm swallowing spit, NOT with food or drink. I can generally get those down fine other than the occasional crumb of food getting stuck in the back of my throat.
My doctor believes I have laryngeal reflux and that's what's causing much of this in addition to stress. However, the past week or so I have even more symptoms that are bothering me. First of all I have been slurring words here and there, mostly the letter "s" like people with lisps do. When I make the "s" sound my tongue slips in front of my teeth so it ends up sounding more like a "th" or "sh". It kind of feels like I have to make more of an effort to talk, but my family members haven't noticed much slurring.
I've recently started on an anxiety med that can cause problems with mouth and throat muscles as a side effect, but online it says those side effects usually only begin after months of taking it. I'm trying to tell myself it could be a lot of things causing this but my ALS fear keeps returning. I've stuck out my tongue in the mirror and it was shaky a little bit at the end.
I'm also worried about the sleep apnea since online it says ALS is one of the things that causes that and I can't figure out anything else that could be causing it.
Last edited by a moderator: