27yr old male possibly ALS? any input is greatly appreciated

[VMS41]

Hello everyone and God bless,

I am here to see what you guys think about my situation since I am very concerned about this possibly being something I may have. I had gotten very sick about 7 months ago possibly COVID as it was before the pandemic.I was diagnosed with bronchitis twice over the course of a little over a month. I had severe trouble breathing for about 2 months a high resting heart,Slight dysphasia. severe fatigue and dizziness. I went to my doctor and he blindly diagnosed me with GERD.I started to take the medication and seen slight improvements in some symptoms.

Being a smoker I cut back started eating healthier and began to work out since I had not in 3 years do to having young children.After a few weeks the breathing and dysphagia pretty much cleared up.After about 2 weeks of working out I developed occasional muscle twitching.Which is when I did the worse thing I could have done and googled shortness of breath and twitching and came to ALS.

I started to become worried and one night laying in bed I developed more twitches than normal and basically had a breakdown.I woke up the next morning completely cramped up and in pain. Went to work and the pain was worse along with an increase in twitching. After about a week of no improvementI returned to my GP for him to do nothing but listen to me and tell me I have anxiety and put me on depression meds. These made things much worse at first but aftera few weeks leveled out.

The pain was mainly lower back,Calves,and thighs. About 3 months after that the pain and tightness spread to my hands. I then developed nasty spasms in my hypothenar where it would twitch and then suck in for awhile when using my left hand. About a month after that I noticed atrophy in my hypothenar in my left hand. I can still use the hand and all the fingers but It does hurt very bad and feels weak. I get tender points throughout my body along with full body pain and weakness. I get tingling, Vibrating and numbness in random spots all over and sometimes an electron shock feeling that goes down my back. I still have twitching but I might only get 4 or 5 bouts of twitching a day.

I have since found a new GP and have an appointment in a few weeks.I had to wait due to COVID and being in between jobs not having insurance and all that fun stuff. So due to all the pain I had a full does of prednisone left from the second diagnoses of bronchitis and decided that I would take it. After a few days the pain decreased substantially along with the cramping but I unfortunately had a bad reaction to it. I was getting severe heartburn for those days and the shortness of breath and Dysphagia returned to the point where I had to go liquid diet for a few days. Which has since improved greatly. After a few weeks the pain and stiffness is slowly coming back (especially in the hands and wrists) along with the vibrating. twitching has increased along with weakness.

I know there’s things here that points away from ALS but what worries me is the progressive weakness shortness of breath and the atrophy in the left hypothenar. I am 27 year old male any input on this would be greatly appreciated thank you soo much and God bless you all.

 

[affected]

I'm so sorry, I can't even read that big block of unformatted text in a chunk. Did you know many of the people you expect to help you are using their eyes to operate their computer and breathing with the aid of machines? Some simple formatting will go a long way to making this something readable.

Anyway start by reading this post here - I am pretty sure it answers all your concerns as what I could read had nothing at all to do with ALS.

Important - READ BEFORE POSTING! Answers to common concerns about possible symptoms

We will try to answer reasonable questions. We are not here to argue with you. If you announce that you ”know” you have ALS when the doctors say otherwise, or you have not bothered to see a doctor, your thread will be closed. It is not our place to try to convince you you are wrong. Neither...

www.alsforums.com

You really don't have any true chance of having ALS - see a doctor again.

 

[VMS41]

My deepest apologies I did not mean to make reading the post so difficult. I have done a lot of research on this and other possible causes for my symptoms. If I did not have the atrophy in the hypothenar I would not be here.

My doctor had disregarded my symptoms due to my age which is why I am waiting to go see a new one. Believe me actually figuring out what I do have couldn’t come any sooner.

Thank you soo much for taking the time to reply God bless

 

[Clearwater AL]

VMS41, your case is interesting but... this may help. As you wrote.

“I have done a lot of research on this and other possible causes for my symptoms.”

Thousands of Americans have falsely convinced themselves they have a
serious disease, after turning to 'Dr Google' – according to new research.

Instead of alleviating concerns, 74 percent of those who have self-diagnosed
online searching for their symptoms made them worry MORE about their health.

That is due to the answers given by Dr Google, of internet medical advice,
was found by researchers to be misleading without proper evaluation by a
a qualified physician.

Sixty-five percent of respondents who used the internet to self-diagnose themselves
the results show typing your symptoms into the search bar might do more
harm than good.

Then, maybe I'm wrong...

“If I did not have the atrophy in the hypothenar I would not be here.”

Hypothenar atrophy" is associated with the lesion of the ulnar nerve, which supplies
the three hypothenar muscles. Hypothenar hammer syndrome is a vascular occlusion
of this region.

I know about Split Hand Syndrome... apples and oranges here.
If your are referring to your left hand. I pretty much type with my right hand now.
Sure has slowed it down.

Hope you find out what is going on but... let ALS go.

PS. I have suggested this before.... copy and print your post above and show it to
the next doctor you see so you don't forget any of your symptoms.
And.... it will save him/her time.

(Oh well... maybe Igelb saw I was putting my post together.)

 

[lgelb]

If your hand is truly atrophied (you do not say whether a doctor has confirmed this) with pain, a local nerve or muscle injury is the most likely cause. There is no reason to suspect ALS, which, as we always say, is failure, not feeling.

Pain in one area has the power to magnify twitches or shock feelings elsewhere. It is hyperawareness.

If both hands remain involved, we always think of repetitive use injury if you keyboard a lot, even lifting the kids can affect it. You can also check your positioning while keyboarding, e.g. how neutral your spine is.

You can ask your PCP or self-refer to an orthopedist who, if there is in fact a localized problem, can also suggest self-care exercises, consider writing an rx for PT and/or a brace to help rest the soft tissue.

Best,
Laurie

 

[affected]

Hopefully you read the post I linked you to - we put an enormous amount of time and energy into developing that to answer questions. You are not describing ALS as has been noted by other very senior members. All the best, whatever is going on is likely very treatable.