novamv41
New member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
- Messages
- 2
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- DC
- City
- Washington
Hello, this is my first post.
I am a 26 yo male, law student, and over the past 3 or so months I have gone through an extremely stressful period with respect to my health.
I will admit I am worried about ALS, as well as many other neurological conditions, and will also admit to being a slight hypochondriac. But I've read many threads on this forum and felt that the people on this site defy your typical internet forum. Very kind and insightful crowd, and I wanted to ask if anyone could figure out my situation.
Just writing everything out that has happened may take a while, I will try to be neat about it.
It started in mid-April when I woke up one night with pain in my left arm (upper arm, near the bicep). The next day I had tingling and numbness in my left arm, mostly on my hand. This lasted for a week, maybe two, and I was going through finals, plus my parents were going through a divorce, and this was a very stressful time.
There was also slight tingling in my left foot and possibly the left side of my face (I may have imagined this last bit)
In those two weeks, the numbness finally went away, and the tingling was less often. The pain in my arm came and went, but there was pain in other parts of the body too.
Naturally I stressed over manythings, including MS and a brain tumor. My maternal grandfather had MS so its always been a worry.
I also developed a slight constipation over this time which has since receded.
I went to see a neuro in NYC where I went to law school, and he said he wasnt too concerned but set me up for an MRI and EMG on my left side. MRI came out clean, major relief. But then I started worrying about ALS. EMG came out clean as well, but we only did the LEFT side. Neuro didnt give me a diagnosis at all, saying "these things happen." He thought maybe I irritated a nerve.
At that time I also had a litle difficulty seeing with my right eye. Things in the distance were blurry. When I got home from law school after finals in mid May I went to see an eye doctor who was worried about my symptoms and gave me a full eye exam. He didnt see any neurological issues either, and he said that due to the stress I had developed a ciliary spasm and it might clear up eventually. Two months later it has not yet.
Over the next month, I didnt have any major symptoms but I had a lot of neck pain and shoulder pain so I convinced myself I had been sleeping bad (my bed in NYC was awful). However, I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night (and still do) and my ring finger and pinky would be very numb and tingling. It would go away after a few minutes.
A couple of weeks ago, I began feeling these cold sensations on my body. First in my hands, and then on the back of my legs. It was as if somebody was splashing water on me. This happened the morning of a flight, and I always get nervous before flights, so I first accredited it to stress. But it continued for a week or so while I was in Florida to see my mother.
I came back from Florida, and the cold sensations were mostly gone, but I would get a few of them randomly.
However at this time my right arm and hand became feeling very weak. It just felt weak. I guess this would be described as subjective weakness, but it still seems weaker than my left hand when I try to do things (granted I am left handed.)
I then came to London for a month, and almost immediately upon arriving I started having tremors. I originally attributed them to tiredness from jet lag, but they are still present. It seems as if they are all over the body, but it is most pronounced in my right hand. The weakness feeling (and actual weakness perhaps) has been in the right arm still now for about a week and hasnt left. This is the opposite arm from where the tingling and numbness originally began three months ago and where I had the EMG.
Both hands cramp after doing anything physical, to different extents.
It has been a long period and I never really worried about my health before all this, but now it seems that I get a new scary symptom every week or two. Some go away, some, like my eye, seem to stay.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that I had shingles (herpes zoster) about 8 months ago as soon as I got to law school. Doctors said it was stress related. It cleared up fast but I still have slight scars.
No twitches as of yet, except for the occiasional ones in odd spots that come and go, but I am certainly attune to all the wierd things my body does and get the feeling I'll be twitching on my right hand soon enough...
Does anyone have any idea what this might be? Is it all in my head? The weakness and the tremors and even the pain have me scared of ALS, the other stuff is just wierd.
I am sure I left some stuff out, its been such a long nerve-wracking time.
Thank you so much for your responses,
god bless,
matt
I am a 26 yo male, law student, and over the past 3 or so months I have gone through an extremely stressful period with respect to my health.
I will admit I am worried about ALS, as well as many other neurological conditions, and will also admit to being a slight hypochondriac. But I've read many threads on this forum and felt that the people on this site defy your typical internet forum. Very kind and insightful crowd, and I wanted to ask if anyone could figure out my situation.
Just writing everything out that has happened may take a while, I will try to be neat about it.
It started in mid-April when I woke up one night with pain in my left arm (upper arm, near the bicep). The next day I had tingling and numbness in my left arm, mostly on my hand. This lasted for a week, maybe two, and I was going through finals, plus my parents were going through a divorce, and this was a very stressful time.
There was also slight tingling in my left foot and possibly the left side of my face (I may have imagined this last bit)
In those two weeks, the numbness finally went away, and the tingling was less often. The pain in my arm came and went, but there was pain in other parts of the body too.
Naturally I stressed over manythings, including MS and a brain tumor. My maternal grandfather had MS so its always been a worry.
I also developed a slight constipation over this time which has since receded.
I went to see a neuro in NYC where I went to law school, and he said he wasnt too concerned but set me up for an MRI and EMG on my left side. MRI came out clean, major relief. But then I started worrying about ALS. EMG came out clean as well, but we only did the LEFT side. Neuro didnt give me a diagnosis at all, saying "these things happen." He thought maybe I irritated a nerve.
At that time I also had a litle difficulty seeing with my right eye. Things in the distance were blurry. When I got home from law school after finals in mid May I went to see an eye doctor who was worried about my symptoms and gave me a full eye exam. He didnt see any neurological issues either, and he said that due to the stress I had developed a ciliary spasm and it might clear up eventually. Two months later it has not yet.
Over the next month, I didnt have any major symptoms but I had a lot of neck pain and shoulder pain so I convinced myself I had been sleeping bad (my bed in NYC was awful). However, I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night (and still do) and my ring finger and pinky would be very numb and tingling. It would go away after a few minutes.
A couple of weeks ago, I began feeling these cold sensations on my body. First in my hands, and then on the back of my legs. It was as if somebody was splashing water on me. This happened the morning of a flight, and I always get nervous before flights, so I first accredited it to stress. But it continued for a week or so while I was in Florida to see my mother.
I came back from Florida, and the cold sensations were mostly gone, but I would get a few of them randomly.
However at this time my right arm and hand became feeling very weak. It just felt weak. I guess this would be described as subjective weakness, but it still seems weaker than my left hand when I try to do things (granted I am left handed.)
I then came to London for a month, and almost immediately upon arriving I started having tremors. I originally attributed them to tiredness from jet lag, but they are still present. It seems as if they are all over the body, but it is most pronounced in my right hand. The weakness feeling (and actual weakness perhaps) has been in the right arm still now for about a week and hasnt left. This is the opposite arm from where the tingling and numbness originally began three months ago and where I had the EMG.
Both hands cramp after doing anything physical, to different extents.
It has been a long period and I never really worried about my health before all this, but now it seems that I get a new scary symptom every week or two. Some go away, some, like my eye, seem to stay.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that I had shingles (herpes zoster) about 8 months ago as soon as I got to law school. Doctors said it was stress related. It cleared up fast but I still have slight scars.
No twitches as of yet, except for the occiasional ones in odd spots that come and go, but I am certainly attune to all the wierd things my body does and get the feeling I'll be twitching on my right hand soon enough...
Does anyone have any idea what this might be? Is it all in my head? The weakness and the tremors and even the pain have me scared of ALS, the other stuff is just wierd.
I am sure I left some stuff out, its been such a long nerve-wracking time.
Thank you so much for your responses,
god bless,
matt