32 YO Male worrying symptoms

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Wolfenhauz

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Hello all, first time poster but have been lurking for a little while. I have read the read before posting threads and I want to be as respectful and clear as I can.

I am a 32 year old male. Fairly decent shape, I recently lost 110 lbs through what I think to be diet and exercise over the course of a year and a half. I also have been having severe anxiety primarily about my health during that weight loss. I have thought I have had everything including Fatal Insomnia and Parkinson’s. Fast forward to beginning of February I got covid 19. I was only sick for around 3 days and very mild. However about 5 days post illness I developed really intense muscle twitches in my back left lat. This slowly lessened and spread around to my whole body. Now I have on and off twitches all day long as soon as I wake up in the morning until I sleep at night. They have become somewhat singular in nature and are centralized mainly around my calf, shin, top of knee, quad, hamstring and glute. Right after covid my muscles were really shaky but that seems to have mostly resolved. Just these minor twitches remain. They seem to get worse when I get stressed or get anxious and if I take some Xanax and calm down they greatly reduce. I have had blood work done and I am all clear. Next is probably a neurological appointment. I don’t feel like I have weakness except my right index finger has difficulty holding my phone up and kind of shakes/tremors. I also tested positive for Hoffmann sign on my right hand but not my left hand. I do have weird bouts of numbness that happen mainly at night, and I wake up with numb pinky and ring finger fairly commonly although not always. It resolves when I get up and move around. I also get numbness when laying down on my quads and elsewhere like my groin or my feet.

I can swallow fine and I had some hoarseness that went away after my recovery from covid.

Just want to find support and love from anyone who can. Thank you so much.
 
Hi there-

I'll post this for you, just in case you haven't seen it in your visits here: Read Before Posting

A few things covered there- twitching is common enough as to mean anything from nothing to a whole long list of issues from dietary, overwork/exercise, post viral issues, etc, etc. There's a list at the link above that provides some idea of the conditions that cause twitching. ALS has a particular constellation of symptoms that can include twitching- and you don't list any of the other distinct warning signs that would give a doctor pause.

Covid, even the mildest case, can cause neuro issues long after the acute phase of the disease. There are a few different support groups for people worried about twitching out there on different social media platforms and there has been an avalanche of people reporting twitching post Covid. You are not alone.

Hope that answers your questions. Let your doctors guide the search for reasons for your symptoms. You do report some pretty heavy health anxiety here as well, so I am hoping you're also addressing that while you focus on your physical health.
 
Hopefully you will trust your doctors to work through this with you methodically.
I think you know, from reading the stickies and reading other threads that you don't have any hallmark ALS symptoms.
Covid is causing so many long term issues, it is worth keeping that in mind as the most likely cause, but again, your doctors are the ones to go to on this. All the best.
 
Thank you very much. I will definitely trust the doctors. My physical and strength test is on the 20th. Going to request an EMG from a neurologist as I can’t not know.
 
The point really is - you go to the neurologist and you have a clinical examination.
The neurologist then decides what the next appropriate steps are in light of the results of this.

Asking for an EMG because you think it is what you need, only takes the doctors focus away from what they are discovering through their medically trained methods. You can skew their view, waste time and money, and make diagnosis take longer.

I would really encourage you to attend this appointment with a clear timeline of symptoms, allow them to examine you, then ask them what they think is next. An EMG will only diagnose ALS if it is paired with clinical signs that the examination shows. So asking for one when it is not what the clinical exam indicates is pointless. Lastly, the EMG is a tool used to assist in diagnosing a huge range of neurological issues, so even if an EMG is ordered, it does not mean you must have ALS.

Again, if you really have read the stickies and our advice in many other threads, you know this, it really seems your fears are getting the best of you. I'm not saying nothing is wrong, I'm simply saying, don't try to be a back seat doctor driver.
 
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