32 Yr male with Symptoms

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ranzaldua25

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Dec 7, 2024
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Learn about ALS
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Country
US
State
TX
Hello
I'm a 32 yr old male who has been experiencing multiple symptoms. I first noticed these symptoms about 2 months ago. I noticed right side weakness and what looks to me like atrophy (Drs have said they do not notice a significant difference between my left and right side). It seemed clear that I was having to utilize more force or strength to do many of my daily normal things with my right side, even walking. Various doctors have not noticed any clinical weakness during any of my appointments. A few weeks after I noticed a difficulty in swallowing, especially solid foods. There were a couple of choking incidents but I feel like i have learned how to eat smaller bites and that helps. I visited a neurologist last month and explained my symptoms. She performed a physical exam and noted that there were no abnormalities. Scheduled an emg/ncs of my right leg and arm on 9/19(attached) which came back clean (the neurologist actually stopped at my leg since she didnt see any abnormalities. Fast forward to a few days ago I had my follow up appointment where we discussed the emg and performed another physical exam that showed no abnormalities. A couple of days ago I started having spasms and some jerks throughout my entire body. Obviously this scared me so I have made a follow up to discuss this but just wanted to ask for some advice, should I be worried?
 
Hello there-

If you have been cleared via both clinical exam and emg, that's really a confirmation that you have zero signs of ALS. The hallmark symptom of ALS is clinical weakness, which your neurologist did not detect. You have not lost function. Your emg was clean. If you feel there is new developments, then you can return to your doctor and they can compare against their previous observations.

Your attached images were removed, as they contained personal and identifying information. Regardless, they provided no indication there was anything wrong.

While you fear ALS, there are many reasons for perceived weakness and muscle jerking. Please make sure to read the Read Before Posting link for some more info, but ALS is not in the picture here.

Take care
 
Thank you so much for your response. Sorry but I just wanted to provide an update. I saw my neurologist about the right hand weakness (now including left hand as well) and she performed another clinical exam and didn't notice any weakness that time either, which was comforting. After a couple of days it seems like my hand strength has decreased significantly. I have yet to drop anything but it feels like its about to give out which has me uneasy to say the least. During the emg only my right leg was tested and then the test was discontinued since no abnormalities were recorded. Would the emg miss ALS that starts in another limb? Again apologies for the follow up just wanted to see if anyone could shed some light on this.
 
Hi there-

If your symptomatic leg was tested and nothing was seen, then it means the cause of your symptoms is something else. Your neurologist is a highly trained medical professional and knows their stuff. If they say nothing neurological is going on, that they can't detect clinical weakness (failure), and nothing is detected on an EMG of your symptomatic leg, then you must move on from thinking you have ALS and return to your gp to figure out what else it might be. Focusing on ALS will only delay finding the real cause.

Take care
 
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