monteXYZ
New member
- Joined
- May 10, 2021
- Messages
- 2
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- UK
Just to begin, I am a 21 year old male and I am absolutely convinced I have ALS or some other serious neurological disease. I have been experiencing the symptoms I list below for about a week now.
My first symptoms began following a panic attack that was preceeded by an intense 2-3 minute period of deja vu just to clarify I have been prescribed medication for my anxiety issues in the past but no longer take any. 2-3 days after my panic attack, I started noticing a weakness in my legs and trouble balancing, I still cannot walk heel-toe-heel-toe without wobbling a little bit. I can still walk around fine, going down stairs however I experience a slight wobble in my legs. Going up them is no problem and I can skip steps if I please.
As well as the balance issues and the weakness in my leg, I was suffering from severe brain fog. I had almost no short-term memory whatsoever and couldn't hold a conversation without having to ask the other person to repeat what they had said, although that seems to be subsiding. I have also been experiencing slight rigidity in my right hand, and for a day or so it was very difficult to type on a keyboard with that hand, although that seems to be getting better. I understand that ALS symptoms typically worsen and do not get better however I have convinced myself that perhaps the weakness hasn't gotten better and I am just used to it.
Quite honestly, my most worrying symptom now is the slighty difficulty I'm experiencing swalling liquids and hard foods. I never really choke, but I have to pause for a second whenever theres liquid in my mouth so I can sort of "remember" how to swallow. With food, especially dry food, I find sometimes it gets logded in my throat, it doesn't cause any breathing difficulty necessarily however it is very uncomfortable and often requires a secondary swallow to finally get it down. However I have been experiencing an exceptionally dry mouth, I have been drinking water essentially non-stop for the past week. As well as the dry mouth, I have been experiencing some fairly severe twitching in my tongue. While this twitching does not look the ALS-related twitching I've seen in videos, it does look more severe. The tip of my tongue contracts and expands every 3/4 seconds or so. Just to clarify, I can feel these twitches. My tongue also feels kind of stuck to the bottom of my mouth and I have some trouble fully getting words out, not a slur or a stutter, I just can't fully get them out, I have experienced this before, although for shorter periods of time, so I'm unsure if perhaps it is just related to anxiety / stress
I contacted my GP regarding my symptoms about 3 days after the onset and was told it was nothing to worry about and I got blood work done that I am awaiting the results from. However, I have experienced additional symptoms since then (rigid hand, dry mouth, twitching tongue) that my GP is not aware of and I am extremely worried. Any insight into my symptoms would be greatly appreciated.
My first symptoms began following a panic attack that was preceeded by an intense 2-3 minute period of deja vu just to clarify I have been prescribed medication for my anxiety issues in the past but no longer take any. 2-3 days after my panic attack, I started noticing a weakness in my legs and trouble balancing, I still cannot walk heel-toe-heel-toe without wobbling a little bit. I can still walk around fine, going down stairs however I experience a slight wobble in my legs. Going up them is no problem and I can skip steps if I please.
As well as the balance issues and the weakness in my leg, I was suffering from severe brain fog. I had almost no short-term memory whatsoever and couldn't hold a conversation without having to ask the other person to repeat what they had said, although that seems to be subsiding. I have also been experiencing slight rigidity in my right hand, and for a day or so it was very difficult to type on a keyboard with that hand, although that seems to be getting better. I understand that ALS symptoms typically worsen and do not get better however I have convinced myself that perhaps the weakness hasn't gotten better and I am just used to it.
Quite honestly, my most worrying symptom now is the slighty difficulty I'm experiencing swalling liquids and hard foods. I never really choke, but I have to pause for a second whenever theres liquid in my mouth so I can sort of "remember" how to swallow. With food, especially dry food, I find sometimes it gets logded in my throat, it doesn't cause any breathing difficulty necessarily however it is very uncomfortable and often requires a secondary swallow to finally get it down. However I have been experiencing an exceptionally dry mouth, I have been drinking water essentially non-stop for the past week. As well as the dry mouth, I have been experiencing some fairly severe twitching in my tongue. While this twitching does not look the ALS-related twitching I've seen in videos, it does look more severe. The tip of my tongue contracts and expands every 3/4 seconds or so. Just to clarify, I can feel these twitches. My tongue also feels kind of stuck to the bottom of my mouth and I have some trouble fully getting words out, not a slur or a stutter, I just can't fully get them out, I have experienced this before, although for shorter periods of time, so I'm unsure if perhaps it is just related to anxiety / stress
I contacted my GP regarding my symptoms about 3 days after the onset and was told it was nothing to worry about and I got blood work done that I am awaiting the results from. However, I have experienced additional symptoms since then (rigid hand, dry mouth, twitching tongue) that my GP is not aware of and I am extremely worried. Any insight into my symptoms would be greatly appreciated.