Status
Not open for further replies.

MommyRissa

Active member
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Messages
35
Country
US
State
Oklahoma
City
Oklahoma City
My name is Marissa and I am a 24 year old single mother. In July of 2012 I had an odd experience with sudden right side numbness and weakness. I went to the ER and after a CAT-scan they found nothing and attributed it to a possible pinched nerve and referred me to a neurologist. I was never able to go and the numbness went away almost at once until this month. Two weeks ago I started to notice a horrible pinching feeling in between my shoulder and neck. The pain radiated down under my arm and through to my fingers. That turned into an irritating tingling sensation that I could not control or comfort. I don't know if the fact that for about two months I was on multiple antibiotics is helpful but for the sake of not leaving out anything I thought I should let that be known. Some days that numbness would go away completely and I would be fine but the next it was back and even worse. Through the wonderful search network of "Google" I discovered a plethora of very unpleasant diseases, the main two being MS and ALS. MS I wasn't too concerned about, but the ALS, now that got to me. It was instant panic and for the past week I have been experiencing twitching all over my body in the most random and bizarre places. It's mostly in my legs, the right more so than the left, but it happens anytime and all the time in other parts of my body. For example, my eyes, my abdomen, my feet, my hands, and my arms. I have had twitches before, but never as many, or maybe never as many that I noticed, before, or for so long. Here's the the thing though, I have been doing these crazy strength tests just to prove to myself that I do not have ALS before I go to my doctor. I have been relentlessly unscrewing the lids off of nail polish bottles and peanut butter jars, balancing on each foot for as long as possible, hopping around on each foot, doing grip tests on my daughter's toys, and even hopping up stairs... The pain comes and goes throughout the day. It seems to go away completely when I'm distracted or busy. To be honest, I don't feel sick. I feel paranoid. I think that I have driven every member of my family absolutely insane and my psychology professor believes that I have a severe form of Hypochondria and health anxiety. Please help! Any advice would be appreciated!
 
Sensory issues are not symptoms of ALS. Check out the thread on Health Anxiety.
 
After reading all of the sticky notes I feel a little foolish for posting, but I still cannot get over my fears. I know I forgot to mention the other things going on and I do not mean any disrespect to anyone who has been diagnosed with this disease.

On top of what I already mentioned in my original post I have also been experiencing a lot of muscle pain in my right arm from the shoulder down to my fingers. I have what I think is "weakness" but I am still able to do all of the strength tests and drive and function and so on. I just am finding it increasingly difficult to get my fingers to do what I want them to do. The numbness is gone as well as the tingling. It comes down to the soreness in my forearm and hand that coupled with the twitching. It does come and go in severity, like I mentioned. What is bothering me the most is the fear. I'm a single mom. I can't even stomach to think of my daughter growing up without me. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to get another referral to a neuro, all of my ER visits have led to those. At this point I'm just terrified. Every little muscle spasm in my legs and every little constant twitch has me on edge. Another round of Dr. Google suggested something like Carpal Tunnel or Rheumatoid Arthritis, maybe because I'm not experiencing the pain in both hands, arms, and legs. I just don't know what to think anymore. Any words of wisdom or advice or anything is greatly appreciated.
 
You do not have any symptoms of ALS, but clearly something is bothering you. Hopefully you are going to go to your doctor. I am sorry you are feeling so scared and anxious. I hope your dr works out what the problem is. Anxiety certainly makes twitching worse. But just no that most people twitch at some stage go their lives. Sensory symptoms are very very rare in ALS.
 
I am scheduled to see a neuro on the 8th after yet another visit to the doctor who insisted that I get to a neuro right away. He mentioned MS more so than ALS. The twitching is only getting worse, moving into my back right shoulder blade and especially in my right leg which has started to cramp up completely... Thank you both for your input. I suppose I should feel better, but I don't think I will until I get to the neuro. Here's to hoping and praying!
 
Since you never followed up on the pinched nerve possibility, that's where I'd start, as I feel this is most likely. ALS at your age is nearly unheard of.
 
This is mostly for the people who have been Googled here and now think that due to freaky twitches, muscle cramps, and perceived weakness, that they have ALS before ever seeing their doctor or a health professional....

Today was a very bad day and it's really my fault. I have a wonderful doctor that is very kind and sweet. He called me to come into his office today to discuss in depth my health concerns because I was so extremely emotionally distraught and that really worried him. We went over how this all began in July with the sudden right arm and leg numbness and how not even a week after that event, everything was back to normal. The months of August and September were fine and the only pain I had was back pain due to an ovarian cyst that has since resolved itself without further issue. Come Mid-October, keep in mind that it's just now the end of October, the same right arm and leg numbness flared up. Now I cant think of any reason why this would happen other than: I am a single mommy that has a 55 pound munchkin to carry around, I am a full-time college student that also totes a 40 pound backpack up and down flights of stairs and for miles around campus, I have terrible posture from sitting on beds and couches with a laptop for hours and hours on end, and I have NEVER exercised enough in my life. I explained to him that yes, my arm does hurt and seems to tire easily. Yes, the pain does start in my neck and work its way through my shoulder and down to my fingers. Yes, I can still DO everything with just a little extra effort. I can open jars, I can pick up my daughter, I can write, type, text, drive, and even climb a tree. I am still fully functional. Yes, I have the most incredibly annoying twitching in places on my body that never twitched before but, to be honest, that didn't start until I had a twitch in my left leg while I was in the ER. I was twitching because I was dehydrated. I went home and Googled it anyway............ Of course I found ALS and I instantly self diagnosed myself because I am a paranoid nursing student going through Microbiology and I think that I have EVERY disease on the face of the planet! I hear it's quite normal for this to happen. Hence though, the body wide twitching. Or, BFS anxiety twitching.

After hearing all of my nonsense, my awesome doctor looked at me and said that he was going to help me and fix me and I needed to calm myself down. Just to be safe we would go through the full battery of tests. Starting with him taking more blood from my body than I thought was necessary. My Neuro appointment was already scheduled for the 8th, but he managed to get me the EMG on that day as well and an MRI right after.

For those of you in my age group that are the health anxiety nutballs, like me, the chance of you having ALS is something like .003%. Take that number and hold onto it. I have spent the past "too many days", crying, and praying for a miracle without even being told that I have ANYTHING wrong with me. Don't do that. If you're really scared then go to the doctor. Don't assume anything until he sits you down and says that you have "THIS". It is no way to live. You can get on here and talk to these wonderful people that will be more than happy to help you and guide you through your confusion, but go to the doctor. Seriously. My twitching amount has almost been cut in half just through trying to find ways to distract myself and cope with anxiety. Your mind can do terrible things to your body if you let it. Don't.


For those of you that have ALS, love someone with ALS, or know all about it, and take the time to log on here and help people like me, thank you. Thank you for being patient, kind, and understanding. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and being pillars of strength and great comfort to those who are in need.

I will post my results and outcome on here when I get them. Until then, I have decided to ignore the twitches, live with the mild pain, and not waste another minute searching Google for answers that it just cant give me or thinking too much about any disease. Life is too precious already. 8) <3
 
Mod land has my last post. It's a along one but I hope it helps when it shows up!
 
The sensory issues that you speak of are not issues attributed to ALS (they actually point away from ALS). The pain you are talking about in your arms is most likely due to the relentless strength tests you have been doing. The twitches you are experiencing were always there . . . but now . . . they have picked-up because of your self-induced anxiety and your hypervigilance. You don't have ALS. It's just that simple.

I'm also pretty confident you don't have MS. Why are you picking two, rare neurological diseases to explain such, common benign symptoms that come and go? If your car suddenly stops, do you immediately replace the entire engine or do you look at your gas gauge to see if you have run-out of gas? If you hear sounds on your roof that sound like raindrops, do you dismiss the clouds and wet pavement outside and decide that instead the sky is falling?

The simplest answers to those things that ail us are almost always the right answers. Stop assuming you have these dreaded, rare diseases because of very common signs and symptoms. My guess is that you have some type of postural issue, more than likely from carrying-around your daughter for the past couple of years, coupled with other things in our daily lives that cause postural problems . . . all of it leading to muscle and nerve problems . . . problems that can be easily treated and remedied.

I'm with your psychology professor: you have anxiety issues and you need to determine what is happening in your life that is causing them to manifest in such a severe manner.

Relax, you're going to be just fine.
 
Wright,

I wish I had a valid reason for my anxiety over these two diseases. I really don't have any answers, but I can tell you that I'm taking your advice and doing what I can to find out why my health anxiety is so bad. I think what happens is that I get symptoms, ones that are common like you said (e.g., hand cramps, foot cramps, muscle twitching, minor aches and pains, and muscle fatigue), and they stick around for slightly longer than expected and I panic. I don't think logically about what could be causing these things to happen before immediately assuming the worst. I don't give arthritis or tendinitis a fleeting consideration. I don't think about the hours that I spend typing for school or how much I text on my phone or my poor posture or my lack of exercise and proper diet or the fact that I'm just getting older and I'm hard on my body. The moment that my elbow and hand stop hurting while I type my fear will pass and it'll be like nothing ever happened. Until then, I'm not going to worry until someone tells me that I have a reason to, but so far I'm fine.

Thank you though for your time, and thank you to the others that responded as well. You made me think a little more about what's really going on and I appreciate it.

God Bless!
 
Rosa,

I hope when you're done school, you remember this, because you will see anxious people every day as a nurse. The problem is it can ruin lives.

To be honest, I'm amazed your doctor is doing more than checking for a pinched nerve or carpal tunnel type of thing, which seem the most likely culprits.

And...Lord, woman, buy a book bag on wheels and stop carrying a child that weighs 55 pounds!

Walking is great exercise and free! Even with kids that need a strollers if your little one is young. Buy a lap board and use that laptop properly so you are sitting properly, or use a desk.

Good luck!
 
Notme,

I will never forget any of this and I will always use my knowledge and experience to help others. That's why I chose to go into the medical field and obtained my CNA when I turned 18. But I do think that my chosen profession contributes greatly to my health anxiety. I have yet to find a way to balance and manage reality from fear. The only time it's nonexistent is when I'm caring for someone. I can then focus all of my energy on providing for their care and comfort versus battling my own "paranoia", but when I get home... It all goes to poo. I spent a lot of time working the elderly on a psych unit and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I have seen soooo many things, held the hands of many while they took their last breath, helped save lives, cared for wounds, adopted many into my heart as family, dressed, bathed, and fed strangers, and have been beaten black and blue by those who knew no better. I don't think I could ever give it up. It's just too great of a feeling to be a comfort to others in need.

I'm amazed he's doing more too. I think he just gave in to my nervous breakdown, the look on his face was one that made me feel a little ashamed. After the 8th though there will be no more of this nonsense! I promise!

As for the book bag and kiddo lol I will definitely be getting the rolling bag. The backpack I have isn't the greatest or most expensive, I get all of the good stuff for the little one's school adventure. She and I had a talk as well about how mommy can rock her to sleep and help her out, but mommy can no longer play Superman around the house for an hour or carry her like a baby everywhere we go. She's pretty independent and stubborn, so with selective wording I was able to convince her that this was all in her best interest and what she wanted lol. I just got a new desk too, so I will be using that from this point forward and making an effort to exercise by joining the stroller/wagon brigade that walks through the neighborhood everyday. I never thought I would do anything like that, but perhaps it's long overdue and the change is needed.

Thank you for your time and God bless! =)
 
LOL you'd be surprised how much better you'll feel with just walking. I was amazed how much better I feel, and I'm twice your age with a multitude of health issues---including using oxygen and a walker--but I can still walk a 5k, granted it takes me forever.


Rolling bags are cheapest at thrift stores. I got my degree when I was 40, so already disabled, and I couldn't have done college without it. BE sure you don't have a carpal tunnel thing going on, it's quite possible, as are disc issues in those that lift people and those that use poor lifting methods (I taught CNAs til I got too weak to teach the procedures in my hands) Lift properly and take care of your back. As someone who was an EMT for 30 years and a CNA when I was 18, I can tell you I blew my first disc at 23. You only get one back.

Edit with one final thought for you, too. Remember, even with health anxiety, you CAN still have things go wrong, so don't stop listening to your body--just don't let it override your good sense, because it sounds like you DO have some good sense in there!
 
You're a saint! It's refreshing to hear from people in the same field with a wealth of experience and knowledge. You would think that I would know how to properly lift by now but there seems to be a HUGE difference in a 250 pound adult and a 55 pound toddler lol. She has really done a number on my back when people much larger haven't. Maybe I just lift her differently. Then again, I have to consider our previous living arrangements. We were stuck between a rock and hard place for a short while and I was sleeping on a dilapidated couch(that could be a big factor in all of this pain). Now that I think about it, I may have just realized my reason for my health anxiety. We finally have a beautiful home and she finally has her very own room filled to the brim with toys and a huge backyard all to herself in a wonderfully safe neighborhood. It's like as soon as everything started fitting together, all of this madness started happening. I know I overexerted myself more than once while we were moving just out of excitement. I think that I'm terrified to lose it all. But I will take all of the advice that had been given to me by all of you awesome people, rolling bag for school included =), and I will have the EMG on the 8th and speak to the Neuro about ALL of the possibilities. I will mind my health and learn to control my anxiety so that I don't leave the impression on my daughter that she has to be terrified of a scraped knee or bruised arm. What happens will happen not matter what, all I can do is the best that I can!
 
So now things are better and you're afraid your world is going to cave in again. been there, sweetie. But it's not. Let us know your EMG is clear, or as I suspect, the pinched nerve or trapped nerve.

Take care. PM if you want anytime.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top