ALS + Pregnancy

[johnapalladino1]

Hello all.

I’m wondering if these symptoms I’m having seem like ALS symptoms to everyone. My father was just diagnosed with ALS and I am 26 years old. No one else in our family has ever had it.

So when I got pregnant everything was fine and I was feeling totally normal. I was pregnant with twins. About 6 months in I started to get this strange numbness in either of my arms. It would happen randomly and I felt like I was having a heart attack. It would then go away.

I also started noticing muscle twitching and some weakness but all of it would come and go. I have always had random muscle twitching all my life. It’ll be a short twitch and then go away. The weakness/numbness would always be in a different body part but then go away pretty quickly which I attributed to maybe the baby sitting on a nerve.

About 3 weeks before I gave birth I started to have severe neck weakness to the point where I felt like I couldn’t keep my head up at all, but I could. It felt tight around my neck almost like my throat was closing with weakness. No pain. It’s a very weird feeling.

About a week before I gave birth I went to the hospital for these symptoms. They told me that even though I felt weak my hands didn’t feel weak when they had me squeeze them.

Then when I was in the hospital for my c-section all of these symptoms completely went away. I didn’t feel any twitching, any weakness in the neck, no weakness or numbness in the limbs at all. I was there for 3 days.

Now that I have been home for about 4 weeks things are getting progressively worse again. I feel random bouts of weakness/numbness in my limbs. It’s not always there. It’s both sides of my body that are experiencing it. My neck has felt weak this entire time but not as bad as right before my pregnancy ended until this week. The last few days it’s starting to feel just as bad as 6-7 weeks ago again. I also have pain in it now, it feels like almost from straining it. I also am feeling the almost closing feeling again.

I experienced a lot of dropping things during my pregnancy which I know is normal for a pregnant woman but I am still experiencing it.

I have suffered from anxiety and depression the entire pregnancy and now, and I started zoloft earlier this week. The zoloft gave me total body numbness at night so I had to switch to Prozac 2 days ago which for now is agreeing with me.

I am going to schedule a doctor appointment soon but with everything going on with COVID who knows when i’ll be able to get in there.

Please let me know what you think.

 

[ShiftKicker]

Hello- please have a read here: Important - READ BEFORE POSTING! Answers to common concerns about possible symptoms It should answer your questions about much of what you have posted.

Things like numbness, tingling, etc, are sensory and are not part of the spectrum of symptoms seen in ALS. Intermittent or random symptoms are also not really part of the type of onset you'd typically see in ALS. The meds you are taking do also affect the central nervous system and can cause a variety of side effects, so it's important to remain in contact, even via phone, with a medical professional to make any adjustments needed.

I am sorry about your dad. These are stressful times. The illness of a loved one, pregnancy and the stress of various levels of social isolation can definitely affect wellbeing. We do see folk come here with worries of their own after a loved one is diagnosed with ALS- it is an overwhelming time and can cause anxiety about perfectly normal body sensations.

Please take care.

 

[johnapalladino1]

Hello- please have a read here: Important - READ BEFORE POSTING! Answers to common concerns about possible symptoms It should answer your questions about much of what you have posted.

Things like numbness, tingling, etc, are sensory and are not part of the spectrum of symptoms seen in ALS. Intermittent or random symptoms are also not really part of the type of onset you'd typically see in ALS. The meds you are taking do also affect the central nervous system and can cause a variety of side effects, so it's important to remain in contact, even via phone, with a medical professional to make any adjustments needed.

I am sorry about your dad. These are stressful times. The illness of a loved one, pregnancy and the stress of various levels of social isolation can definitely affect wellbeing. We do see folk come here with worries of their own after a loved one is diagnosed with ALS- it is an overwhelming time and can cause anxiety about perfectly normal body sensations.

Please take care.

Thank you!