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ndephill

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Apr 22, 2018
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Learn about ALS
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PA
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Harrisburg
Hello,

I am 23 years old and for the past two months have been experiencing a number of concerning symptoms. The timeline of my symptoms are as follows:

Feb - I work out a fair amount and was just getting back into running when I had a patelleformal knee injury to my left which caused pain, swelling and tingling. This subsided but I began to notice a lot of twitching in the affected leg. I had a massage during this time and was noted I had a lot of tight muscles (affected leg and back muscles on the opposite side sort of pulling my shoulder out of alignment).

Feb/March - The twitching escalated in the leg to focus mostly in my calf area and also began in my other leg. I would get twitches in other parts of my body including arms, back, abdomen, neck, and occasional face. I experienced a lot of hand cramping where I would be sitting and feel/see my pinky and ring finger tighten up. At time I'd experience a tight jaw and tickling around jaw area and a tight neck.

Apr - Twitching seemed to subside everywhere except legs/feet (would occasionally get pops in other extremeties). Feet and legs twitching very noticeable at rest (especially laying down), twitches seem to be more 'crawling like'. Noticed my pinkies curled in and overlapping my ring finger when making a fist. When I tense my neck or frown the front of my neck rapidly twitches. Face feels 'flabbier' or more rubber-like, especially around jaw and primarily on right side. Left foot, original side of knee injury, feels weaker and and running tends to tire it out quicker than the right but stationary strength tests seem okay. It looks like my left leg has gotten smaller and when I touch the back of my lower leg, I can feel a 'electric shock' through my foot. Maybe this relates to sciatica. Feel like I can see small rippling twitches in left bicep, and left side pinkie seems abducted.

I am very anxious this may be something serious and was hoping someone could provide me some insight. My primary questions are

1. Can ALS start in the middle of a leg (knee) and spread to other leg and the jaw/neck muscles before any noticeable weakness?

2. How are the front neck muscles involved? When I flex that part, there are a lot of muscles and tendons that move out and in of my neck (I apologize as this is hard to explain)

2. I can really see the calf twitching when pressing on my heel and feeling my hamstring. Is this typical of these fasculations?

3. Is sciatica experienced in early stages?

I have seen my GP in March who ran some blood work. Everything was normal except elevated CK level (429). I had lifted both days before my blood was taken so he thought that was the reason for the elevated level. Also had bloodwork done recently and everything was still normal with CK level at 290 (slightly elevated).

I appreciate your time and help with this.
 
1) I can think of none of our PALS who had this pattern
2) I can think of none of our PALS whose first weak muscles were involved in neck flexion
3) True fasciculations occur on their own, not when you prompt them
4) By definition, sciatica is a pain originating from nerves that go from the spine to the leg, whereas in ALS, it is the motor neurons that are affected, not the nerves that cause pain.

I see of no reason to think of ALS in your case. Since lifting can cause spine injury, if all this persists you might see a back specialist (orthopod or neuro) who can consider imaging to rule out a serious injury or PT to help you feel better. And if your muscles are not developing equally on both sides, you might want to get someone more experienced to evaluate your lifting/stretching regimens.

Best,
Laurie
 
OK, two really big points for you. Which you would already know had you read the pinned post Read Before Posting.

1) Twitching mean SQUAT. Twitching is far too common to be diagnostic of ANYTHING.

Don't come back with a "but my twitching...". Just don't .
2) ALS is about "failing" and NOT "feeling".

I'm a quadriplegic typing via eye-gaze and I FEEL no different than the previous 60 years.​

As such, your questions are moot.

Talk to your Doctor, there's nothing for you here.

lucky you! ;-)
 
I've been very concerned with this the past couple of months. It seems as though a new physical issue pops up every week or so. The flabbier face and weak/apparent shrinkage in jaw/cheek muscles is what prompted me to reach out.

I realize there are many different patterns to ALS and I wanted to check to see if anyone had similar experiences so I appreciate your feedback on that. Thank you both for your time.
 
Sorry I meant to ask this in my intial post.

Both my hands are very stiff in the morning and seem to have lost some muscle in the center of the palm and maybe a little in the thenar muscles. In addition to the curling of pinkies when putting my hand into a fist, I’ve felt buzzing or crawling type twitches occasionally in these muscles and left forearm seems to have more ‘’dents’ than right.

My question is how likely is it in early stages to have fascinations start in some parts (legs/feet) of the body with little or no weakness/apparent atrophy but then have less visible fascinations in other parts (hands) with muscle loss?
 
Please refer back to Greg and Igelb's answers. You're "symptoms" are not typical of ALS. As such, it's great news that you don't need to be here.

Good luck working with your doctor.

Take good care
 
My question is how likely is it in early stages to have fascinations start ...

I'm sorry, but I did warn you. You've now worn out your welcome.

Thread Closed.

Do NOT start another thread until and IF you see your doctor.
Good luck, go away.
 
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