Apologies for wasting your time ahead of time..

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Tycoonbuffoon

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Jul 6, 2020
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Learn about ALS
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US
State
KY
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Henderson
Hey everyone. I realize what I’m doing is incredibly insensitive and I actually really do feel awful for it.. I just have no where else to turn to here really.

I’ve read the sticky, it was actually incredibly informative and got rid of a lot of my fears by itself. Sadly not all of them as health anxiety has a way of working it’s way back in one way or another.

Let me preface this by saying I am an incredibly inactive (even more so now with the way the world is) 28yo/m. I sit pretty much all the time for both work and recreation.

anyway, I recently started having twitching in several places throughout my body. My left calf almost always is twitching, and things like my shoulder blades and fingers twitch when in use(sometimes).

This twitching set off a chain of events that led to google(sorry) and ultimately onto my current fear: foot drop.

after the twitching started I eventually convinced myself that “hey, I’m 28. This has to be something silly like bfs.”

I then immediately started looking for signs of atrophy to prove my hypothesis and terrifyingly enough my right leg is certainly smaller than my left.

from here I started doing some muscle tests with my calf and foot to see if it was actually atrophy related to nerves or simply because I’m inactive and prefer my left leg instead.

standing on tip toes with each: fine.

standing on one leg? Fine.

standing on heels? I can bring the foot up, and point my toes upwards.. but my left foot points upwards much more.

from here I tried walking on my heels.

the left foot is perfectly fine, I could probably walk all the way across my house and be fine.

but the right foot drags after the first step. I for the life of me can not walk on it without it hitting the floor.

as you may expect this sent me into a spiral which ultimately culminated in me finding this site and reading “als is about failure, not feeling.)

does this apply to something like foot dropping as well? If I had it would it truly be instantly so bad that I couldn’t even point my foot upwards at all?

That’s ultimately my question here.. is foot drop gradual in als, or is it quite literally an overnight occurrence?

also, I did find another website that attempts to calm als anxiety fears:Muscle Twitching Help; Foot Drop Strength Tests & ALS » Scary Symptoms



There are a series of tests here, all of which I completed(other than the running up stairs one, as I don’t have a flight of stairs long enough near me to try. This didn’t stop me from going on my brightly lit porch at 3am and hopping like a kangaroo though).

I’m not asking for a diagnosis, and again I apologize for even bothering you all with something so nonsensical.. it’s just that the way I cope with my health anxiety is via gathering such staggering evidence against it that I eventually give up on pursuing it.

if you could just give your honest opinions that’s all I really ask for.
 
See a doctor. You may not actually have a foot drop. And if you do, there are many far more common reasons for one other than ALS. Sometimes pressure on a nerve from poor posture and excessive sitting can cause problems. Even with the pandemic, you can still take walks.

Twitching is common, nonspecific, and meaningless in the absence of muscle function failure which you have not described.

Your anxiety is getting the best of you. Please seekhelp for your anxiety and concerns.
 
I have every intention to see a doctor as soon as I am able.

I was just looking for some peace of mind in the meantime.

so is it safe to say that not being able to walk on one of my heels is a huge red flag then, Karen?
 
As Karen said if you have true foot drop which is not clear as yet there are far more common and likely causes. So no it is not a huge red flag that should make you jump to ALS. That is like having a cough and deciding it is lung cancer when you are a young healthy non smoker.
 
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