Cody ... one of the problems with comparing symptoms with others (The good old "I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours"

) is that a) everybody
really is different, that isn't just a slogan, and b) other people may have other health issues, and c) it simply doesn't matter, because every case of ALS really is different. Or did I say that already?
Short answer to your first question: In my case, serious breathing "issues" came before any other symptoms.
Correct answer to your first question: Serious breathing issues came before my ALS symptoms possibly because I also have heart disease. I was in the hospital having an angiogram to see what was behind my shortness of breath which had developed a couple months before, when the cardiologist poked a hole in an artery, and I had to have open heart surgery to repair it. Waking up from an induced coma three days later, I had slurred speech, blurred vision and still had the shortness of breath.
So ... was the shortness of breath the first sign of ALS? Who knows. Does it matter? I don't think so.