Bulbar ALS onset concerns

[DDasilva97]

Hi everyone, thanks so much for taking your time on reading this.

I’m a 26 years old female and I’m concerned I might have bulbar onset symptoms. Back in 2018, I had suspicions of ALS, I had twitching on my body, I had a tremor in my arms, I thought I was slurring my words, and my tongue also twitched, and my right hand & right shoulder felt stiff and weaker. I saw a neurologist and they couldn’t see or feel the weakness but I insisted something was wrong with me so I had an EMG and a swallow test and everything came back clean. I still twitched and my hand and shoulder still felt weak but I decided to let go of my health anxiety and trust the professionals. Now fast forward to 2024, I’m trying to convince my symptoms are all in my head but it’s hard to ignore. For about a month, I’ve had a dry cough that comes out maybe 2-3 times a day, I don’t feel any discomfort in my throat it just happens, I’ve never had such a cough before. I also have twitching all over my body, and for the first time ever, it’s very persistent in my face and tongue. For the last 4 days, I’ve been feeling my tongue twitch in my mouth, and my chin, non stop. I can see it and feel it. I’ve also noticed, I’ve been burping a lot, and every time I drink or eat something, I feel like it’s stuck in my throat after. I feel like a lump in my throat. I also been woken up from my sleep two nights in a row because I have to cough. My partner says I sound the same, so I’m not slurring my words but I’m really concerned about my trouble swallowing and non stop twitching tongue.

I have a neurologist appointment next week, but does this sound like bulbar onset?

 

[ShiftKicker]

Hello-

The pinned Read Before Posting thread contains answers to many of the questions that bring people here. It outlines why tremors, sensory issues, gastro issues, etc, point away from motor neuron disease and points towards something else. Your neurology appointment next week should provide you more information, as the neuro can provide an examination as well take your history and let you know what direction they may be looking in. You have been concerned about ALS for over 5 years- you would have shown profound change by now if this were the case and it would be very obvious to any observer, let alone your family doctor.

Please take care, and all the best at your appointment with the neurologist.

 

[DDasilva97]

Thank you for your time and feedback, I’ll take your advice and get this ALS diagnosis out of my head and see my neurologist next week and go from there.