Mdcastle
New member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2015
- Messages
- 5
- Reason
- Other
- Country
- US
- State
- MN
- City
- Bloomington
So here's
General backroung- extensive history of anxiety and depression. Confirmed neck herniations -C4-C5 and C5-C6
2010: Eyelid twitch that went away after a few days
Oct 2014 Eyelid twitch started again and stayed for several months. Not constantly but
Dec 2014 Eyelid stopped twitching but it spread to around my ear on the same side, then around my ear.
Late december: flare-up of my herniation, had a lot of shoulder pain
Jan: Both legs got really weak. I stopped my longtime anti-anxiety medication (Seroquel) afraid it was causing the symptoms, but things only continued to get worse. My legs have steadly gotten weak to the point that they're tired after just climbing a flight of stairs. Shortly after I noticed a burning sensation on the tip of my tongue.
Feb: Started noticing my tongue twitching when I stuck it out. Often it's so subtle that you can only see it by the changes of reflection when a strong light is shining on it. Sticking it out seems to make it vibrate a lot, then it settles down a bit. At the time I couldn't feel it, but now can feel it at times, even when it's at rest. My tongue started to look atrophied to me.
Dentist remarked I wasn't opening my mouth as far as usual
My arms are weak and twitch when I hold them out and my fingers shake when I spread them out.
Saw my psychiatrist, who at first thought I had tardive dyskinesia, now is backing away from the diagnosis thinking it's an age-related tremor. He will not prescribe any other anti-anxiety medications because they're addictive.
Have a sensation of a lump in my throat, is especially prevalent after eating, is not really noticable other time.
Trouble swallowing solid food- often the feeling there is something "stuck" and have to swallow more than once.
A bit clumsy while typing
Left arm feels a bit weak, but not too bad, not as bad as my legs of the one with neck issues.
Lots of cramping in my calves if I fall asleep on the sofa with them bent.
Random, single body twitches and spasms lasting up to a minute various places that have decrease in frequency lately.
Trouble talking- I bite my tongue and words come out wrong and have to really concentrate to talk. Everyone else says I'm talking better than I normally do. Once I concentrate I can make the correct sounds, but it sometimes takes several times.
Tightness in my upper jaw. Twitch if I hold a smile, teeth "chatter" if held closed
March: Saw an doctor, who found nothing wrong, routine labs turned up nothing remarkable. He thought it was tardive dyskinesia, but I insisted on a neurologist referral.
Have been trying various reflex tests on myself, after several hours stroking my foot I was able to make my toe go up- once.
Neurologist said my tongue looked fine (so did my psychiatrist, doctor, and family), and said he's seen a lot of tongues. Showed me the dramatic Youtube videos of people with ALS and asked me if my tongue looked like that, and I had to say no. Reflexes on both legs and left arm were normal, no Babinski (does it invalidate the test if I know what he's looking for?), didn't check Hoffman or anything with my face. Right arm had reduced reflexes, he said was due to my neck issues. He said that based on the reflexes I do not have ALS and sent me on my way, did not order any further testing. Attributed all my symptoms as either normal, anxiety, or neck issues.
Noticed one of my toes doesn't curl as much as the others. I started noticing my toes when walking now that I heard that was a symptom.
Been clenching my jaw a lot.
Hard to hold my right eye open, both lids seem to be weak.
No trouble swallowing liquids, no yawning, there's nothing I can say "I can't do that anymore", just that it takes a lot more effort or I can't do it as much. I used to be able to ride bicycle 20 miles, now I can just do it a mile or so.
Thank you so much for any insights and for reading this.
General backroung- extensive history of anxiety and depression. Confirmed neck herniations -C4-C5 and C5-C6
2010: Eyelid twitch that went away after a few days
Oct 2014 Eyelid twitch started again and stayed for several months. Not constantly but
Dec 2014 Eyelid stopped twitching but it spread to around my ear on the same side, then around my ear.
Late december: flare-up of my herniation, had a lot of shoulder pain
Jan: Both legs got really weak. I stopped my longtime anti-anxiety medication (Seroquel) afraid it was causing the symptoms, but things only continued to get worse. My legs have steadly gotten weak to the point that they're tired after just climbing a flight of stairs. Shortly after I noticed a burning sensation on the tip of my tongue.
Feb: Started noticing my tongue twitching when I stuck it out. Often it's so subtle that you can only see it by the changes of reflection when a strong light is shining on it. Sticking it out seems to make it vibrate a lot, then it settles down a bit. At the time I couldn't feel it, but now can feel it at times, even when it's at rest. My tongue started to look atrophied to me.
Dentist remarked I wasn't opening my mouth as far as usual
My arms are weak and twitch when I hold them out and my fingers shake when I spread them out.
Saw my psychiatrist, who at first thought I had tardive dyskinesia, now is backing away from the diagnosis thinking it's an age-related tremor. He will not prescribe any other anti-anxiety medications because they're addictive.
Have a sensation of a lump in my throat, is especially prevalent after eating, is not really noticable other time.
Trouble swallowing solid food- often the feeling there is something "stuck" and have to swallow more than once.
A bit clumsy while typing
Left arm feels a bit weak, but not too bad, not as bad as my legs of the one with neck issues.
Lots of cramping in my calves if I fall asleep on the sofa with them bent.
Random, single body twitches and spasms lasting up to a minute various places that have decrease in frequency lately.
Trouble talking- I bite my tongue and words come out wrong and have to really concentrate to talk. Everyone else says I'm talking better than I normally do. Once I concentrate I can make the correct sounds, but it sometimes takes several times.
Tightness in my upper jaw. Twitch if I hold a smile, teeth "chatter" if held closed
March: Saw an doctor, who found nothing wrong, routine labs turned up nothing remarkable. He thought it was tardive dyskinesia, but I insisted on a neurologist referral.
Have been trying various reflex tests on myself, after several hours stroking my foot I was able to make my toe go up- once.
Neurologist said my tongue looked fine (so did my psychiatrist, doctor, and family), and said he's seen a lot of tongues. Showed me the dramatic Youtube videos of people with ALS and asked me if my tongue looked like that, and I had to say no. Reflexes on both legs and left arm were normal, no Babinski (does it invalidate the test if I know what he's looking for?), didn't check Hoffman or anything with my face. Right arm had reduced reflexes, he said was due to my neck issues. He said that based on the reflexes I do not have ALS and sent me on my way, did not order any further testing. Attributed all my symptoms as either normal, anxiety, or neck issues.
Noticed one of my toes doesn't curl as much as the others. I started noticing my toes when walking now that I heard that was a symptom.
Been clenching my jaw a lot.
Hard to hold my right eye open, both lids seem to be weak.
No trouble swallowing liquids, no yawning, there's nothing I can say "I can't do that anymore", just that it takes a lot more effort or I can't do it as much. I used to be able to ride bicycle 20 miles, now I can just do it a mile or so.
Thank you so much for any insights and for reading this.