lynne3951
Member
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2022
- Messages
- 12
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
- State
- SC
Hi everyone. This is going to be a long post, so please bear with me. I am a 21 year old female with no underlying medical conditions and I am not taking any medications. In mid-April, I was sick with some kind of head cold or virus. I had a sore throat, a cough, chills, and I was very tired for about 2 weeks, but I did not have a fever. I was tested for strep (negative) and I took an at-home COVID test (negative).
A few days after I started to feel better, I had some strange pains that went from behind my right eye all the way down the right side of my neck. A few days later, I noticed that my distance vision in my right eye was completely blurry. I also noticed that my right pupil was noticeably more dilated than my left pupil (specifically in dim lighting). I went to my optometrist and had a full dilated eye exam done. She couldn’t find anything wrong with my eyes and ordered me glasses, which do correct the blurry vision.
I ended up going to the ER a few days later because I was very dizzy and I was having lots of random muscle twitches in my arms and legs and my vision was still blurry and my pupils were still uneven. I also developed floaters in both eyes that look like gray dots. I also had lots of muscle fasciculations all over my body. I could actually see the muscles in my arms and legs twitching all day. The floaters in my vision are not there constantly, they come and go throughout the day.
I had blood work, a head CT, and a brain MRI (with and without contrast) done and they all came back normal. I ended up going to see an ophthalmologist, ENT, and a neurologist. None of them could find a cause for my symptoms and none of them seemed too concerned, but they agreed that my symptoms were unusual. My primary care doctor suggested that it could be a post-viral syndrome because most of my symptoms began after I was sick.
I was very concerned that my eye problems could be caused by an unruptured brain aneurysm because some of my symptoms appear to be similar (blurry vision and uneven pupils) and I know that an MRI or CT would not show an unruptured aneurysm. I expressed concern to my neurologist but he did not seem concerned about a possible aneurysm.
It’s been about 3 months since these problems began, and my distance vision in my right eye is still very blurry and my pupils are still uneven. They are not uneven all of the time, but it is quite noticeable in dim lighting (my right pupil is more dilated than my left pupil).
I was referred to a neuro-ophthalmologist who I saw 3 weeks ago. We went over the timeline of my symptoms and he reviewed my MRI. He said that I had mild ptosis of my right eyelid and mild Horner’s syndrome, but he said that would not be causing my blurry vision. He also agreed that my symptoms were strange, but could not provide a diagnosis.
I have continued to have muscle twitches all over my body. They will occur in my arms, calves, feet, face, eyelid, etc. I can actually see the muscles twitching when they occur. I also noticed that right after I was sick (back in May), I felt like I was having trouble walking and felt very week in my arms and legs for a few weeks. My right calf has been very sore recently and I have been tripping as well (not frequently).
None of my doctors have brought up the possibility of ALS, but I am very concerned. I know that ALS is usually a diagnosis of exclusion and that the tests that I’ve had done would not necessarily “rule out” ALS. I already suffer from health anxiety, so this has been very stressful for me. I was researching ALS recently, and of course I found some news articles and stories of people in their 20s with ALS and that really worried me. Many of the stories talk about how the person tripped one day or their hand had a cramp and they were diagnosed with ALS. This worries me because if somebody my age be diagnosed with ALS after a seemingly insignificant symptom, I am convinced that I could have it as well. Thank you in advance!
A few days after I started to feel better, I had some strange pains that went from behind my right eye all the way down the right side of my neck. A few days later, I noticed that my distance vision in my right eye was completely blurry. I also noticed that my right pupil was noticeably more dilated than my left pupil (specifically in dim lighting). I went to my optometrist and had a full dilated eye exam done. She couldn’t find anything wrong with my eyes and ordered me glasses, which do correct the blurry vision.
I ended up going to the ER a few days later because I was very dizzy and I was having lots of random muscle twitches in my arms and legs and my vision was still blurry and my pupils were still uneven. I also developed floaters in both eyes that look like gray dots. I also had lots of muscle fasciculations all over my body. I could actually see the muscles in my arms and legs twitching all day. The floaters in my vision are not there constantly, they come and go throughout the day.
I had blood work, a head CT, and a brain MRI (with and without contrast) done and they all came back normal. I ended up going to see an ophthalmologist, ENT, and a neurologist. None of them could find a cause for my symptoms and none of them seemed too concerned, but they agreed that my symptoms were unusual. My primary care doctor suggested that it could be a post-viral syndrome because most of my symptoms began after I was sick.
I was very concerned that my eye problems could be caused by an unruptured brain aneurysm because some of my symptoms appear to be similar (blurry vision and uneven pupils) and I know that an MRI or CT would not show an unruptured aneurysm. I expressed concern to my neurologist but he did not seem concerned about a possible aneurysm.
It’s been about 3 months since these problems began, and my distance vision in my right eye is still very blurry and my pupils are still uneven. They are not uneven all of the time, but it is quite noticeable in dim lighting (my right pupil is more dilated than my left pupil).
I was referred to a neuro-ophthalmologist who I saw 3 weeks ago. We went over the timeline of my symptoms and he reviewed my MRI. He said that I had mild ptosis of my right eyelid and mild Horner’s syndrome, but he said that would not be causing my blurry vision. He also agreed that my symptoms were strange, but could not provide a diagnosis.
I have continued to have muscle twitches all over my body. They will occur in my arms, calves, feet, face, eyelid, etc. I can actually see the muscles twitching when they occur. I also noticed that right after I was sick (back in May), I felt like I was having trouble walking and felt very week in my arms and legs for a few weeks. My right calf has been very sore recently and I have been tripping as well (not frequently).
None of my doctors have brought up the possibility of ALS, but I am very concerned. I know that ALS is usually a diagnosis of exclusion and that the tests that I’ve had done would not necessarily “rule out” ALS. I already suffer from health anxiety, so this has been very stressful for me. I was researching ALS recently, and of course I found some news articles and stories of people in their 20s with ALS and that really worried me. Many of the stories talk about how the person tripped one day or their hand had a cramp and they were diagnosed with ALS. This worries me because if somebody my age be diagnosed with ALS after a seemingly insignificant symptom, I am convinced that I could have it as well. Thank you in advance!
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