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Hi i am currently going through a very stressful situation and am wondering if you can shed some light on it. I am wondering if the current symptoms and progression of what i am dealing with could be als. I will open and honest and hope you will be open and honest with me, i do suffer from anxiety and depression and have suffered for years, now more than ever health anxiety and have begun to have panic attacks. I am 19 year old male, i do understand how rare it is to have this disease especially at my age.

I have always been a very active person lifting weights, and practicing MMA, boxing and other sports. Around seven months ago i noticed that when boxing and working out my left arm would be sorer then my right after doing the same work out. At first i really thought nothing of it but then it took longer and longer fore the soreness to go away in my left arm. Around three months i started to notice slight weakness in my left arm that i had never noticed before, at this time i had my first muscle fasciculation i did not think much of it at the time, it was in my leg and went away in a few days, ( i ate some potassium and thought that could have caused it). Now around 2 months after the single fasciculation, i have been gone to have them all of my body probably close to 150-200 times a day, i would say the majority are concentrated in my legs, arms and feet. The fasciculations vary alot, some are rhythmic and spasm in a pattern, but some of the just spasm once here and then spasm once there. I have also begun to have small body ripples and vibrations, and very large muscle contractions while at rest where an entire muscle with tense up and then release a few seconds later. Further more within the last month i have begun to have trouble swallowing, and breathing. It feels as if i can not expand my lungs as well anymore, and food goes down very slow, much slower than normal so i have had to begin to take smaller bites. I had my oxygen levels checked at my last appointment and i had 99 percent sp02. Finally whenever i need to use my strength anymore my arms and legs shake and tremor even with normal exertion. Because all of the symptoms i have can some way be attributed to anxiety in some way or form and because it would be rare for me to have this my doctos feels that its most likely or almost 100 percent positive just severe anxiety, so i have begun medication and therapy for my anxieties. Also just to be safe he sent me to see a neurologist 2 weeks ago. The neurologists ran an emg of both of my arms and the results came back abnormal and showed weakness. I have another appointment in a week to talk about further testing and whether it needs to be done or not. Finally i will say that the large amount of muscle fasciculation's, and trouble breathing, began roughly at the same time, and at a time where i have been more anxious than ever before. Im sorry this is a very long post but could you let me know if these are common symptoms of als or am i just anxious.

Thank you very much
 
Suggest you send a copy of your EMG report to our qualified forum EMG expert Wright .

He can interpret the findings and give you additional insight.

I doubt you have ALS based on your symptom presentation, but there's no need to elaborate because I'm not a doctor. However, to suggest you're " just anxious" is a disservice to you. Even if it turns out to be anxiety, this is a real medical condition, and which can be addressed by way of various options. Sounds that you are getting good and thorough care, but since you candidly admit to having suffered from anxiety and depression, I would strongly urge you to stay off the Internet seeking answers to your health issues. The World Wide Web can be a dark place and only serve to exacerbate your worry.

Good luck.
 
Thank you very much for your insight, i do stay off the internet for in regards to health issues, only reason i have looked into ALS, is because the neurologist brought it up.
 
Thank you very much for your insight, i do stay off the internet for in regards to health issues, only reason i have looked into ALS, is because the neurologist brought it up.

I am very surprised the neuro would bring it up without further investigation. Was this based solely on EMG or clinical exam. OR did you ask him/her if ALS is a possibility?

Frankly, I've never heard of a neuro saying ALS out loud, unless he/she is pretty durn certain and only after a ton of tests.

Hopefully Wright will see your post and chime in.
 
If the neuro brought it up--unfortunately it's going to be a wait and see game. I'd suggest posting your results of the EMG the report itself to WRIGHT he's our resident EMG expert.

This is a waiting game. There are a whole host of things that mimic ALS early signs--and most are benign or at least treatable.

Muscle weakness, without nerve issues, can also be several myopathies and other assorted processes. I think it's pretty premature to suggest ALS to you, but since he has, I'd see an ALS specialist or neuromuscular specialist.

A muscle biopsy may be in order. There will be tons of blood labs that need to be checked. MRI to assess for things like stroke and MS. Vitb-12 causes many more issues than folks realize--and testing levels isn't enough. They have to test absorption of it as well.

All that aside--ALS eventually is body-wide, but it doesn't start that way. It starts in one area and progresses to other areas. With your having several issues in multiple areas, you are less likey to have ALS than more likely. And remember, a dirty EMG can have a multitude of reasons--ALS only being ONE of them

Diagnosis of neuro conditions take ages normally. We have a saying--it can only be ALS when it can't be anything else. I've added it to my tagline as a reminded--but it was coined first by Zaphoon. Please read my sticky post on Weakness and the post by sadiemae on twitching. They are both helpful posts.

Good luck to you
 
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