Could this be ALS?

[IntoNowhere]

Hello all. I am a 24-year-old male hoping to get some early thoughts on my situation as I try to get a neurologist appointment / EMG appointment.

Starting a week and half earlier I began having slight shortness of breath and family doctor wasn’t finding anything. Strangely at about the same time my hands and feet start to go numb / tingling (like I sit on toilet for too long) easily and hands feel like I don’t have enough strength to clench fists when I wake up. That would become improved as I am awake and do more activities though.

It evolved into feeling that my extremity and limbs don’t have as much control as they used to. I would mistype more often on both phone screen and keyboard, have slight more trouble opening bottlecaps and tearing through packages / tying shoelaces. I also noticed that I am having slightly slurred speech (every maybe 20-40 words).

The family doctor suggested a weekly checkup but said although it was out of her scope she didn’t notice any “clinical weakness”, after performing jabbing tests, knee-jerk tests and walking / turning tests. I have also done a series of small tests on myself - I can walk / stand on toes or heels, perform all my regular workout training at the same level and both hands finger crawl / stretch seemingly well.

I am truly sorry if this post is a waste to anyones time. But reading stuff on the web has truly brought my mental down into anxiety pipes. Thank you for the patience and my wishes go to all.

 

[lgelb]

If anything, odds are this is postviral. As you say, you can note if any daily activities become difficult or impossible, but does not sound like ALS to me.

You might use a wearable to track your sleep, which is frequently the culprit for things like this.

 

[Clearwater AL]

IntoNowhere, that's fitting... no country, no state, no city.

You're trying to get a neurologist appointment / EMG appointment...

We have members here that could be helpful... accredited ALS facilities
and locations maybe close to you.

You can walk / stand on toes or heels, perform all your regular workout
training at the same level and both hands finger crawl / stretch seemingly well.

But your second paragraph...?

Finally, which no one ever addresses. ALS is a rare disease even more
rare to the rarest... is someone 24 years old being diagnosed with ALS.

I hope the doctors you'll be seeing will blow away your concerns of ALS
soon as possible.... 24 is way too young to have worry of a terminal
disease.

 

[IntoNowhere]

Dear all, thank you so much for the thoughtful opinions! Helped me calm down tremendously from the panic twirl. I however still would want to update my case a little and see if theres any further thoughts I can gather from here. Please bear with me and for that I apologize.

Medical assistance: since the date of posting Ive seen three GP and they all performed limited exams on my body while looking for visual atrophy. None was found and tests were clear. The first GP was unwilling to refer me further to an EMG or neuro since according to him Ive got no probable concern out of anxiety. The second GP gave similar assessment but did refer me to a neurologist as he said 'if that'd help calm me down; third doctor suggested 'we see / find nothing abnormal but if you do feel somethings wrong I will refer you to EMG testing' and did so. No doctor was able to notice slurring and of all the people Ive asked about / talked to only two out of nine had noticed 'slight' slurring or hoarser voice.

Slurring: Slurring has been weird. It would sometimes be like I'd stutter once every ten words read out and sometimes completely fine. I am bilingual and it sort of manifests in both languages I speak. I noticed that if I speak at a slightly lower tone the slurring would greatly improve.

Swallowing: Can't tell if its anxiety manifested symptoms or actually swallow issues but I still feel the 'lump' at throat's midpoint and swallowing saliva has been weird. I also 'spit' out saliva more when I try to speak at higher tone and would drool out a small amount on the right corner of mouth. I have big trouble telling if I actually have trouble swallowing or just feel weird when I swallow since liquid and food still goes down without having to swallow again, but sometimes when consuming drier food they do feel 'stuck' to side of the throat.

Finger control: Improved a lot. However still feels weird - some days I'd feel like my hand isn't completely 'stretched' if thats the right word. But the range of motion of extremities / limbs seem to still be normal.

Numbness / Tingling: The issue of waking up with no power to clench fist is still prominent. But rapidly improves once I get up, as always. Numbness happens less but tingling happens more. Leg used to feel walking strained and now theres actually a part of the top muscle where it'd hurt if I press on it. Don't know if thats a good thing or bad thing.

Twitching: Twitching all over the body. Face, eyelids, purlicue, feet and sometimes leg and knees. Happens once every hour or 40 minutes. I feel them all the time but there hasn't been any cramps since. Again, don't know if these twitches are good or bad signals of ALS.

Fatigue: something new. I feel that my body's muscle gets fatigued easily. I feel lower on energy and would get tired more easily.

Once again, much appreciation goes out to the members in here! I feel sorry for what many of you have to go through and pray for you and your family's health improvement. Sorry for writing long, badly-worded posts that waste peoples time. Right now I am just sitting here waiting for the neurologist or EMG appointment to contact me and set a date - which would be weeks to come.

 

[ShiftKicker]

As you've visited 3 different medical professionals, none of whom have been able to detect neurological issues, there really isn't much more we can do for you here. Absent any clinical signs of ALS, or even anything of concern, it is now time to concentrate on the recommendations Laurie has provided you already.

You may wish to visit some of the many different online spaces for those experiencing post-viral/covid symptoms and/or support groups for those who struggle with BFS. FaceBook and reddit have multiple discussion groups. These places are better suited to provide you feedback and peer support.

Please do return and let us know how your neurology appointment goes.

Take care

 

[Clearwater AL]

IntoNowhere, You’ve been here almost every day reading old Threads,
from 2008, 2012, 2019 and many other older ones.

Do yourself a favor. Try really hard… give reading about ALS a break
until your Neuro appointment, following 3 different medical professionals
none of whom have been able to detect neurological issues.

I guess I’m the only one that addresses this… ALS is a rare disease,
even more rare (really rare) is someone 24 years old being diagnosed
with ALS. You being just 24 years old, the odds are six digits maybe
7 digits are in your favor you do not have ALS.

You might consider asking for help for Health Anxiety which might be
creating/amplifying of the many many symptoms you’ve posted.

There really isn’t anything else you can post ( new symptoms, questions)
until after you Neuro appointment.

I hope the Neuro appointment finally gets the worrisome burden of
ALS off your just 24 year old mind.

PS. I see you're looking at an old one now.... 2008 !

 

[IntoNowhere]

Thank you for the kind words! Reading many posts here has actually helped me more with the anxiety actually - as there are so many posts about similar symptoms and end up being non-als related. This is also the first place where I learnt how to read into some symptoms that once concerned me. I truly appreciate the existence of this forum, and as I read it I was actually calmer instead of more nervous.

However I would follow your advice and stay off Dr. google for a good while. Hopefully as long as it takes for the EMG or neurologist to hook up with me. Cheers!