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kwl1988

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Joined
Apr 17, 2018
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Learn about ALS
Country
US
State
Michigan
City
Grand Rapids
Long time appreciator of the resources of forums like this that provide means to help reduce the stress of new and foreign symptoms.

30 y/o male with no family history of ALS.

Pre August 2017: I may have had a twitch here or there that never bothered me. I remember at least in May of 2017 a visible twitch in my bicep every so often. Maybe one in the abdomen here and there.

August 2017: First finger twitch. Felt as if someone had attach a string in the inside of my finer and were pulling it through my elbow. During this time I was traveling a lot for work. Eating poorly, not getting much sleep, constantly in different time zones, etc. Was away from home every other week.

Researched finger twitching and starting freaking out. Certain that I was dying and not sure what to do next. But, much to this being counterproductive, I started noticing everything abnormal about my body and looking for ways to connect it back to ALS.

December 2017: Started to feel okay with my body. Found that sleep and alcohol would trigger fasciculations. Began to ignore them. Went to my GP and she performed a basic neurological exam. Looked at reflexes, tongue mobility, etc. She said it wasn't anything related to a tumor or ALS because we'd likely see something on one side of the body or a localized region.

Since then: I still go through periods of fear where I try to relate anything that seems abnormal to something that is fatal. I recognize it's unhealthy, but I find myself more often than not paying too much attention to something that has probably been like that my whole life. Questions like "Is my anatomical snuffbox deeper than it used to be" or "why does my finger feel like it is curling." But every time I go to the gym and lift more weight than I was last week, I feel like I'm probably not suffering from a progressive neurological disorder. Especially one that had symptoms that appeared almost 9 mos. ago with no presentation of clinical weakness. I could be wrong, but forums like this have helped a lot in making me feel okay today.

So why am I posting? I'm wondering if anyone else may feel like this could be related to microbiota issues. I have oral thrush on the back of my tongue, a hallmark indicator for candida overgrowth. My stools often have undigested food particles and are pale in color. I digest food extremely fast. All of this can place a tremendous amount of stress of the body and can contribute to symptoms like perceived weakness, muscle twitching, etc. My problem is that my GP wouldn't discuss anything related to nutrition and just left me with a "oh it's probably benign" diagnosis.
 
Hi

While there are many discussions about microbiota as related to various diseases, telling folks here about the quality and contents of your bowel movements will not net you anything here other than go see a doctor. If you don't feel your doctor is listening, find a doctor willing to tie in nutrition to your health and help you figure things out. This is not the place to help you diagnose yourself via gut stuff.
 
Nothing you describe is ALS.

Everything you describe could well be health anxiety.

We do ALS and not health anxiety. Good luck to you, and good bye! :)
 
Either go to a gastro or a functional medicine doctor.

Nothing you post relates to ALS so we cannot help you.

Best wishes.
 
If you want nutritional advice, I'm sure there are Registered Dieticians in Grand Rapids. And if you want to treat the thrush, a primary care doc or dentist can help. As you say, there is no need to worry about neuromuscular disease.

Best,
Laurie
 
Kwl, as you wrote...

"My stools often have undigested food particles and are pale in color."

Your symptoms have no reason for you to have a fear of ALS.

But... from your descriptive symptoms (except the possible anxiety related ones) your greater fear might be something else to fear... pale stools also may be caused by pancreatic cancer that blocks the bile ducts. Lack of bile causes stool... to lose its brown color, fail to completely digest food and leaves it appearing pale, chalky color.

Follow up with your doctors. Hoping the best for you.
 
Last edited:
Kwl, as you wrote...

"My stools often have undigested food particles and are pale in color."

Your symptoms have no reason for you to have a fear of ALS.

But... from your descriptive symptoms (except the possible anxiety related ones) your greater fear might be something else to fear... pale stools also may be caused by pancreatic cancer that blocks the bile ducts. Lack of bile causes stool... to lose its brown color, fail to completely digest food and leaves it appearing pale, chalky color.

Follow up with your doctors. Hoping the best for you.

Thanks for the encouragement. And I was just trying to start a dialog that people with fasciculations or other MND symptoms could perhaps look at their microbiome as a source of focus. As for bile production and risk of pancreatic cancer, it is something I am looking into. That being said, it seems that pancreatic cancer under the age of 45 is almost as rare as someone developing ALS. Thanks for all the help to everyone in the thread. Like I said, I feel like after 9 months of twitching without noticing anything else progressive I should just learn to live in my new body.
 
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