fl4ian
New member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2006
- Messages
- 8
- Reason
- PALS
- Country
- US
- State
- Ohio
- City
- Worthington
Hi Guys.
I'm waiting for an appointment with a neurologist for ALS like symptoms, and so I've been lurking here for several weeks.
My symptoms started 9-12 months ago. The first thing I noticed was weakness/fatigue in my right hand while twisting a connection onto an air cylinder. Slowly but surely, my hands, ams & legs get fatigued with less and less exertion. Fine motor control with screws etc. is getting difficult, and my left hand is better at it than my right, so sometimes I switch off to my left hand for those things (although I'm right-handed). Holding things up like hanging picture or holding a banner, tires my shoulders, arms, and hands. They tire out and get crampy and burn like after a too-hard workout, but not as bad. Writing with a pencil or pen is pretty hard to do because of the weakness/fatigue. Typing, though, I can still do pretty well. My fingers and forearms tend to stiffen up quite often, along with the muscles around my mouth and jaw.
I can't take as deep a breath as I used to be able to, and get out of breath easily after going up stairs (I never used to be like this). I used to play a euphonium so I had alot of tidal volume capacity, so maybe that's why I notice it. I get tired of chewing sometimes, esp. if it's a long meal or it's a chewy food. Swallowing has become a little more deliberate, especially with dry or pointy foods (like crusty breads), or if it's a large bite. I used to be able to drink a glass of water almost as fast as you could pour it down the sink, and I know I'd choke if I tried that today. I've noticed some difficulty finding notes singing, as if before there were definite stops for the notes, and now it's much less defined, like I'm sliding around a little more. Some words make me think I have an oversized tongue: words like "refrigerator" or "remember". They end up coming out on the slurry/sloppy side, like I can't enunciate the syllables.
Over all, I feel pretty fatigued, and more clumsy and uncoordinated, and find myself dropping things. Sometimes I lose my balance, but not from an equilibrium related cause, because I'm not dizzy or light-headed, but it feels like my muscles just aren't working together. I get twitches and jerks in my muscles from time to time, as well as a feeling of "pinging" or "jittering" in my face. Like ALL the muscles just beneath the skin of my face are doing an uncoordinated writhing. These twitches, jerks, and jittering are not necessarily every day, but definitely when I'm really tired after a too-long day.
Now, (if you're still reading
), I thought these things were just subjective, like I was noticing them or making them up or something. I was trying to find a way to make them objective, to REALLY find out if these symptoms were real. I had gone to a chiropractor a couple years ago and he tested my grip strength, so I went and had him test it again. I was around 12% weaker in my left hand and about 15% weaker in my right hand. After about 10 minutes of non-use, we tried it again, and this time my right hand strength dropped ANOTHER 7-8% while my left hand stayed were it had been (at about 12% less strong than orginally 2 years ago). To me, this was objective evidence of my subjective feelings. So I made an appointment with my family doctor who assessed me, and ordered blood tests including a lyme titre, and a brain MRI. At this point we were working on possible diagnoses of MS, ALS, and Lyme disease.
The blood tests came back normal, as did the MRI. And from what I understand, MRIs usually show evidence of MS, and the Lyme titre should show evidence of Lyme disease. I never really thought I had MS because many of the things I've read indicate that common symptoms for MS were things that I am not experiencing: limb numbness/tingling, muscle and/or nerve pain, vision problems, etc. However, I did think that my symptoms could be Lyme, and with the blood test normal, I'm thinking my chances of having ALS have increased.
So, I have two questions for you guys (I say guys, but mean gals too)...
1) In your experience, do my symptoms resemble the symptoms of someone with ALS?
2) Are my assumptions about the normal blood and MRI results correct? In other words, do having a normal results make the other diagnoses less likely, and ALS more likely?
3) What are other medical problems that could mimic these signs/symptoms? What other rule-outs or differential diagnoses are there for my collection of symptoms?
I really appreciate your time and energy responding to this.
---todd
I'm waiting for an appointment with a neurologist for ALS like symptoms, and so I've been lurking here for several weeks.
My symptoms started 9-12 months ago. The first thing I noticed was weakness/fatigue in my right hand while twisting a connection onto an air cylinder. Slowly but surely, my hands, ams & legs get fatigued with less and less exertion. Fine motor control with screws etc. is getting difficult, and my left hand is better at it than my right, so sometimes I switch off to my left hand for those things (although I'm right-handed). Holding things up like hanging picture or holding a banner, tires my shoulders, arms, and hands. They tire out and get crampy and burn like after a too-hard workout, but not as bad. Writing with a pencil or pen is pretty hard to do because of the weakness/fatigue. Typing, though, I can still do pretty well. My fingers and forearms tend to stiffen up quite often, along with the muscles around my mouth and jaw.
I can't take as deep a breath as I used to be able to, and get out of breath easily after going up stairs (I never used to be like this). I used to play a euphonium so I had alot of tidal volume capacity, so maybe that's why I notice it. I get tired of chewing sometimes, esp. if it's a long meal or it's a chewy food. Swallowing has become a little more deliberate, especially with dry or pointy foods (like crusty breads), or if it's a large bite. I used to be able to drink a glass of water almost as fast as you could pour it down the sink, and I know I'd choke if I tried that today. I've noticed some difficulty finding notes singing, as if before there were definite stops for the notes, and now it's much less defined, like I'm sliding around a little more. Some words make me think I have an oversized tongue: words like "refrigerator" or "remember". They end up coming out on the slurry/sloppy side, like I can't enunciate the syllables.
Over all, I feel pretty fatigued, and more clumsy and uncoordinated, and find myself dropping things. Sometimes I lose my balance, but not from an equilibrium related cause, because I'm not dizzy or light-headed, but it feels like my muscles just aren't working together. I get twitches and jerks in my muscles from time to time, as well as a feeling of "pinging" or "jittering" in my face. Like ALL the muscles just beneath the skin of my face are doing an uncoordinated writhing. These twitches, jerks, and jittering are not necessarily every day, but definitely when I'm really tired after a too-long day.
Now, (if you're still reading
), I thought these things were just subjective, like I was noticing them or making them up or something. I was trying to find a way to make them objective, to REALLY find out if these symptoms were real. I had gone to a chiropractor a couple years ago and he tested my grip strength, so I went and had him test it again. I was around 12% weaker in my left hand and about 15% weaker in my right hand. After about 10 minutes of non-use, we tried it again, and this time my right hand strength dropped ANOTHER 7-8% while my left hand stayed were it had been (at about 12% less strong than orginally 2 years ago). To me, this was objective evidence of my subjective feelings. So I made an appointment with my family doctor who assessed me, and ordered blood tests including a lyme titre, and a brain MRI. At this point we were working on possible diagnoses of MS, ALS, and Lyme disease.The blood tests came back normal, as did the MRI. And from what I understand, MRIs usually show evidence of MS, and the Lyme titre should show evidence of Lyme disease. I never really thought I had MS because many of the things I've read indicate that common symptoms for MS were things that I am not experiencing: limb numbness/tingling, muscle and/or nerve pain, vision problems, etc. However, I did think that my symptoms could be Lyme, and with the blood test normal, I'm thinking my chances of having ALS have increased.
So, I have two questions for you guys (I say guys, but mean gals too
)...1) In your experience, do my symptoms resemble the symptoms of someone with ALS?
2) Are my assumptions about the normal blood and MRI results correct? In other words, do having a normal results make the other diagnoses less likely, and ALS more likely?
3) What are other medical problems that could mimic these signs/symptoms? What other rule-outs or differential diagnoses are there for my collection of symptoms?
I really appreciate your time and energy responding to this.
---todd
