hotelyorba
New member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2019
- Messages
- 3
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
- State
- DC
- City
- Washington
Hello and thanks for taking the time to review my symptoms. I lost my aunt to ALS a few years ago and I appreciate that you guys are an available resource. I'm making a small donation ((((((and others should do the same if they read this in the future!!!!))))))
I'm a 27 yr old male.
I'll go straight into some of the symptoms I'm experiencing:
-Early last week, I noticed that my right hand (dominant) wasn't moving as fast as my brain was when I was typing during the work day. It started letting go on me, even though my brain was telling it to keep moving at a steady pace -- I was still able to type but had to slow down significantly. I was pushing my thumb hard to keep up...to keep hitting the space bar... and it always does, but wasn't keep up pace this time. This scared me but I didn't think too much of it.
-Over the course of the last week, this has developed into much greater issues with my right hand, most of which I have noticed are confined to the thumb/pointer finger muscles on the right hand. But I am also experiencing issues with other fingers....those tendons/muscles that control your finger movements I guess. Everything feels weaker/fatigued? Maybe aggravated is also a word to describe it. But I am not in pain. It's the feeling of when you have worked a muscle for a while and it is tired. But I haven't worked it when I'm just sitting around for a few hours.
-Symptoms I'm experiencing as of today: my right hand feels a little "locked up" - I'm not sure if spasticity is the right word. But it feels like the tendons/muslces in my hand have been in the gym doing a workout. It's hard for me to identify this as weakness, but it's made me *slightly* clumsy.
-This "worked muscle" feeling seems to radiate into my wrist and maybe down the arm (faintly). Again though, no "pain" --perhaps very very very dull "aches" is a better way to explain it.
Am I weak?
I don't think I would show signs for clinical weakness. I've run a number of tests myself. I can still grip well with the right hand (even though it feels fatigued) and I seem to be able to do everything that I used to be able to do. But the tendons/muscle/something feel aggregated and fatigued...the feeling I describe above. And so in some sense this makes me weak. Like when one of the fingers on my right hand goes to hit a key on the keyboard, it struggles a tiny bit. So I have tried to reduce the amount of work on the right hand and have switched over to using my left hand for a lot of things. If I begin to text too much or type too much (like I am doing now), everything starts to feel rigid and fatigued. This leads to very slight tremors or lack of smooth movement. Again, in line with if a muscle has been over worked and it's tired as hell.
How I'm rationalizing that this isn't ALS:
-Like lots of people in today's world, I'm glued to my phone. That thing is in my hand all day long. It's a big screen iPhone 8. I've been working my thumbs for over a decade now. Did something finally catch up? But this has never been even remotely a problem for me. And it doesn't explain why the rest of my fingers are feeling weak/fatigued. There is something called texting thumb yet there is very little info on the internet. It's described more as pain and I am not in pain.
-Same with computer. I never learned how to properly type - so even though I can type fast, I'm not using "approved" finger methods. Again though, this has never been an issue for me in my entire life and I've grown up with keyboards.
However, I think having seen it happen to my aunt, and having read stories of when people first saw symptoms, a lot of it mirrors what I am experiencing. So many have noticed that their first symptom was slight weakness in the hand. Or not being able to move the hand as quickly when opening a door with a key, etc. That pretty much sums up what I am also experiencing, without knowing more in-depth specific details of these stories.
Thank you in advance for any insights. I really appreciate it.
I'm a 27 yr old male.
I'll go straight into some of the symptoms I'm experiencing:
-Early last week, I noticed that my right hand (dominant) wasn't moving as fast as my brain was when I was typing during the work day. It started letting go on me, even though my brain was telling it to keep moving at a steady pace -- I was still able to type but had to slow down significantly. I was pushing my thumb hard to keep up...to keep hitting the space bar... and it always does, but wasn't keep up pace this time. This scared me but I didn't think too much of it.
-Over the course of the last week, this has developed into much greater issues with my right hand, most of which I have noticed are confined to the thumb/pointer finger muscles on the right hand. But I am also experiencing issues with other fingers....those tendons/muscles that control your finger movements I guess. Everything feels weaker/fatigued? Maybe aggravated is also a word to describe it. But I am not in pain. It's the feeling of when you have worked a muscle for a while and it is tired. But I haven't worked it when I'm just sitting around for a few hours.
-Symptoms I'm experiencing as of today: my right hand feels a little "locked up" - I'm not sure if spasticity is the right word. But it feels like the tendons/muslces in my hand have been in the gym doing a workout. It's hard for me to identify this as weakness, but it's made me *slightly* clumsy.
-This "worked muscle" feeling seems to radiate into my wrist and maybe down the arm (faintly). Again though, no "pain" --perhaps very very very dull "aches" is a better way to explain it.
Am I weak?
I don't think I would show signs for clinical weakness. I've run a number of tests myself. I can still grip well with the right hand (even though it feels fatigued) and I seem to be able to do everything that I used to be able to do. But the tendons/muscle/something feel aggregated and fatigued...the feeling I describe above. And so in some sense this makes me weak. Like when one of the fingers on my right hand goes to hit a key on the keyboard, it struggles a tiny bit. So I have tried to reduce the amount of work on the right hand and have switched over to using my left hand for a lot of things. If I begin to text too much or type too much (like I am doing now), everything starts to feel rigid and fatigued. This leads to very slight tremors or lack of smooth movement. Again, in line with if a muscle has been over worked and it's tired as hell.
How I'm rationalizing that this isn't ALS:
-Like lots of people in today's world, I'm glued to my phone. That thing is in my hand all day long. It's a big screen iPhone 8. I've been working my thumbs for over a decade now. Did something finally catch up? But this has never been even remotely a problem for me. And it doesn't explain why the rest of my fingers are feeling weak/fatigued. There is something called texting thumb yet there is very little info on the internet. It's described more as pain and I am not in pain.
-Same with computer. I never learned how to properly type - so even though I can type fast, I'm not using "approved" finger methods. Again though, this has never been an issue for me in my entire life and I've grown up with keyboards.
However, I think having seen it happen to my aunt, and having read stories of when people first saw symptoms, a lot of it mirrors what I am experiencing. So many have noticed that their first symptom was slight weakness in the hand. Or not being able to move the hand as quickly when opening a door with a key, etc. That pretty much sums up what I am also experiencing, without knowing more in-depth specific details of these stories.
Thank you in advance for any insights. I really appreciate it.