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edelauna

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Joined
Jun 17, 2007
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3
Reason
PALS
Country
CA
State
Onatrio
City
Toronto
Hello, I know this is probably a busy board and I hope someone can just quickly comment on one or a few sections of this post (sorry its long). I will try and break it down so its easier to read.

Two weeks ago I was painting a deck for a friend, and I started feeling weak in my arms, I had the same feeling about a year ago when I finished school, but it subsided within a few days, I saw my doctor about my knees and mentioned it too him while I was there, about a week ago, he diagnosed my knees as patellar fasciitis, which makes sense since I play a lot of hardwood sports, squash and basketball. Anyways he said clinically I am as strong as an ox, and there is no clinical weakness, and he said it's probably nothing to worry about. I agreed with him but... a week later and now my girlfriend is becoming worried since I still experience this weakness and apparently I shake a little bit while I sleep, or hold items (like a newspaper), if I keep busy I don't notice the weakness, and it's really only bad when I think about it or am hungry.

I kind of just keep waiting for it to go away one morning but the weakness feeling is always there. It has only hampered my day to day life in that my basketball shot is off and my arm gets tired pretty quickly.

My girlfriend did some research while at work and now has me all worried that it could be ALS or MS, and it doesnt help that I sometimes feel like I have a lump in my throat which started recently after I found out that it could be a symptom to ALS, I'm hoping its just my mind acting up and I tell myself the feeling is from my uvula touching my left tonsil, which it can be seen doing when I open my mouth to the mirror.

Anyways I'm only 22, and I know it would be crazy rare for me to have ALS but I'm wondering if these sound like the early stages of the disease, since a diagnosis wouldn't be until a few years down the line, and if there are some things I can do like exercises to slow its progression, or if I'm being crazy and it could just be either the stress of finishing university/ working a job which isn't in my field of study, or a virus of some kind.

Also I want to attribute my problem to my workplace, since I work in a paint store, lifting and mixing paint, and sometimes exposed to the paint fumes, although most of the stuff is closed, we only only it to add color to it. I checked out the safety standards for the store and some chemicals used in the paints have been known to cause cerebral/neuro disorders if exposed in LARGE quantities and over the LONG term, and the safety record shows that the concentration of airborne chemicals I'm exposed to is too minimal even to warrant wearing a mask.

Thank you for reading, I am in the midst of finding a new job where I can use my bio degree, so if it is the environment that should be remedied soon enough, and any comments would be greatly appreciated and would do lots to ease/educate my mind. I'm hoping I can tell my girlfriend not to worry and that I'll be able to be there for her later on.

Elliott
 
Hi Elliott-from what I have read your age is in your favor. Younger folks get MND but it is even more rare than the average incidence of ALS, and that is also rare. A lot of conditions mimic ALS. If your symptoms continue you could get a good neuro work-up. Many of the diseases that mimic ALS are treatable. Good luck and let us know how it goes! Cindy
 
Perhaps you need a sleep study to evaluate your symptoms since your girlfriend has noticed something unusual.

ALS - don't think so. No weakness - no ALS.

CJ
 
I think you can rule out ALS. Long before noticing weakness you would have had other symptoms. Weakness as you describe it does not come on like this from ALS.

Please don't try to self diagnose, sometimes the internet can be a persons worst enemy - we type in symptoms and out comes a WRONG diagnosis. Then we become convinced we have this disease.

Please work with your doctor on finding out what you really have.

Good Luck - relax and things will get better.
 
thank you all so much for answering so quickly. I know the internet can be a frightening thing sometimes. I was quite content thinking it would go away, but once I saw that I had similar symptoms to certain diseases I got scared and anxious.

Needless to say you have all eased my anxiety, I have scheduled an appointment with my doctor after the long weekend, to discuss this more, and I will suggest a sleeping analysis and see what he thinks.

One thing I neglected to mention was I also had blood work done during my last visit, to check for a typhoid problem. I have received no call back but I'm wondering if these tests are similar to booking specialist appointments and the results won't be available for like 6 weeks.

Elliott
 
Thyroid results should be available fairly quick.
 
Hi Elliott. Did you mean thyroid or typhoid? There is a whole lot of difference between the two.
AL.
 
ha I meant thyroid I believe, can both be checked for in the blood? I think typhoid is another kind of disease no?

Also I hope I'm not being paranoid and I know this inst really the board to talk about it, but I noticed my symptoms are similar to MS cases, since this is the second time I've had this feeling and it went away last April, and now around the same time (spring-summer) I am experiencing this feeling of weakness again. I'm just getting worried that it could be the early signs or an MS attack.

Elliott
 
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