Doglady
Distinguished member
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2018
- Messages
- 218
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 04/2018
- Country
- US
- State
- MN
- City
- Minneapolis
Hello all!
It's certainly great to be a part of this group of experts - and I do appreciate all the helpful advice I've received and read in past messages on various topics. The knowledge and wisdom here is awesome and I've learned a lot! So, where else would I go when I can't figure something out? ----- I've have a hard time answering the question about when my ALS symptoms actually started so throwing this out here to see what others may think. I'd really like to have a good answer! Firstly, I was diagnosed 8 months ago at age 69 with limb onset ALS after drop foot and many falls over the previous year. Other than ALS I have always been healthy and have had no serious health problems. That's the simple part.
The confusing part in determining onset is that for about 10 years prior to diagnosis I had a few vague ALS-like symptoms. First was a weak ankle on my right leg- the one ALS is attacking first causing falls or sudden collapses with increasing frequency. Secondly, I'm a dog person (hence, my log-in name) and remember noticing that I was not able to walk as fast as before or as others when we were out and about on hikes with our dogs. It seemed like a general weakness and I noticed some exhaustion after many activities, such as gardening. I really paid no attention to it except to keep pushing myself to stay active and try to keep in shape. I basically attributed it to age. Then, thirdly, about 3-4 years before diagnosis I started to have nightly leg cramps - so started taking magnesium which only helped some. Again, thought nothing of it because I had experienced nocturnal leg cramps since childhood. They had even hospitalized me for them at the age of 4 but since then it was sporadic. (I do think this was a co-incidence.)
When did my symptoms of ALS start??? Do these three sets of weird symptoms; ankle weakness and falls, general weakness and leg cramps fit in with any known pattern in the early progression of ALS? In some ways, there are times when I think I've always had ALS - crazy, right?
Thanks, folks!!!
Mary
It's certainly great to be a part of this group of experts - and I do appreciate all the helpful advice I've received and read in past messages on various topics. The knowledge and wisdom here is awesome and I've learned a lot! So, where else would I go when I can't figure something out? ----- I've have a hard time answering the question about when my ALS symptoms actually started so throwing this out here to see what others may think. I'd really like to have a good answer! Firstly, I was diagnosed 8 months ago at age 69 with limb onset ALS after drop foot and many falls over the previous year. Other than ALS I have always been healthy and have had no serious health problems. That's the simple part.
The confusing part in determining onset is that for about 10 years prior to diagnosis I had a few vague ALS-like symptoms. First was a weak ankle on my right leg- the one ALS is attacking first causing falls or sudden collapses with increasing frequency. Secondly, I'm a dog person (hence, my log-in name) and remember noticing that I was not able to walk as fast as before or as others when we were out and about on hikes with our dogs. It seemed like a general weakness and I noticed some exhaustion after many activities, such as gardening. I really paid no attention to it except to keep pushing myself to stay active and try to keep in shape. I basically attributed it to age. Then, thirdly, about 3-4 years before diagnosis I started to have nightly leg cramps - so started taking magnesium which only helped some. Again, thought nothing of it because I had experienced nocturnal leg cramps since childhood. They had even hospitalized me for them at the age of 4 but since then it was sporadic. (I do think this was a co-incidence.)
When did my symptoms of ALS start??? Do these three sets of weird symptoms; ankle weakness and falls, general weakness and leg cramps fit in with any known pattern in the early progression of ALS? In some ways, there are times when I think I've always had ALS - crazy, right?
Thanks, folks!!!
Mary