Many Symptoms

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sasquatchblues

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Hello everyone,

I am in my early 30s.

My symptoms started about 9 months ago and I have been working with my neurologist to figure out what is going on. Some of the symptoms I have seem to make me concerned about ALS, while others do not fit in line with what is typically mentioned. I am definitely confused as an MRI and blood work have not turned up anything.

I have had widespread twitching which is followed by tremors or shakiness. Even my sphincter has twitched on occasion. The tremors are the worst in my hands and when I put my thumb and index fingers in a certain position they shake uncontrollably. These fingers twitched often before the tremors worsened. In addition to the tremors, I have also begun to feel joint pain in my hands and the bones crack much more often than usual. Recently when looking at the speed at which I could tap my fingers together, the left side seems to be going a bit slower than the right now.

Some difficulty with breathing occurred in August of 2021 when I went on a carnival ride. I had been experiencing symptoms for about a month already, but the ride was difficult for me to cope with and it felt like my chest was being crushed. For about a week after I had breathing problems and almost passed out in a parked car with a sensation that felt like air hunger. I saw my doctor about this and an X-Ray found no abnormalities in my chest cavity. About a month after this I noticed that the corners of my mouth would leak saliva and wet my mask. Around the same time I also developed what I would describe as a lump only on the right side of my throat. The following weeks it felt like I had to constantly clear my throat due to an increase of mucus. My voice also seemed to change with a certain raspiness to it and feeling like my voice was coming more strongly on one side. My speech also seems to affected as certain word combinations will result in a jumble for me and I will pronounce a different sound than I intended. Some days I have a cough for no reason.

When I bend my torso, arms or legs in a certain position I begin to shake uncontrollably as well as if the muscles seem to be having a difficult time with the strain. When I tense up face muscles the muscles of my neck will often tremble and jump. There may also a slight unilateral Hoffman's on my right hand.

I have also experienced some pain, tingling, and burning sensations. Most notably I have these sharp stabbing pains which come and go. These will affect the tips of my fingers as well as my abdomen. I feels like someone is prodding me with a sharp needle in these instances. Burning sensations in my feet were present at first, but are rare now. In the fingers where I have a noticeable tremor I have felt a cold water-like sensation which I cannot explain. Some of this pain feels arthritic, such as the joint pain, but I also wonder I am experiencing more joint pain because the muscles that support them are deteriorating and putting more pressure on the joints. Certain hand positions are also painful for me such as make a table top (bending fingers at a 90 degree angle horizontally). I had tingling in my back for about 6 months which subsided, but I have also noticed that my limbs tend to go numb or fall asleep faster if I put any pressure on them. In the case of my right hand, when it falls asleep it will also curl in a rigid fashion.

All of these symptoms started about a week after my foot was run over by a forklift. I had that checked out in the emergency room, and was told that there were no broken bones, but they could not rule out hairline fractures as they told me it would be too early to see right after. For about a week I had a numb feeling in my foot. Looking at my foot now, it looks like it had been electrocuted as there are distinct patterns on the skin which look as if a nerves were damaged. After that week where I had my foot seemingly crushed I had developed some severe migraines with auras, pain behind the eyes, twitching and brain fog. For about 2-3 weeks I had difficulty reading and processing words. Another injury which might be relevant is when a hard-shell tent case hit my head after a coworker removed a support without first warning me. The day after I remembered that I had tingling in my spine which subsided after a day. This is the same tingling which came back the week after my foot was run over about 2 months on.

I have an EMG scheduled tomorrow and I am a bit worried as to what the results will be. I am not necessarily seeking feedback on my symptoms, I have been carrying this for a while and I am scared about the prospects of the results. I can keep people updated as to how the EMG goes tomorrow. I appreciate the time anyone has taken to read this as well.
 
Sorry for what you are going through.
This forum is for people to ask questions - you have posted a huge post then ended with you aren't asking anything.
Do update us after the EMG.
I hope it reassures you, as I don't hear a single ALS symptom in your descriptions.
ALS is a disease where nerves from the brain down to the muscles stop working.
You feeling completely normal, but suddenly you can't do things with whatever parts of the body are being affected.

That's completely different to what you are describing which is great.

It's best now to wait for the EMG results and update us then. I wish you the best.
 
I'm sorry for your troubles.It sounds like you might have some nerve damage from the foot and/or head trauma, which the EMG may support. However, I don't see any reason to worry about ALS.
 
Thank you both, I apologize. The question that I meant to ask was if ALS could be triggered by a severe injury?
 
No, it could not.
 
Notice I said ALS is a disease that starts in the brain, so a foot injury will never start this.
 
In fairness, though ALS ultimately affects neurons in the brain and spinal cord, a long-term history of trauma and environmental toxins may play a role in overall likelihood of disease, as we see with cancer, with much ongoing research exploring the process further.

However, that is a process of years, as with CTE in football/soccer and workplace/military exposure to toxins. The scenario of a couple of injuries in the last few months cannot relate.

In addition to possible nerve injury, there is often psychological trauma from incidents such as you experienced. These feelings, especially if unresolved, can spark physical consequences, so I would also consider an evaluation with a counselor.
 
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