Mike3rdbase
New member
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2016
- Messages
- 1
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- WI
- City
- Madison
A bit of background as you’ll probably wonder why I’m posting in an ALS forum:
31 year old male. Prior to all this I was an extremely fit, high-level competitive cyclist with few health concerns. At the end of Nov. 2015 I began to have severe gastrointestinal issue (severe cramping, LOUD noises, small yellow stools). Between the beginning of December and end early January I was sent for an endoscopy, colonoscopy and abdominal CT Scan, in addition to a full CBC, metabolic screening, Thyroid screening, celiac testing & H. Pylori testing. The only thing that came up on the bloodwork was a low MCV value of 79, where std. range is 80-120, so not too low per the doctors. This triggered tests for iron deficiency anemia, but the result was negative. Their best guess was maybe I had a virus. With each negative result and more and more pain in my GI tract, I slowly began to develop severe anxiety and was extremely stressed. I dropped 10 lbs from my already small frame and my sleep suffered greatly. I developed health anxiety for the first time in my life during this period and was prescribed Zoloft and Ativan.
Around mid-January I visited my sports chiropractor because I was getting very stiff muscles in my shins, feet, hands and I had a really sore neck. He also felt my stomach muscles and noted that my Ileocecal valve had a lot of knotting around it. He did some very painful soft tissue manipulation of the area over two sessions and the stomach issues almost immediately resolved. Maybe a coincidence, maybe he was on to something. Hard to say, but it was the only thing that even remotely helped.
Post-stomach issues, my neck and other muscles were still quite stiff and not responding like normal to adjustments. About a day post-stomach issues my left pinky-side palm (palmaris brevis?) began to contract involuntarily. Over the course of a several days I began to develop body wide twitching & sudden jerks. I visited my doctor again who was not concerned and told me to just stop the Zoloft & Ativan. A wait and see approach. 2 weeks went by and twitching got worse (progressed to face & tongue) and I was having painful cramps now in my feet. The doctor prescribed Flexril at bed time to help get my sleep back on track and check back in 2 weeks.
4-days into the Flexril I developed fairly symmetrical fatigue/weakness in both quads and shoulder muscles. I could no longer complete light body-weight exercises, yoga or even walk down stairs without my legs and arms shaking wildly 5 minutes into the workout. My legs and shoulders are among the strongest muscles in my body due to how much time I spend on the bike so I grew concerned. Even lifting myself off my back to rollover in bed my muscles shake a lot. I checked back in with my doctor about a referral to a neuro and he just wants me to come in for another office visit and doesn’t want to entertain an neuro referral at this time.
I have also tried alternative supplements on the recommendation of my sports chrio – Vitamin D, Magnesium, Calcium, Coenzyme Q10, CuraMed and fish oil, to no avail. I do have a very positive chvostek sign when tapping my cheek, which is where the calcium came in. Unfortunately nothing has really worked. I have switched from coffee to herbal tea, and have been gluten free and dairy free for about 6 weeks now.
From a stress perspective, I began seeing a therapist at the beginning of January who has helped me get a control on my anxiety through mindfulness meditation, moving meditation like yoga and I started reading a health anxiety book. Those 3 things combined have got me back to a fairly normal routine the past 3 weeks.
I can live with the twitching but the muscle fatigue is very concerning to me. I’m an incredibly fit individual and suddenly I can’t complete a beginner’s yoga class without extreme shaking and post-workout soreness. I’m not in the camp that I believe without a doubt I have ALS. It’s just a distant concern. But this membership is very knowledgeable on other things that can cause these symptoms and more active than other boards. Any thoughts on the symptoms?
Mike
31 year old male. Prior to all this I was an extremely fit, high-level competitive cyclist with few health concerns. At the end of Nov. 2015 I began to have severe gastrointestinal issue (severe cramping, LOUD noises, small yellow stools). Between the beginning of December and end early January I was sent for an endoscopy, colonoscopy and abdominal CT Scan, in addition to a full CBC, metabolic screening, Thyroid screening, celiac testing & H. Pylori testing. The only thing that came up on the bloodwork was a low MCV value of 79, where std. range is 80-120, so not too low per the doctors. This triggered tests for iron deficiency anemia, but the result was negative. Their best guess was maybe I had a virus. With each negative result and more and more pain in my GI tract, I slowly began to develop severe anxiety and was extremely stressed. I dropped 10 lbs from my already small frame and my sleep suffered greatly. I developed health anxiety for the first time in my life during this period and was prescribed Zoloft and Ativan.
Around mid-January I visited my sports chiropractor because I was getting very stiff muscles in my shins, feet, hands and I had a really sore neck. He also felt my stomach muscles and noted that my Ileocecal valve had a lot of knotting around it. He did some very painful soft tissue manipulation of the area over two sessions and the stomach issues almost immediately resolved. Maybe a coincidence, maybe he was on to something. Hard to say, but it was the only thing that even remotely helped.
Post-stomach issues, my neck and other muscles were still quite stiff and not responding like normal to adjustments. About a day post-stomach issues my left pinky-side palm (palmaris brevis?) began to contract involuntarily. Over the course of a several days I began to develop body wide twitching & sudden jerks. I visited my doctor again who was not concerned and told me to just stop the Zoloft & Ativan. A wait and see approach. 2 weeks went by and twitching got worse (progressed to face & tongue) and I was having painful cramps now in my feet. The doctor prescribed Flexril at bed time to help get my sleep back on track and check back in 2 weeks.
4-days into the Flexril I developed fairly symmetrical fatigue/weakness in both quads and shoulder muscles. I could no longer complete light body-weight exercises, yoga or even walk down stairs without my legs and arms shaking wildly 5 minutes into the workout. My legs and shoulders are among the strongest muscles in my body due to how much time I spend on the bike so I grew concerned. Even lifting myself off my back to rollover in bed my muscles shake a lot. I checked back in with my doctor about a referral to a neuro and he just wants me to come in for another office visit and doesn’t want to entertain an neuro referral at this time.
I have also tried alternative supplements on the recommendation of my sports chrio – Vitamin D, Magnesium, Calcium, Coenzyme Q10, CuraMed and fish oil, to no avail. I do have a very positive chvostek sign when tapping my cheek, which is where the calcium came in. Unfortunately nothing has really worked. I have switched from coffee to herbal tea, and have been gluten free and dairy free for about 6 weeks now.
From a stress perspective, I began seeing a therapist at the beginning of January who has helped me get a control on my anxiety through mindfulness meditation, moving meditation like yoga and I started reading a health anxiety book. Those 3 things combined have got me back to a fairly normal routine the past 3 weeks.
I can live with the twitching but the muscle fatigue is very concerning to me. I’m an incredibly fit individual and suddenly I can’t complete a beginner’s yoga class without extreme shaking and post-workout soreness. I’m not in the camp that I believe without a doubt I have ALS. It’s just a distant concern. But this membership is very knowledgeable on other things that can cause these symptoms and more active than other boards. Any thoughts on the symptoms?
Mike
