muscle weakness in hands an early symptom?

[jay1991]

Hello everyone. I realize this is going to be all over the place but my fear/anxiety couldnt stop me from asking. Ive been battling flu like symptoms(chills/fatigue)for about 8 days but the recent combination of consistent finger twitching for an entire day and atrophy(making a claw when relaxed) is terryfying me. Theres also a slight inflamation near the wrist/lower forearm area.Is the fact the symptoms are in both hands a bad thing or am i just delusional? Any response would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jay1991]

PS:I'm going to the doctor later on today but I had to get this out of my system considering that I don't expect to actually see a neurologist for atleast a month or so. My biggest fear comes from the fact that my wisdom tooth coming in caused a possible abscess in my mouth that went untreated(dumb I know). The pain has been long gone but I'm realizing that it could have caused an infection that would have certainly spread by now(which I thought was the flu a week ago).

My mother says the chances are that it's nothing serious and laughed at the idea of a 21 year old black male getting ALS but this potential neurological problem is planting all types of unwanted seeds to my anxiety. I'm almost ashamed that I posted this here instead of a BFS or CTS forum...

 

[ottawa girl]

Speaking for myself, I had very intermittent cramps in my left had for over a year before seeking medical advice. These painful spasm would occur if I carried a plastic bag with groceries too long, held the steering wheel too long etc. I had put it down to arthritis. When it became clear, I was dropping things (small items like coins just seemed to wash out of my hand) and no longer able to button shirts - I visited my GP. The atrophy (webbed hand look) became apparent MANY months later. The weakness (items getting heavier) became apparent MANY months later - not in 8days.

Nothing you describe is remotely similar to my experience or first hand (pun intended) knowledge of ALS.

Go to your GP. Get your flu treated and have them look at your hand. (twitches are most often benign).

 

[jay1991]

Not sure if my SECOND post went through but I wanted to add a few more details.

My mother completely shot down the idea of ALS symptoms...particularly coming from a 21 year old black male. I had The biggest reason I'm worried came from an untreated mouth abscess earlier this year when my wisdom tooth came in and I'm afraid that a possible infection could be the cause of my current issues. My mom says that the overall body chills coming and going throughout the week(particularly at night) are flu symptoms but the constant twitching leads me to believe that it's BFS or CTS at the very least and the possible hand atrophy only plants more seeds to my anxiety.

 

[Ms. Pie]

Sounds like a virus and anxiety to me. What does your GP say?

 

[momap53]

What brought you to an ALS site?

Was it the finger twitching? Have you read all of the sticky notes? There is an excellent commentary on Anxiety.

It's been said over and over here on the forums that weakness precedes atrophy. Onset of ALS is not sudden.

What is your GP telling you?

 

[jay1991]

What brought you to an ALS site?

Was it the finger twitching? Have you read all of the sticky notes? There is an excellent commentary on Anxiety.

It's been said over and over here on the forums that weakness precedes atrophy. Onset of ALS is not sudden.

What is your GP telling you?

I went to the doctor this morning and told him my symptoms but didn't specifically mention ALS so I wouldn't come across as a total hypochondriac. My blood work came out normal as did the results of my CT scan of my brain and X-rays of my wrist/hand. The doctor also said that the strength in my fingers was fine(big relief considering the sticked threads that I just read on here)and that it's probably just a viral infection combined with anxiety.

The continuing of the hand twitching makes me want to schedule an MRI but my parents are saying that going through that would only increase my stress level and that there isn't much the doctors can do for nerve damage regardless of if it's a trapped nerve or something more serious.

 

[Tokahfang]

Well, they are probably right about your stress level. In some psychosomatic disorders the more tests you take and the more trouble they are, the harder your mind "digs in" and gets stubborn about this illness it's decided to have. So unless the symptom persists for a while (3 months, at least), don't put yourself through that. But look, it's not about being delusional or not. The mind causes real, not imagined symptoms. Someone who is disabled by anxiety is still disabled. A person with a psychosomatic symptom from something like anxiety isn't faking it, isn't imagining it, and did nothing to cause it. They just don't have a problem that docs with knives and electric needle machines can diagnose or fix, and instead have one that psychotherapy might help or could even go away on it's own.

So give things time. Set a date to look at medical stuff again in regards to your hand 3 to 6 months in the future, then don't look anything up, or read about it, or do anything about it until that date. Go be a 21 year old - college, work, whatever you're doing right now. If it's still there when your date comes, then escalate your investigation.

 

[notme]

No, nerve damage can be repaired, but the doc would have noticed something. Give it some time anfpd see if it improves on its own.

 

[Rami]

You know sometimes the flu is just the flu.

Also when you get the flu and its pesky fever your perspire a lot and that depletes your Body of sodium among other things and this causes a imbalance. that may cause hypoatremia which can present with symptoms like muscle cramps and twitches.