rocmg
Distinguished member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2008
- Messages
- 389
- Reason
- PALS
- Country
- UK
- State
- N/A
- City
- N/A
dear all,
thanks for taking the time to read this.
i live in new york, originally from Ireland. My mum visits me twice a year in NY and this xmas I came home for an extended holiday. I'm worried my mum has ALS.
When she visited me in July she complained a little of slurred speech. i saw nothing wrong with her. she seemed fine to me but she obviously knew something was up. when she visited me again just before xmas (she came to take me home) I met her at the airport and she burst into tears. she couldn't cry and talk so we just stood there holding each other for ages and then she dried her eyes and we started to talk about what was wrong. she's very depressed and emotional. she speech was not bad but noticeably slurred -- as if she is talking with a cold or something.
i've missed out on so much of her life this last year while i've been at university in america. she told me she had been to see a neurologist who said she was fine and shouldn't worry about it -- to come back in 6 months. although he said if she wanted he could give her riluzole if she wanted it -- although he did not give her an ALS diagnosis. All the tests, brain scans etc seem to indicate normalcy and were inconclusive.
our family doctor says her speech problems could be the result of a virus that will take a year to dispel and for her speech to come back. but she is not a specialist so i'm not sure i trust her opinion.
she has no other symptoms that might suggest ALS. could this be the very early stages? i'm so scared and i'm not a strong enough person to be able to deal with this.
could the speech problem be owing to something else? when should one assume that they have ALS? Im sorry this is so disjointed but I need to talk to someone.
thanks for taking the time to read this.
i live in new york, originally from Ireland. My mum visits me twice a year in NY and this xmas I came home for an extended holiday. I'm worried my mum has ALS.
When she visited me in July she complained a little of slurred speech. i saw nothing wrong with her. she seemed fine to me but she obviously knew something was up. when she visited me again just before xmas (she came to take me home) I met her at the airport and she burst into tears. she couldn't cry and talk so we just stood there holding each other for ages and then she dried her eyes and we started to talk about what was wrong. she's very depressed and emotional. she speech was not bad but noticeably slurred -- as if she is talking with a cold or something.
i've missed out on so much of her life this last year while i've been at university in america. she told me she had been to see a neurologist who said she was fine and shouldn't worry about it -- to come back in 6 months. although he said if she wanted he could give her riluzole if she wanted it -- although he did not give her an ALS diagnosis. All the tests, brain scans etc seem to indicate normalcy and were inconclusive.
our family doctor says her speech problems could be the result of a virus that will take a year to dispel and for her speech to come back. but she is not a specialist so i'm not sure i trust her opinion.
she has no other symptoms that might suggest ALS. could this be the very early stages? i'm so scared and i'm not a strong enough person to be able to deal with this.
could the speech problem be owing to something else? when should one assume that they have ALS? Im sorry this is so disjointed but I need to talk to someone.