DMHltd
Member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2008
- Messages
- 20
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- Iowa
- City
- Des Moines
I've spent most of the afternoon and evening reading posts on this site and first I want to say that it's obvious there are a lot of caring people here. I've been inspired, saddened, gladdened, and now emboldened enough to make this post. I'm a 61 (today) year old male with high BP, type II diabetes, GERD, gastric polips, gynecomastia, overweight (or under tall) 
and drink to much. However it's no fun to drink when you are scared sick. I don't exactly know when the fascics started. I know back in July 07 I had a couple of days when my left thumb started twitching toward my index finger. I had just seen on TV how Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's started with a finger twitch so I thought "Oh Boy, Here we go". I admit to being a cyberchonriac. Every time I get a symptom I'm on the net and convinced I have a life threatening disease. Then I started getting fascics in the arch (what there is of it since I have flat feet) of my left foot. I've always had some tingling in the feet and coldness which I atribituted to the diabetes and I thought that might be the cause. It wasn't painful so I ignored it. Then I started to see them in my right arch. These were slow and sometimes would cause my toe to move. Sometimes they wouldn't twitch but just tighten for a while. When a very rapid twitch occurred nearly all evening just to the left of my right knee I started surfing the net. About this time I started getting pins and needles, what I now know as Paresthesia. At different points and different times throughout my body. These were single pin points not multiple pins and needles like when your hand goes to sleep and wakes up. I've also had feelings of something clawling on my skin at times or as if I just walked through a cob web and got it on my face. I finally went to see my GP in December 2007 and he refered me to a neurologist. The appointment is on January 18th. As I read in posts and other thinks on the net I get ups and downs. "Hey I don't have that, so I might be OK", "Oh no, that's exactly what I have, I'm done". I didn't have any weakness and I read that fascics without weaknesss was not a diagnosis of ALS. What do you know the next day I started feeling weak in the knees and today just talking on the cell phone made my arm tired. That really freaked me out such that I tried to make an earlier appointment fearing that every day mattered. Of course from reading the posts I won't know anything until a prolonged period of testing. I realize that the fact that everyone presents differently or exhibits "some" of the same symptoms but maybe not in the same order, makes it hard for even the Doctors to figure anything out. I did call the local ALS organization and asked if they had heard of the neurologist and they said yes he was a good Dr and had made some referrals to them. Anyway sorry for the verbose post but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. P.S. excuse my typing I also have brain fade and dyslexic fingers.
and drink to much. However it's no fun to drink when you are scared sick. I don't exactly know when the fascics started. I know back in July 07 I had a couple of days when my left thumb started twitching toward my index finger. I had just seen on TV how Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's started with a finger twitch so I thought "Oh Boy, Here we go". I admit to being a cyberchonriac. Every time I get a symptom I'm on the net and convinced I have a life threatening disease. Then I started getting fascics in the arch (what there is of it since I have flat feet) of my left foot. I've always had some tingling in the feet and coldness which I atribituted to the diabetes and I thought that might be the cause. It wasn't painful so I ignored it. Then I started to see them in my right arch. These were slow and sometimes would cause my toe to move. Sometimes they wouldn't twitch but just tighten for a while. When a very rapid twitch occurred nearly all evening just to the left of my right knee I started surfing the net. About this time I started getting pins and needles, what I now know as Paresthesia. At different points and different times throughout my body. These were single pin points not multiple pins and needles like when your hand goes to sleep and wakes up. I've also had feelings of something clawling on my skin at times or as if I just walked through a cob web and got it on my face. I finally went to see my GP in December 2007 and he refered me to a neurologist. The appointment is on January 18th. As I read in posts and other thinks on the net I get ups and downs. "Hey I don't have that, so I might be OK", "Oh no, that's exactly what I have, I'm done". I didn't have any weakness and I read that fascics without weaknesss was not a diagnosis of ALS. What do you know the next day I started feeling weak in the knees and today just talking on the cell phone made my arm tired. That really freaked me out such that I tried to make an earlier appointment fearing that every day mattered. Of course from reading the posts I won't know anything until a prolonged period of testing. I realize that the fact that everyone presents differently or exhibits "some" of the same symptoms but maybe not in the same order, makes it hard for even the Doctors to figure anything out. I did call the local ALS organization and asked if they had heard of the neurologist and they said yes he was a good Dr and had made some referrals to them. Anyway sorry for the verbose post but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. P.S. excuse my typing I also have brain fade and dyslexic fingers.
