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[Carolvh9]

I just got cramps in my good left foot and toes that wouldn't go away for about 15 minutes. Finally walking, rubbing them with pain relievers, taking ibuprofen and crying made them stop, but they're still feeling weird and any movement brings them back. That was my first symptom in my right toes 10 months ago. I heard a voice in my head telling me this was my body talking and it was going to kill me, starting with this leg. I believed it. It was my brain telling me I had ALS. Anybody who doesn't believe ALS kills people is in denial (what a great thing if you can manage it) or he/she doesn't have ALS. PLS maybe. But this site is for ALS sufferers. My original question: how many people kill themselves when they hear the diagnosis? Whaddyathink? Thanks, Carol

 

[Carolvh9]

Right now I'd disable my airbags if I knew how to do it. I don't have enuf pills that kill me. But I'd drive into a bridge abutment if I didn't have 6 GD airbags in my car.

 

[joelc]

Carol, please get some professional help. Anyone contemplating killing themselves needs help and that is no way to deal with an ALS diagnosis! You can have a rich and full life while living with ALS - it is your choice.

 

[crystalkk]

Carol,

Do you have any support, family or friends near that you can do things with to keep your mind off of the diagnosed. Please talk to someone.
Most of the Pals on the forum do say once the intial shock is over you do come to grips with it and try to enjoy what you can do not what you can't do. Support is very important and stress is really bad.

 

[Marjorie R. Wilcox]

Rick is a year and a half into his diagnosed. He suffers pretty much away from people who see it, but we know he has it. I can't imagine going to the neurologist in 3 months, and have him say that Rick needs a peg tube for feedings now because he can no longer swallow so.... let's just give up and die instead. I can't imagine a doctor saying that life isn't worth the surgery and dealing with the peg, because death is inevitable anyway.

I can't imagine that if the roles were reversed for the doctor and Rick, that the doctor would assume starving himself to death rather than getting the feeding tube. Neither can I imagine the doctor struggling to breathe and not bothering to get a vent. It is easy for someone to say..... "Just die." when you sit there looking like a perfectly normal healthy person otherwise!

So, person above, Carol, PLEASE stop talking death and doom and get on with living as long as you can! You know, death is going to happen for all of us. We never know what a day will bring. That rookie pitcher for the Angels, pitched a great game last night and died on the way home when he was hit by a drunk driver.

Two Sundays ago there was a respite worker for ARC in our usual Sunday School class
that wasn't there last Sunday. She, at a healthy age of 67 got a burst appendix and blood clots in her lungs that night..... and died... just like that.

I am upset to hear of you speak like you did. Find it in yourself to "get a grip" or go for mental health meds. You WILL do alright! We are here to let you vent, but I think you are in a serious mode that's
not at all good..... for you or anyone dealing with you.

Yes, I have heard of some who took their lives, or at least didn't take means to save it. But I can only feel
that that was a very sad state of affairs. Those loved ones that remain want to give you comfort and ease
you on with support and dignity.

Sorry to be so long winded tonight. It's been a hard day with Rick getting another antibiotic for a bacterial infection in his lungs.

 

[hopingforcure]

Please Carole,
take a good deep breath, and maybe if you just take one peice of the puzzle at a time, you will not be as overwhelmed and depressed, Please relax and try to come on board and share info about your family, your animals, we care, ALS is only on part of your life. The pet's of yours love you healthy or sick.. Care groups are avaliable when needed. Most of all, progression is variable and yours could be slow...