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Lindoglvr

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Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Messages
26
Reason
Learn about ALS
Country
US
State
VA
City
Newport News
Hello all,

I'm new to this board. A little about me, I'm a speech-language pathologist. I have had on and off neurological symptoms for the past 2 years w/o a diagnosis. I just had a repeat MRI of my spine and brain and a MRA of my head and neck. My vessels are fine. My brain is normal.

Since my last MRI of the spine, I now have "thinning of the spinal cord" which indicates atrophy. Combined with other symptoms, I now think I may have a motor neuron disease, whereas before I thought maybe it was MS since other things had been ruled out, such as lupus, lymes, vasculatides, sjogren's, sarcoidosis, etc.

Basically, my symptoms have been as follows:

Two years ago, tingling in my shoulder blade, tripping episodes, weakness in my legs, spasms in my legs, dysarthria (motor speech problems) and a hyperactive gag reflex, on and off numbness in my left hand with some clumsiness in both hands at times.

Over the years, I've had more facial symptoms, such as tingling along my trigeminal nerve and eye twitches. More tripping episodes, more weakness in the extremeties, especially my legs, more numbness and clumsiness in my right hand.

Last year, my neuro exam showed hypereflexia on the left side.

Lately I've had more spasms, especially in my lower back, but throughout my back, my ribs, trembling in my arms like when I try to push myself up from bed, and overall the feeling like my legs and arms are spaghetti, like I just did a bunch of pushups or got off a stairmaster or something.

The hyperreflexia indicates upper motor neuron involvment and the symptoms in my legs and arms indicate lower neuron involvement.

I see my neuro again on the 18th. I'm sure he'll want to repeat evoked potentials and EMGs.

Anyhow, trying not to self-diagnose, being in the medical field and all that, but it is starting to point to a MND to me.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks for your time. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Linda
 
Hi Linda and welcome. Have you had NCV tests as well as the EMG? They are both used in a diagnosis of MND. While you do have some symptoms of MND it doesn't sound conclusive to me. Not that I'm a doctor and you definitely need more testing . It's a wait and see program with most MND's. Take care. AL.
 
Hi Al,

Thanks for the reply. I had EPs and EMG two years ago. I suppose I will be having repeats soon and that will tell the tell. If you look at the post under Paradox's post on EMG results, I went into some other detail on stuff.

I am hoping I am wrong and I don't have ALS. ALS totally sucks and I'd rather have MS. I'm thinking of getting more life insurance and things like that before a diagnosis either way, so no matter what, my family hopefully won't be stuck with any kind of bills on my part.

I'll let you know what happens. Also, I tried to IM you under yahoo, so don't be surprised when you have a new person asking for acceptance!

Linda
 
No problem I checked it at 206am and no request was there but yahoo seems to be run by a bunch of Yahoo's and take forever to perform some tasks. I'll check again tomorrow. AL.
 
What Is Wrong With My Mental Health?

Hello my name is krista and i have been having alot of questions about my mental health lately. well lets just get to my symptoms hahaha

-i feel like i want to injure myself for no reason
-i always feel like someone is out to get me
-i lose my temper easily
-i have very low self esteme,i always get my feelings hurt to easily
-i always feel like there is something wrong with me

please help me ASAP! this is really important. i feel as if i am losing my mind. please help
~krista
 
Hey Linda. Go back to the yahoo icon. I changed my user name. That one was old. Maybe that's why I didn't get the request. AL.
 
Hi Krista. Not sure if you noticed that this is a support forum for ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Have you got a diagnosis of this? If so I could see you having some feelings of anxiety, but if not maybe you had better look for a forum dealing with the issues you are describing. We aren't really equipped to get into stuff like that. If you think you want to hurt yourself could you please go to the nearest hospital and ask for help. There are trained professionals there that will help. Good luck. AL.
 
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