LeifArron
New member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2015
- Messages
- 3
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- Pennsylvania
- City
- Reading
Hi, my name is Leif and I'm a 26 year old male.
I need help desperately, so if you're reading this, wherever and whoever you are: thank you.
I'll try to make this as brief as possible, but I apologize if it's not too well written. Like most people on here, I've been under a lot of stress lately and feel like I'm losing control.
It is now January 24, 2015. Back in late August I began to notice my right arm felt strange. It wasn't painful, nor numb or tingly necessarily. The best way I could describe it is as a body part that's "waking up" from having been asleep. You know, the feeling your foot might get just as the blood is rushing back into it. I also noticed two or three pea-sized lumps on my right bicep at this time.
That feeling came and went all the way up to late December, just around Christmas, so about 4 months. Then, out of the blue, that feeling turned to severe pain and cramping. I thought about going to the ER, but after a few hours the pain subsided. This happened again several times over the next week.
I finally went to the Doctor around January 6 or 7. They said it was likely a pinched nerve. I got an X-ray of my neck and an ultrasound of those pea-sized lumps. Everything came back fine. No disc or vertebrae issues and no cancerous masses. I was then sent for Physical Therapy if the neck and arms.
Just after this Dr. Appointment, that strange feeling and pain in my arm jumped into my neck, shoulders, and a few days later into my right leg, then in another few days into my left leg. Within the course of the last 3 weeks I have been dealing with intermittent pain (sometimes a cramping pain, but more often than not it's a stabbing or burning pain). I especially get the stabbing feeling at the base of my throat and in my biceps.
I went to the Physical Therapist who ran an evaluation on me. She was very thorough and listened to my complaints of symptoms. She checked my reflexes which were terrible (they never had been in the past), and she said I had decent and pretty equal strength on both sides of my body, but only in explosive bursts. I had no durability (I couldn't hold my arms up over my head for even a few seconds without feeling exhausted). The PT then pretty much told me I likely do not have a pinched nerve, and that I need to go back to the Dr. ASAP, which I did.
In the last 3 weeks I also have whole body fatigue and fasculations all over my body. I get numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, and I feel like foot drop is coming on, as I find it hard to lift both feet off the ground at times. Granted, I passed all the Dr.'s tests for balance and coordination (walking in a line, walking on heels/toes etc).
I can't eat right, I barely get any sleep. Some nights I wake up from that deep stabbing pain, others I just can't sleep. I've always had anxiety but it feels like it's never felt before. I know this is probably not the case, but it feels like I am dying.
I just got the results of my blood work, which came back as High Red Blood Cell Count, Low Protein. No lyme or thyroid or any other issues. I'm extremely scared Low Protein means my muscles are wasting, but could it just be because I haven't been eating as well the past few days? Sometimes my stomach does get that primal hunger feeling, but even when I force myself to eat something good, I usually get upset stomach then have diarrhea.
I have an EMG on Monday (2 days away) and a brain MRI coming up as well which I hope shed light on my situation, but in the mean time I'm so worried because it's becoming extremely difficult to continue working. My home life (married) is becoming more stressful because my wife has to deal with my worry and panic.
If you have any idea what might be going on, or even the slightest bit of insight as to what might cause my symptoms or a high RBC count and low protein count in my blood, please share. I know it could probably be many things, but If I could just get a general sense from the ALS community it'd be a great help.
I should also add that I have had no Bulbar-onset issues thus far, as speech and swallowing seem normal, although I do feel like in struggling for breath at times, and I'm scared these symptoms will soon begin.
Sorry for the long post. That's all. Thank you and god bless anybody afflicted with or caring for anyone with this terrible disease.
I need help desperately, so if you're reading this, wherever and whoever you are: thank you.
I'll try to make this as brief as possible, but I apologize if it's not too well written. Like most people on here, I've been under a lot of stress lately and feel like I'm losing control.
It is now January 24, 2015. Back in late August I began to notice my right arm felt strange. It wasn't painful, nor numb or tingly necessarily. The best way I could describe it is as a body part that's "waking up" from having been asleep. You know, the feeling your foot might get just as the blood is rushing back into it. I also noticed two or three pea-sized lumps on my right bicep at this time.
That feeling came and went all the way up to late December, just around Christmas, so about 4 months. Then, out of the blue, that feeling turned to severe pain and cramping. I thought about going to the ER, but after a few hours the pain subsided. This happened again several times over the next week.
I finally went to the Doctor around January 6 or 7. They said it was likely a pinched nerve. I got an X-ray of my neck and an ultrasound of those pea-sized lumps. Everything came back fine. No disc or vertebrae issues and no cancerous masses. I was then sent for Physical Therapy if the neck and arms.
Just after this Dr. Appointment, that strange feeling and pain in my arm jumped into my neck, shoulders, and a few days later into my right leg, then in another few days into my left leg. Within the course of the last 3 weeks I have been dealing with intermittent pain (sometimes a cramping pain, but more often than not it's a stabbing or burning pain). I especially get the stabbing feeling at the base of my throat and in my biceps.
I went to the Physical Therapist who ran an evaluation on me. She was very thorough and listened to my complaints of symptoms. She checked my reflexes which were terrible (they never had been in the past), and she said I had decent and pretty equal strength on both sides of my body, but only in explosive bursts. I had no durability (I couldn't hold my arms up over my head for even a few seconds without feeling exhausted). The PT then pretty much told me I likely do not have a pinched nerve, and that I need to go back to the Dr. ASAP, which I did.
In the last 3 weeks I also have whole body fatigue and fasculations all over my body. I get numbness and tingling in my hands and feet, and I feel like foot drop is coming on, as I find it hard to lift both feet off the ground at times. Granted, I passed all the Dr.'s tests for balance and coordination (walking in a line, walking on heels/toes etc).
I can't eat right, I barely get any sleep. Some nights I wake up from that deep stabbing pain, others I just can't sleep. I've always had anxiety but it feels like it's never felt before. I know this is probably not the case, but it feels like I am dying.
I just got the results of my blood work, which came back as High Red Blood Cell Count, Low Protein. No lyme or thyroid or any other issues. I'm extremely scared Low Protein means my muscles are wasting, but could it just be because I haven't been eating as well the past few days? Sometimes my stomach does get that primal hunger feeling, but even when I force myself to eat something good, I usually get upset stomach then have diarrhea.
I have an EMG on Monday (2 days away) and a brain MRI coming up as well which I hope shed light on my situation, but in the mean time I'm so worried because it's becoming extremely difficult to continue working. My home life (married) is becoming more stressful because my wife has to deal with my worry and panic.
If you have any idea what might be going on, or even the slightest bit of insight as to what might cause my symptoms or a high RBC count and low protein count in my blood, please share. I know it could probably be many things, but If I could just get a general sense from the ALS community it'd be a great help.
I should also add that I have had no Bulbar-onset issues thus far, as speech and swallowing seem normal, although I do feel like in struggling for breath at times, and I'm scared these symptoms will soon begin.
Sorry for the long post. That's all. Thank you and god bless anybody afflicted with or caring for anyone with this terrible disease.
