michelley262003
New member
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2022
- Messages
- 7
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
- City
- San Diego
Hi all,
I was hoping to weigh in on some of your all knowledge.
A little about myself: 36F, excellent health, thin, athletic, rarely sick but lots of previous injuries due to being athletic. I believe it is a perfect storm of my injuries that has lead me here, but I really do need some reassurance. Note: I am seeing my GP on Monday. Until then, my mind has just brought me here.
Background- injuries and such
1) In 2002 I hurt my back in a soccer injury. I was 17 and it was clearly an overuse injury and the perfect/unfortunate movement of my body. Basically I twisted wrong and herniated an already bulging disc in my back. The result was an MRI that revealed a bulging disc at L5/S1. I had horrible intractable pain radiating down from my sciatic nerve to my pinky toes. I had surgery and I was good as new/returned to sports. Went on to play D1 soccer. Had a few instances of back pain/swelling but overall pretty good.
2) In 2019 I was laying on the couch and while stretching I twisted my neck and heard a loud pop. The result was immediate pain in my neck and pain that radiated all the way down my right arm. I believe from my preliminary research it could be radial nerve pain.
3) I believe I have started to possibly have developed carpal tunnel as well. I have pain in my hands and weakness when I wake up that generally goes away.
4) I had a baby in January which I know can contribute to swelling which might contribute to my symptoms
5) I had an injury to my right hand-dog bite to hand- not sure how much that might be contributing to my symptoms.
Given that background I want to share some things I have been feeling that to me feel off
1) I have had pain in my neck radiating from that initial injury down into my right hand. The neck pain is worse at night and radiates into my shoulder and down my arm. It is somewhat relieved by stretching. It hurts most when I push my head back.
2) I have recently started to experience pain in my right forearm. This is on and off again pain that feels almost like my muscles are quickly fatiguing and then get very sore. It was really bad last night but not so bad tonight
3) I have been having fasiculations in my left calf. I understand these could be nothing, and most likely are. But I want to mention that I feel them most profoundly in my left calf. This might be because of my back injury and a possibly reinjury of my back, overuse (I have just started back into working out/playing soccer after a 2 year hiatus).
4) My toes on my left foot feel funny. Like I need to wiggle them. Almost like they almost feel numb but still have feeling.
5) Both pinkies on both hands feel numb and tingly
6) My left calf is smaller due to a bone I broke in my left leg when I was 10 that crossed the growth plate resulting in my left leg being slightly shorter than the right. I also have asymmetrical muscle development in my left back due to the leg injury and subsequent back injury. This was initially noticed by my GP in 2016 on routine physical.
7) I have some joint pain in my left middle finger (no known injury)
8) I have lost weight- but have been actively dieting due to pregnancy weight gain and have gone from 170 to 125 in four months. My partner has mentioned that my arms do look thinner than before I was pregnant.
9) My right hand feels stiffer than my left hand. Not to the point that I can not move it, but just stiffer. This might be because of the dog bite. Or something else?
10) My voice feels more strained and my throat feels scratchy and painful
11) I sleep poorly
What I don't have:
No atrophy in muscles that I can see
No weakness other than when I wake up in the morning and my hands are still and sore
My pincher grasps are intact/ hand strength seems normal
I can bend and move all of my appendages
I know I must sound crazy. I know I am asking a lot out of this community. But I did recently have a friend who was diagnosed with ALS, so it is on the fore front of my mind. My mother has a lot of mental health issues so im not sure if this is true or not but she also claims to have ALS so again, I hear about ALS a lot and so its on my mind. Here are the questions I have.
1) Fasiculations. I am very confused. How would I know if my fasiculations in my left calf are something to be concerned about? Is it just that fasiculations must be combined with atrophy/muscle weakness to be considered pathological?
2) I know I am attributing a lot of these symptoms to previous injury. Am I being overly positive? Or should I be looking more critically at each one of these symptoms?
3) I am seeing the doctor on Monday. I need to get my thyroid checked out as I am currently taking 25mg of Levothyroxine and need to undergo routine blood draw. But should I be concerned about these fasiculations, in comb with the other symptoms I am experiencing?
4) Should I push for additional blood work - B12, Mag etc. ?
5) Is there anything I can do to make the fasiculations go away if this is not ALS? Again, I really doubt I have ALS. But I just need your reassurance.
I was hoping to weigh in on some of your all knowledge.
A little about myself: 36F, excellent health, thin, athletic, rarely sick but lots of previous injuries due to being athletic. I believe it is a perfect storm of my injuries that has lead me here, but I really do need some reassurance. Note: I am seeing my GP on Monday. Until then, my mind has just brought me here.
Background- injuries and such
1) In 2002 I hurt my back in a soccer injury. I was 17 and it was clearly an overuse injury and the perfect/unfortunate movement of my body. Basically I twisted wrong and herniated an already bulging disc in my back. The result was an MRI that revealed a bulging disc at L5/S1. I had horrible intractable pain radiating down from my sciatic nerve to my pinky toes. I had surgery and I was good as new/returned to sports. Went on to play D1 soccer. Had a few instances of back pain/swelling but overall pretty good.
2) In 2019 I was laying on the couch and while stretching I twisted my neck and heard a loud pop. The result was immediate pain in my neck and pain that radiated all the way down my right arm. I believe from my preliminary research it could be radial nerve pain.
3) I believe I have started to possibly have developed carpal tunnel as well. I have pain in my hands and weakness when I wake up that generally goes away.
4) I had a baby in January which I know can contribute to swelling which might contribute to my symptoms
5) I had an injury to my right hand-dog bite to hand- not sure how much that might be contributing to my symptoms.
Given that background I want to share some things I have been feeling that to me feel off
1) I have had pain in my neck radiating from that initial injury down into my right hand. The neck pain is worse at night and radiates into my shoulder and down my arm. It is somewhat relieved by stretching. It hurts most when I push my head back.
2) I have recently started to experience pain in my right forearm. This is on and off again pain that feels almost like my muscles are quickly fatiguing and then get very sore. It was really bad last night but not so bad tonight
3) I have been having fasiculations in my left calf. I understand these could be nothing, and most likely are. But I want to mention that I feel them most profoundly in my left calf. This might be because of my back injury and a possibly reinjury of my back, overuse (I have just started back into working out/playing soccer after a 2 year hiatus).
4) My toes on my left foot feel funny. Like I need to wiggle them. Almost like they almost feel numb but still have feeling.
5) Both pinkies on both hands feel numb and tingly
6) My left calf is smaller due to a bone I broke in my left leg when I was 10 that crossed the growth plate resulting in my left leg being slightly shorter than the right. I also have asymmetrical muscle development in my left back due to the leg injury and subsequent back injury. This was initially noticed by my GP in 2016 on routine physical.
7) I have some joint pain in my left middle finger (no known injury)
8) I have lost weight- but have been actively dieting due to pregnancy weight gain and have gone from 170 to 125 in four months. My partner has mentioned that my arms do look thinner than before I was pregnant.
9) My right hand feels stiffer than my left hand. Not to the point that I can not move it, but just stiffer. This might be because of the dog bite. Or something else?
10) My voice feels more strained and my throat feels scratchy and painful
11) I sleep poorly
What I don't have:
No atrophy in muscles that I can see
No weakness other than when I wake up in the morning and my hands are still and sore
My pincher grasps are intact/ hand strength seems normal
I can bend and move all of my appendages
I know I must sound crazy. I know I am asking a lot out of this community. But I did recently have a friend who was diagnosed with ALS, so it is on the fore front of my mind. My mother has a lot of mental health issues so im not sure if this is true or not but she also claims to have ALS so again, I hear about ALS a lot and so its on my mind. Here are the questions I have.
1) Fasiculations. I am very confused. How would I know if my fasiculations in my left calf are something to be concerned about? Is it just that fasiculations must be combined with atrophy/muscle weakness to be considered pathological?
2) I know I am attributing a lot of these symptoms to previous injury. Am I being overly positive? Or should I be looking more critically at each one of these symptoms?
3) I am seeing the doctor on Monday. I need to get my thyroid checked out as I am currently taking 25mg of Levothyroxine and need to undergo routine blood draw. But should I be concerned about these fasiculations, in comb with the other symptoms I am experiencing?
4) Should I push for additional blood work - B12, Mag etc. ?
5) Is there anything I can do to make the fasiculations go away if this is not ALS? Again, I really doubt I have ALS. But I just need your reassurance.