MikeTpa
New member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2018
- Messages
- 4
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 08/2018
- Country
- US
- State
- FL
- City
- Tampa
Hello all,
First I want to thank you for the plethora of information I found in the *Please Read* posts. It answered many of my questions. I also found some helpful info reading other posts.
I am a rationale 47 year old Registered Nurse and am working on my PhD in nursing so I don't want to sound like some other medical professionals who asked questions and appear to be over-self-diagnosing symptoms, but.... I'm afraid I am, but in the back of my mind I'm afraid I'm not, so I'm looking for guidance.
ALS runs in my family, my maternal great-grandmother and grandfather died of ALS in the 60's and my maternal cousin died at age 42 in 2011.
My first fall happened May 2017, and did damage to my ankle, minor tears, clumsy Mike. But the falls kept happening, 12 total in the last year. My ortho says it's because my ankle is unstable, which required surgery in May 2018. In February I fell again, not because of my ankle, my knee gave out, which had progressively gotten weaker. A few weeks later I had foot drop in that foot. Since surgery I've lost all strength in my right leg. I still cannot dorsiflex and PT says I have lost a tremendous amount of muscle in my core, hip and knee as well. I can't lift my leg anymore. Again, my Dr says it's due to decompensation from limping and then surgery. My PT feels is neuromotor. That might explain my leg, but the fasiculations began in my right leg and left arm last summer. Knowing it can be random, I didn't worry about it. About the same time as my fall in February, I noticed I could no longer lift a gallon of milk out of the top shelf of the fridge. Now when I wash my hair or take off a shirt, I can't lift my left arm to that level.
I ask my Dr about this and an xray showed calcific tendonitis in the shoulder, but that was minor. I was given additional PT, which is not improving it. Two weeks ago I started noticing I was garbling words sometimes. Things came out slurred. I have to be careful to over-enunciate so the word comes out right. My Dr thinks I'm over analyzing. He's not a neuro though. I've asked for a neuro consult with the same response.
I'm to the point of bypassing my Dr and going straight to a neuro anyway, but to be honest, I'm scared. I rationalize that all the people in my family with ALS had rapid-progression and died within 6-9 months of diagnosis.
Please let me know if I'm over anxious about this and I apologize for the length of the post.
Mike
First I want to thank you for the plethora of information I found in the *Please Read* posts. It answered many of my questions. I also found some helpful info reading other posts.
I am a rationale 47 year old Registered Nurse and am working on my PhD in nursing so I don't want to sound like some other medical professionals who asked questions and appear to be over-self-diagnosing symptoms, but.... I'm afraid I am, but in the back of my mind I'm afraid I'm not, so I'm looking for guidance.
ALS runs in my family, my maternal great-grandmother and grandfather died of ALS in the 60's and my maternal cousin died at age 42 in 2011.
My first fall happened May 2017, and did damage to my ankle, minor tears, clumsy Mike. But the falls kept happening, 12 total in the last year. My ortho says it's because my ankle is unstable, which required surgery in May 2018. In February I fell again, not because of my ankle, my knee gave out, which had progressively gotten weaker. A few weeks later I had foot drop in that foot. Since surgery I've lost all strength in my right leg. I still cannot dorsiflex and PT says I have lost a tremendous amount of muscle in my core, hip and knee as well. I can't lift my leg anymore. Again, my Dr says it's due to decompensation from limping and then surgery. My PT feels is neuromotor. That might explain my leg, but the fasiculations began in my right leg and left arm last summer. Knowing it can be random, I didn't worry about it. About the same time as my fall in February, I noticed I could no longer lift a gallon of milk out of the top shelf of the fridge. Now when I wash my hair or take off a shirt, I can't lift my left arm to that level.
I ask my Dr about this and an xray showed calcific tendonitis in the shoulder, but that was minor. I was given additional PT, which is not improving it. Two weeks ago I started noticing I was garbling words sometimes. Things came out slurred. I have to be careful to over-enunciate so the word comes out right. My Dr thinks I'm over analyzing. He's not a neuro though. I've asked for a neuro consult with the same response.
I'm to the point of bypassing my Dr and going straight to a neuro anyway, but to be honest, I'm scared. I rationalize that all the people in my family with ALS had rapid-progression and died within 6-9 months of diagnosis.
Please let me know if I'm over anxious about this and I apologize for the length of the post.
Mike
