Quite concerned

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Arcana

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Sep 5, 2020
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Learn about ALS
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Country
CA
State
ON
City
George Town
Hello everyone.
I'm a 22 Year old male with some concerning symptoms.

a few days ago I noticed that my ring finger and pinky finger on my right hand (dominant hand) are quite shaky when I move them or stretch them in certain positions. Particularly when I try to move them more independently from my other fingers on the same hand. on my left hand the same movements are much more stable. the index and middle finger are largely OK but I noticed they're a bit shaky too at times.

I did a test this morning with a nail clipper where I would attempt to push it downwards using only my thumb and the effected fingers and I can easily do such a thing with my left hand's fingers but not so easily with the fingers on my right. pinky in particular was next to impossible to do it and it was shaking the nail clipper out of my hand. ring finger was capable of doing this alright but still quite shaky by comparison.

doing the same action without the nail clipper however is totally fine with both hands and both fingers. But still a little bit of shakiness, however it could just be that i'm anxious and looking into the more normal shakiness too much.

when resting my hands or doing a more natural finger configuration leads to very little or no shakiness.

I do spend a lot of my time on the computer and using my right hand on a mouse where the concerning fingers get little to no movement or use. Hell even as i'm typing this I'm noticing how little I do actually use this fingers in comparison to the others on my left hand. so its entirely possible its just me finally noticing they're just weaker than the ones on my left or maybe it's carpal tunnel of a sorts.

that being said I don't think them weaker really explains why they are so shaky when I put them in certain positions, and any results for "can carpal tunnel cause shaky hands or fingers" just bring up more articles pointing to ALS, and I'm not feeling any pain typically described/associated with carpal tunnel.

I also noticed that as the day progressed the shaking got less noticeable then became more noticeable without any rhyme or reason as far as I can tell. I don't drink coffee or have any caffeine and I think my anxiety has remained pretty steady throughout the day.

I contacted my doctor a few days ago before I noticed this and had conveniently had blood work done for me just before I started really noticing. I'm waiting until Tuesday after the holiday to hear back from him about the results where i'll tell him about my fingers.

as for how long this has probably gone on. I couldn't really say. I always had an occasional shaky hand every now and then but I never gave it much thought before. I'd say perhaps a month or two?

anyways. the wait for Tuesday has got me pretty nervous so here I am asking if this sounds like the beginning of a 1 in a million odds disease or something far more common. I know I shouldn't be stressing about something so unlikely especially since my family has a pretty clean history when it comes to illness, but I'm still kinda freaked out so, any input would be stellar.

Best Regards and thanks for reading.
 
No, it does not sound like the beginning of ALS at all. I am sure your doctor will be reassuring on this point. Since "weak" fingers may simply be a little more stiff from not using them, you can also try some light stretching and wiggling to loosen them up.
 
Shaking is definitely not a symptom of ALS in any way - I would suggest you let your doctor sort this out rather than looking for something you are truly not displaying. All the best.
 
Hello everyone, earlier today I got a message from my doctor and my blood work all came back fine, He only left a message so I couldn't speak with him about my hand/fingers but I've since noticed that when i when spread my hand as big as I can make it, the rest of my fingers and my hand shake a little bit.

I've done some hand stretches throughout the day and while I think its helping, I'm still doubting it somehow. the shaking still seems to come on worse or get better without any reason as far as I can tell. though after I drank some soda it seemed to get worse but, I think i'd need to drink a lot of soda for it to make a difference.

I'll be booking a meeting with my doctor tomorrow the moment I can but the earliest I can expect to speak with him will be Friday now.

I know you all probably don't want to deal with another anxious youth stressing out at any slight thing wrong with their body and all but I'm still nervous.

But my question to anyone who has had experience with this illness or anything like it, How did the symptoms start out? was it weakness followed by shakiness or some other symptoms.

either way, best wishes and thank you for your time.
 
We don't discuss chapter and verse as regards onset as everyone's tale is a bit different and it has not proven helpful to those who are not affected with ALS.

When you say things like "while I think it's helping, I'm still doubting it somehow" as regards stretching, you sound like someone who has health anxiety, a treatable condition and definitely not a neuromuscular disease. Soda with caffeine and/or sugar, of course, is very likely to be associated with shaking as your levels rise/drop.
 
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