kenwood54
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2012
- Messages
- 36
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 08/2012
- Country
- US
- State
- VA
- City
- Herndon
Hi all, new user here and wondering if all the signs are pointing to ALS. I'm a 40 yr old male. Symptoms are as follows: pretty significant weakness in my left leg and left arm. Both legs are really stiff and walking is becoming more troublesome seemingly by the day. I have trouble squeezing a tube of toothpaste or buttoning a shirt with my left hand. Also have some pretty bad cramping in my feet and also in my left hand if I try too hard to use it (for example when I squeezed the neuros hand during exam my hand cramped up bad). Also occasionally have problems swallowing and my voice has definitely gotten more weak, noticeably so to my friends and family. Finally, the "twitching" seems to happen everywhere, cant really nail it down to just one place. When the symptoms first started, about 6 months ago, I really just noticed my left leg was a little weak and I was dragging it a bit if I had to walk quickly. I've had both hips replaced so I just assumed for a while it was a problem with them but all tests on the hips came back clean. When I started noticing the symptoms on just my left side my GP sent me to the ER with concerns over stroke. I went to the ER where they did an MRI of my brain but that came back clean. Back to GP and he thought neuropathy because I quit drinking about 4 months ago. Once I finally saw a neurologist his first thought was cervical stenosis and ordered an MRI of my neck and back. Those also came back clean so now have an EMG set for this Friday.
Sorry for the rambling but this weekend my mind has been racing with the possibilities and, of course, with reading stuff online it's led me here and really concerned about ALS.
To all the experts here, do these symptoms sound familiar or sound like ALS? I know I should just relax and wait on the tests and the docs to figure this out but can't stop thinking about it. Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Sorry for the rambling but this weekend my mind has been racing with the possibilities and, of course, with reading stuff online it's led me here and really concerned about ALS.
To all the experts here, do these symptoms sound familiar or sound like ALS? I know I should just relax and wait on the tests and the docs to figure this out but can't stop thinking about it. Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!