Scared about atrophy

[Chief41]

Very sorry to return here. My apologies to all that are suffering from ALS. I made two posts awhile ago and had accepted my fate as a BFS patient. About three months ago, I strained my shoulder, and it is still stiff and weaker than my right shoulder. It has pain and is noticeably smaller in size in the deltoid muscle specifically. I can see more bony protrusions and dimples where the other shoulder has none. I don’t. Have any twitching in that shoulder specifically, but do have body wide twitching for two years now. I had an EMG after my first two months of twitching and was diagnosed with BFS by a neuro muscular specialist.

I’m very worried about this new muscle loss and pain when performing heavy lifting. It appears my muscles have wasted.

I’m on the fence of waiting another month and seeing what happens, or seeing my primary care doctor to see if she agrees there is atrophy. My main question is should I be concerned that I have weakness and noticeable atrophy along with body wide twitching? The thing that is particularly alarming is a recent Dexa scan which revealed my left arm is 1.1 lbs less muscle than my right arm.

Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[lgelb]

Of course, since you strained your shoulder three months ago, and still have pain, you should have it examined. It is unlikely to relate to ALS. Atrophy is not a symptom in itself, the question is whether there is an injury that needs PT or some other treatment.

 

[Firefighter58]

I agree, it doesn't sound like ALS.

 

[Bestfriends14]

Your symptoms weren't ALS two years ago and they still are not pointing to ALS today. You have choices at this stage- you can continue to focus on a disease you show no signs of having, or you can start with a multi-modal treatment regime that should include meds and talk therapy.

If you choose to do the former, you'll waste more time and energy that you will never get back, possibly for years to come. Or, you can choose the latter and get yourself out of this rabbit hole once and for all. The choice is yours. For me, if there was something treatable, I'd go for that. That holds the key to your happiness.

I wish you the best of luck. Take good care.