Status
Not open for further replies.

Anna0413

New member
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
4
Reason
Other
Country
US
State
PA
City
York
Hi everyone, I am new here and just want to say hello and THANK YOU in advance for any easing of my mind that you can do. :)


Let me start off by saying that I am a 28 year old female and a mother of two. All of this health stuff started when I was referred to a neurologist for migraines. He did an MRI and found lesions on my brain. To rule out MS, we did a spinal tap and blood work, and all came back fine. But, I know that a spinal tap isnt always 100 percent, so I still worried about the MS daily. The worry led me to start to analyze every little inch of my body, looking for signs that maybe I really DID have MS afterall. (The MS scare began this last Nov)


So in the beginning of March I began having "muscle twitches" all over my body, in different areas, but not all at the same time. Each time it literally lasts for a second, then goes away. As long as I am moving around or keeping busy I dont feel them. I only feel them when I sit down or relax. They are worse at night and occur in my feet, legs, arms, torso, back, shoulders.....just about everywhere. They arent painful but are frequent and happen every time I sit still.

This brought me to look up "muscle twitching" on the internet and of course the search led me right to ALS.....something worse than MS even is. I am terrified. My first question is--am I really having fasciliations? These "twitches" that I am having feel like one second pings under the skin....they dont last but a second. And I have never seen them under the skin because by the time I look they are over.

After reading about ALS and getting scared to death I started feeling what I think might be considered muscle weakness. Can anyone describe that to me? What I am feeling is like after I climb a set of stairs my muscles in my legs feel wierd. Or after I lift my arms above my head (like when taking my kid's shirt off) the muscles in my arms feel wierd. Also this happens when I clean and do alot of scrubbing...my arms feel wierd. The feeling subsides as soon as I done doing the task at hand. Is any of this considered Muscle Weakness that is associated with ALS?

This bugged me so badly that I saw my family Dr.....when he heard my story he put me on anxiety meds. (a low dose) They have helped some, but I still think about ALS every minute and still do have the "twitches" several times per day (Though not 300 times per day like before)

I feel like I worry every second...thinking that I only have three years to live. I know no one here is a Dr....but is there any reassurance that anyone can give?

Also I noticed all of these symptoms all at once...it wasnt gradual....I am a hypochondriac, arent I?

Please help....:cry:
 
Hello Anna

Bodywide fasics alone are not indicative of ALS . . . and it seems your "perceived" weakness wasn't perceived until you got on the internet and started to read about ALS. My guess is, if you got on the internet and found that itchy elbows is a symptom of ALS (it's not, by the way), you'd be scratching away at your elbows.
Fasics can be caused by a gajillion things. My guess is that the "weakness" you're feeling has always been there, but now you're so incredibly aware of everything, that it is magnified many times. My guess is, you're not weak at all.
Can I sit here and tell you that you definitely don't have ALS . . . no I can't. But again, if all you have is twitching muscles, then I think you're going to be just fine. The odds are with you; the chances of developing ALS are 1 to 2 in 100,000. That's at best, a 0.002% chance of getting it, which is about the same as getting hit by lightning. One other thing you have in your favor is your age: only 5% of ALS cases are diagnosed before the age of 30.
Go relax and enjoy your children. Take care.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top