Annag13
New member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2015
- Messages
- 3
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- Missouri
- City
- St. Louis
Hello everyone. I am here because I am worried about a diagnosis of ALS. I have recently been down a long road of finding out what is "wrong" with me. I am a 25 year old female and things started for me about 1 year ago. I started having very bad headaches and I eventually was scheduled for an MRI. The MRI revealed a few hyper intensities to my white matter, as well as a lesion on my grey matter (thalamus and cerebral peduncle). The appearance initially looked like MS (at this time, my only symptom was headache) so a spinal tap was performed which revealed O-Bands (consistent with MS). But when I had my 4 month follow up MRI, the leaions had become bigger, and there was a concern that I had a rare brain cancer called gliomatosis cerebri. An open brain biopsy was performed and much to everyone's surprise, the biopsy was negative. So, I am back to my original diagnosis of "possible MS". While it is safe to say I have some health anxiety, I am also a nurse and I am constantly checking myself for new symptoms and doing Internet research even though I know this is a no-no. Anyway, for the past few days, I feel that I have some decreased dexterity, primarily in my dominant right hand. The decreased dexterity is mostly limited to my pinky, as I feel it appears more curled up than my other fingers and seems to be somewhat floppy. When I focus on my pinky during tasks, I find that it just kind of hangs there and that it feels weak, almost as if it is not communicating with my brain. I was wondering if this is plausible for a first symptom of ALS? I have seen so many specialists (not due to the pinky) and none of them have ever mentioned ALS as a possible diagnosis in accordance to my MRI. Can anyone shed a little insight? Thanks.