Should I be worrying?

[Alicia12lv]

Hello everyone, I'll first start off by saying that I'm a 37 year old mother of 5 children. I have health anxiety usually around cancers and such. But I've been doing really well the past few years. I woke up 5 days ago with my hand tingling and numb feeling. It last the whole day. The next morning I had tingling, numbness and tightness from my bicep muscle down to my fingers. Yesterday I managed to get through the day but was still thinking about it and then this morning I woke up to my arm completely numb and my fingers tingling for over and hour before it went away. It still feels numb but not tingly. I put icy hot on it but my worries are consuming me. Do these sound like they could be the beginning symptoms of als? I don't know where else to turn I'm so stressed. Thank you for reading my post.

 

[Nikki J]

Hi
please read this Important - READ BEFORE POSTING! Answers to common concerns about possible symptoms

sensory symptoms ( like numbness tingling) point away from ALS. Please see your doctor but ALS should not be on your radar. My first thought would be a pinched nerve from sleeping in a bad position and I would be looking at my pillow and mattress

good luck enjoy your family

 

[Alicia12lv]

Thank you Nikki, it's so hard having anxiety when things like this come out of nowhere and aren't gone within a day or so. So muscle tightness isn't something I should compare to this? The tingling I completely understand that it's not related but my bicep muscle has been tight for the last 5 days also. I appreciate your reply. Thank you so much.

 

[Nikki J]

No. Really. I am a genetic carrier with a mutation that made it almost a certainty I would get ALS in my lifetime. If I had had your symptoms ALS wouldn’t have entered my mind as a cause. I hope you are getting help for your admitted health anxuety. As you know it keeps popping up otherwise

 

[Alicia12lv]

Thank you Nikki. I've read quite a few posts about people who were diagnosed that had numbness and tingling. I'm just afraid that these are the first signs of more issues to come. Should I make an appointment with a neurologist? I just can't shake the feeling that something more is wrong.

 

[Nikki J]

See your regular doctor. I don’t know what you read but ALS is a disease of dying motor neurons. Motor neurons do not convey feeling so numbness etc would not be a motor neuron problem The only reason PALS would get those symptoms would be 1 they also have another problem or 2 they are so weak that their muscles don’t support them properly and things get pinched. You do not have weakness and you could not possibly be so weak that things are not supported without noticing and having significant disability

 

[Alicia12lv]

I agree. I think my stress about it is making it worse. I'm convinced that's what this is and can't stop thinking about it. My thumb is still numb from this morning as I write this. I was planning to do IVF for our last baby this next month but now I'm second guessing it. I'll make an appointment with my dr.

 

[Alicia12lv]

I'm sorry but I have one more question Nikki. Would muscle atrophy show first before other symptoms? My husband looked down at my arm and noticed a big indentation. That plus the tingling has me extremely concerned. Thank you

 

[lgelb]

No. The nerves have to die first, meaning problems before atrophy occurs.

 

[Alicia12lv]

Thank you for your response. I'm having left hand numbness and bicep tightness for 5 days now. From what I've read on the main post here I shouldn't be concerned but everything on Google brings me here. There is so much conflicting information out there. I'm having trouble putting this out of my mind.

 

[Alicia12lv]

The left bicep tightness, hand numbness and occasionally twitching in my thumb you wouldn't worry about? I've read on a Facebook board that a lot of times people have thought that it was carpel tunnel and it wasn't. I don't have any weakness as if now but can that change as the symptoms set in?

 

[Clearwater AL]

Alicia, from your Thread.

“I have health anxiety usually around cancers and such.”

*Admitting that is a start.

“It's so hard having anxiety when things like this come out of nowhere…”

*Numbness and tingling points away from ALS… no matter what you
have found by posters who are not doctors or Neurologists.
That has been explained to you above.

“I'm convinced that's what this is and can't stop thinking about it.”

*Health Anxiety and the Internet will do that to you.

*You haven’t even seen a doctor or more so a Neurologist yet.

“…but everything on Google brings me here. There is so much conflicting
information out there. I'm having trouble putting this out of my mind.”

*Dr. Google practices conflicting information. Dr. Google has put this
in your mind amplifying your admitted Health Anxiety.

*Stop Dr. Google until you see your doctor, any doctor. Please focus on
your 5 children and your family. Severe Health Anxiety can eventually
interfere with family relationships.

Being you are so concerned, please see a licensed real doctor (PCP) first,
soon - rather than Dr. Google, the Internet and most of all... Facebook.

 

[Alicia12lv]

Thank you. I have an appointment for next week. It's just you read one thing and another says something completely different. I'm sorry, just afraid of everything really with my anxiety currently.

 

[Alicia12lv]

Is twitching related? I'm having twitching in my thumb and thigh all of a sudden.

 

[lgelb]

Twitching is not in itself a concern for ALS. However, when nerve roots or muscles are irritated for one of many reasons, from chronic pain to dehydration or lack of sleep, that often manifests in twitching.

Google is a set of algorithms served up to everyone. A physician is a human being with knowledge and expertise that is served up to patients one at a time based on their context. There is no comparison. Use Google to find a meat thermometer, not a diagnosis.

Best,
Laurie