Stiffness First Symptom?

[Spectator]

Hi all,

I hope you are all doing well. First off, I want to say I have a lot of respect for the admins/MOD's and especially PALS for sharing their experiences and spending their precious time into helping and informing others.

I don't want to take up too much of your time here so I will try to keep it short. I read the sticky threads and was just wondering something that I didn't come across so far. For a while now, I have a feeling of stiffness in my right hand muscle (the large muscle beneath the pink). It fasciculates when I apply pressure (e.g. queeze into something). There's this overall feeling of stiffness and weakness in my right hand but I can perform any movement that I can with my left hand, meaning my right hand can do anything my left one can so there is no actual weakness as far as I can tell.

However, I came across this video in which the doctor says ALS can present itself in the form of muscle stiffness and this is what got me somewhat worries. Link below (around the 1:06 mark):



Is this correct? I went through many published data on ALS and couldn't find much info on it relating to muscle stiffness as an initial symptom. Does someone have experience/info on this?

Thanks a lot for your time!

 

[lgelb]

First, I am sorry for your loss.

Upper motor neuron-dominant ALS and PLS can present with stiffness, but not as just a feeling, rather as an impairment of function. This is something to take to your primary physician.

 

[Spectator]

Dear Igelb,

Thanks for the quick reply!

So what you are saying is that this doesn't point to ALS since there is no actual weakness/impairment that goes along with muscle stiffness? I was kind of hoping for this answer.

I'm not sure what loss you are referring to, though

Thanks again for your time!

 

[lgelb]

Your profile says you lost a loved one to ALS?

 

[affected]

Please change your profile to say you want to learn about ALS, as saying you lost someone to ALS is misleading for us.

You are correct - stiffness without clinical weakness means nothing, just like if you were twitching.

Please follow up with a doctor who can examine you.

 

[Spectator]

Thank you both for your replies.

Regarding my profile, I can't remember specifying that I lost someone to ALS because I didn't, so I'm sorry for the confusion. Also, when I check my profile this is what I see (see attached file). Perhaps an error in my profile? Hope this clears it up.

 

[ShiftKicker]

It seems to be resolved now. Thanks for the clarification!

 

[lgelb]

I changed it earlier.