Hi everybody - I am new to this, and wouldn't know where to begin. I read all entries carefully, and felt sad and discouraged by all the suffering, physical and psychological every one of you experienced. I also know I am far less courageous than any of you here, and probably never will manage to share my story, mostly for fear I may discover what I've been chasing for 2 1/2 years. I want an answer, but I dread it too. I was passionate in my quest for a diagnosis, and the more closed doors ( too many in neurology,) the more zeal I put into it. I kept a diary of symptoms as one tends to forget the chronology, I saw doctors, I had tests, I refused to see doctors, I hoped, I spent thousands in alternative treatments, then eventually went back and started from scratch. It's agony and ecstasy, and my life as I knew it isn't anymore. Needless to say I relate to Faith7 so much so that I almost guessed her next question after a while. Not knowing is almost as bad as knowing the worst. The way neurology specifically is practiced today is frustrating for both doctor and patient. That is particularly true when it comes to tests, their interpretation, and criteria for Dx. As medication and treatment in this area are costly, a diagnosis based on symptoms alone is almost always done late in a disease, when there can be no question of it being anything else. ALS is no exception. Even without a particular treatment, this pest ends up being very expensive , as it has so many ramifications of care. Therefore, we, the undiagnosed, come here to feel understood, to compare and contrast, to get a little light in what's going on with us (few of the healthy people we know will ever begin to grasp,) to find name of good doctors and clinics, and frankly, to hope. Don't push us aside, many of us do not have the luxury of going any other place for this. I have seen threads ending with a question or concern nobody cared to address. How lonesome.