rasmus
Member
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2018
- Messages
- 14
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- FI
- State
- Keski-Suomi
- City
- Jyväskylä
Hello. I am a 19-year-old male who has had twitching muscles all over my body for a little over 3 years now. The twitches range from little, barely noticeable ones to big thumping ones that you can see trough clothes. In the beginning I used to have twitches that would go on in one spot constantly for days or weeks at a time, but I haven't had those anymore.
The twitches are everywhere from my eyebrows to the soles of my feet, I think I've even felt one in my tongue a few times. My muscles also sometimes twitch after I squeeze of flex them very hard.
This has been going on since I was 16, so for about three years now. There have been times when the twitches are few and far between, almost completely gone, but also times when I feel like all my limbs are like bubbling like boiling water.
I saw a doctor for this about a month after it started, she examined me and checked my reflexes, which I thought looked pretty brisk but she didn't comment on it. She prescribed me magnesium and some vitamins (which didn't seem to have any effect), and sent me to have an EMG.
The doctor who did the EMG said it looked completely normal, but the twitches persisted, so I had another EMG about 1.5 years after the twitching started. This time too the neurologist said that the results were normal, and that he didn't see any muscle atrophy that I had also been worrying about. He did however say that it's strange that the twitching would go on for so long in a healthy person.
I was very relieved after this, and for the next 1.5 years I've been pretty much carefree about this, but this summer I've developed sort of cramping that is still going on. It's mostly in my right calf, but also in my other limbs and my neck. It usually happens when I'm moving about, with a moderate pain in a contracted muscle and an unpleasant feeling of tightness and stiffness. The pain lasts anywhere from a split second to maybe 10 seconds, when it happens I always try to massage the muscle, but by the time I can do that the pain is usually gone. I can also always relax the muscle normally immediately, so I don't know if that's typical for cramping or not.
Regardless, this has been going on for over a month now. I've had similar "cramping" before, but not this widespread, and never this long.
Just yesterday I walked for about 10km in rough terrain without any problems, but when I'm standing still or walking around slowly in the house my calf often cramps. Also I feel like the small muscles in my palms, the backs of my hands and in the soles of my feet and on top of my feet cramp.
I still have no weakness in any muscle, at least I don't think so.
So my question is, do you think there's any way this could be ALS at this point? Is this sort of cramping typical for ALS? At 16 even though I was afraid I understood that ALS at that age would be pretty unlikely, but according to my understanding it's not unheard of at 19.
Also as an additional question: is a spastic muscle unable to relax at any time, or how does spasticity manifest?
Thanks in advance.
The twitches are everywhere from my eyebrows to the soles of my feet, I think I've even felt one in my tongue a few times. My muscles also sometimes twitch after I squeeze of flex them very hard.
This has been going on since I was 16, so for about three years now. There have been times when the twitches are few and far between, almost completely gone, but also times when I feel like all my limbs are like bubbling like boiling water.
I saw a doctor for this about a month after it started, she examined me and checked my reflexes, which I thought looked pretty brisk but she didn't comment on it. She prescribed me magnesium and some vitamins (which didn't seem to have any effect), and sent me to have an EMG.
The doctor who did the EMG said it looked completely normal, but the twitches persisted, so I had another EMG about 1.5 years after the twitching started. This time too the neurologist said that the results were normal, and that he didn't see any muscle atrophy that I had also been worrying about. He did however say that it's strange that the twitching would go on for so long in a healthy person.
I was very relieved after this, and for the next 1.5 years I've been pretty much carefree about this, but this summer I've developed sort of cramping that is still going on. It's mostly in my right calf, but also in my other limbs and my neck. It usually happens when I'm moving about, with a moderate pain in a contracted muscle and an unpleasant feeling of tightness and stiffness. The pain lasts anywhere from a split second to maybe 10 seconds, when it happens I always try to massage the muscle, but by the time I can do that the pain is usually gone. I can also always relax the muscle normally immediately, so I don't know if that's typical for cramping or not.
Regardless, this has been going on for over a month now. I've had similar "cramping" before, but not this widespread, and never this long.
Just yesterday I walked for about 10km in rough terrain without any problems, but when I'm standing still or walking around slowly in the house my calf often cramps. Also I feel like the small muscles in my palms, the backs of my hands and in the soles of my feet and on top of my feet cramp.
I still have no weakness in any muscle, at least I don't think so.
So my question is, do you think there's any way this could be ALS at this point? Is this sort of cramping typical for ALS? At 16 even though I was afraid I understood that ALS at that age would be pretty unlikely, but according to my understanding it's not unheard of at 19.
Also as an additional question: is a spastic muscle unable to relax at any time, or how does spasticity manifest?
Thanks in advance.
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