AnonConcerned
New member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2021
- Messages
- 4
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
- State
- NY
- City
- New York
Hello, thank you for reading this. These last few weeks have been extremely difficult and stressful and I figured it would be good to solicit the opinions of people in this community to determine whether my concerns are justified or whether I'm simply experiencing heightened anxiety with physical manifestations.
Around September 10-15th, during a week where I experienced severe lack of sleep, I began to experience a few instances of foot drop (about 1 or 2 times per day). After obtaining more sleep the foot drop subsided but I began to experience numbness in my left foot (particularly at night) in a fashion which has seemed to mimic RLS.
I saw a neurologist on the 30th and he did a range of physical tests and said my muscle strength appears to be good and that he believes it could be a peroneal neuropathy. I asked him point blank, "Would you say it's accurate to say ALS is extremely unlikely?" and he said, verbatim, "Yes, I would say it's extremely unlikely." Nevertheless, he wanted to do an EMG so that's scheduled for this coming Monday.
Needless to say, the wait for the EMG has been filled with all manner of anxiety for me, to the point of full-scale nervous breakdown at times. The foot drop still has not recurred and the sensation in my left foot has returned, but it was soon replaced with knee discomfort and creaking, along with noticeable sensations of weakness and clumsiness, along with occasional low-grade numbness in my left hand. I have no idea whether these are merely symptoms of severe anxiety, could somebody perhaps shed some light on that? A coworker of mine also said the other day that my speech sounded nasally, but my family was insistent that it was not. I've been conducting various mild calisthenics (squats and pushups primarily) to test whether my legs and arms are still able to build muscle capacity, with no seemingly abnormal results so far, but the severe anxiety still persists and I am experiencing mild jaw and neck discomfort as well over the past few days.
As I await the EMG on Monday, I will note that I did purchase a pair of orthotic gel insoles which have provided SIGNIFICANT relief to my foot and leg discomfort (in the previous few days before purchasing them, I've also been experiencing pain in my left arch). However, I'm also not certain if fallen arches is something commonly experienced with early onset ALS. I am also very significantly overweight (5'8" & ~255lbs) so this has been adding to the confusion and uncertainty.
Is anybody able to shed some light on my situation before I head in for the EMG? First and foremost, is a clear EMG a very good sign that it is something besides ALS? I'll be happy to answer any additional questions, I understand my post is a bit disjointed and rambling, it's simply because I have a lot on my mind currently. I'd very much appreciate having somebody to talk to in this time about this, and I feel this forum might provide it.
Thank you all so much!
Around September 10-15th, during a week where I experienced severe lack of sleep, I began to experience a few instances of foot drop (about 1 or 2 times per day). After obtaining more sleep the foot drop subsided but I began to experience numbness in my left foot (particularly at night) in a fashion which has seemed to mimic RLS.
I saw a neurologist on the 30th and he did a range of physical tests and said my muscle strength appears to be good and that he believes it could be a peroneal neuropathy. I asked him point blank, "Would you say it's accurate to say ALS is extremely unlikely?" and he said, verbatim, "Yes, I would say it's extremely unlikely." Nevertheless, he wanted to do an EMG so that's scheduled for this coming Monday.
Needless to say, the wait for the EMG has been filled with all manner of anxiety for me, to the point of full-scale nervous breakdown at times. The foot drop still has not recurred and the sensation in my left foot has returned, but it was soon replaced with knee discomfort and creaking, along with noticeable sensations of weakness and clumsiness, along with occasional low-grade numbness in my left hand. I have no idea whether these are merely symptoms of severe anxiety, could somebody perhaps shed some light on that? A coworker of mine also said the other day that my speech sounded nasally, but my family was insistent that it was not. I've been conducting various mild calisthenics (squats and pushups primarily) to test whether my legs and arms are still able to build muscle capacity, with no seemingly abnormal results so far, but the severe anxiety still persists and I am experiencing mild jaw and neck discomfort as well over the past few days.
As I await the EMG on Monday, I will note that I did purchase a pair of orthotic gel insoles which have provided SIGNIFICANT relief to my foot and leg discomfort (in the previous few days before purchasing them, I've also been experiencing pain in my left arch). However, I'm also not certain if fallen arches is something commonly experienced with early onset ALS. I am also very significantly overweight (5'8" & ~255lbs) so this has been adding to the confusion and uncertainty.
Is anybody able to shed some light on my situation before I head in for the EMG? First and foremost, is a clear EMG a very good sign that it is something besides ALS? I'll be happy to answer any additional questions, I understand my post is a bit disjointed and rambling, it's simply because I have a lot on my mind currently. I'd very much appreciate having somebody to talk to in this time about this, and I feel this forum might provide it.
Thank you all so much!