First... God bless all of you! Your forum is filled with very brave, courageous people.
I am a 29/yo male that has not been diagnosed with als but I am experiencing very weird symptoms over the last month or so.
Brief background... diagnosed with stenosis of the lumbar back in Jan/Feb, had severe shooting pains in legs and mid back hurt real bad. Went to pain management specialist who gave me two steroid injections lumbar and right facet joint. While resting at home and my leg on my coffee table I felt and saw my right calf twitching. At first I thought nothing of it, as I was on a bunch of meds and just had the injections. I went through 4weeks of PT and the back got better. Fast forward to a month ago... noticed shooting pains on right side again and calf twitching like crazy! I did the Dr. Google search and found myself freaking over what it could be, so I made an appt with a local neuro who examined me and told me my reflexes are a bit brisk and that's because I;m young and I shouldn't worry about twitching as they could be benign. We'll that wasn't a good enough diagnosis for me so I mentioned the EMG. She said that she would refer me to a neuromuscular specialist at Umdmj if I wanted and of course I accepted. When I called to make the appt the Dr was out of the country for a month! So I began searching and stumbled upon the University of Penn Hospital. They were able to squeeze me in to see a specialist. The day came and he did an extensive exam and even called his colleague in and they both said I didn't have the disease and that they both felt I did not even need an EMG. I took there advise and tried to get on with my life... but the twitching remained. So, I decided to go for the appt with the Dr at umdmj, the day came and another extensive exam but no EMG. He didn't even mention it to me he told me that they are benign (BFS) and that there was nothing to worry about. He is a knows specialist in his field with over 24 years of experience. I decided that was the last neuro type Dr I would go to, but now I'm having second thoughts.
Two weeks after my last appt, I feel as if I'm having a hard time getting a good breath. Its not like I can't breath just a feeling like I'm not getting enough oxygen... kinda weird. I'm also am still expericing twitching of the right calf and now the left with some all around my body. I also have been having pretty bad night sweats/numbness in last two fingers and forearms as well as continuous abdominal noises with some constipation/diahrea. Almost forgot to mention that I have a weird vibration in my lower jaw and sometimes in my arms. I'm real scared that I may have this disease! All the Dr's told that I suffer from stress/anxiety and to see a psyc (which I did) and she diagnosed me as being manic/depressed and put me on a cocktail of anti pysco drugs. That just made me sleepy/ foggy and even more vibraty!
I keep telling these Doctors that all of the anxiety/panic attacks were brought on by the twitching! They don't seem to believe me... I'm at a lost here guys. I don't know what to do anymore! I keep telling myself that I'll be ok and that the symptoms have to be related to my back problems... but I keep going back to the A*S stuff. So scared, please help.
I am a 29/yo male that has not been diagnosed with als but I am experiencing very weird symptoms over the last month or so.
Brief background... diagnosed with stenosis of the lumbar back in Jan/Feb, had severe shooting pains in legs and mid back hurt real bad. Went to pain management specialist who gave me two steroid injections lumbar and right facet joint. While resting at home and my leg on my coffee table I felt and saw my right calf twitching. At first I thought nothing of it, as I was on a bunch of meds and just had the injections. I went through 4weeks of PT and the back got better. Fast forward to a month ago... noticed shooting pains on right side again and calf twitching like crazy! I did the Dr. Google search and found myself freaking over what it could be, so I made an appt with a local neuro who examined me and told me my reflexes are a bit brisk and that's because I;m young and I shouldn't worry about twitching as they could be benign. We'll that wasn't a good enough diagnosis for me so I mentioned the EMG. She said that she would refer me to a neuromuscular specialist at Umdmj if I wanted and of course I accepted. When I called to make the appt the Dr was out of the country for a month! So I began searching and stumbled upon the University of Penn Hospital. They were able to squeeze me in to see a specialist. The day came and he did an extensive exam and even called his colleague in and they both said I didn't have the disease and that they both felt I did not even need an EMG. I took there advise and tried to get on with my life... but the twitching remained. So, I decided to go for the appt with the Dr at umdmj, the day came and another extensive exam but no EMG. He didn't even mention it to me he told me that they are benign (BFS) and that there was nothing to worry about. He is a knows specialist in his field with over 24 years of experience. I decided that was the last neuro type Dr I would go to, but now I'm having second thoughts.
Two weeks after my last appt, I feel as if I'm having a hard time getting a good breath. Its not like I can't breath just a feeling like I'm not getting enough oxygen... kinda weird. I'm also am still expericing twitching of the right calf and now the left with some all around my body. I also have been having pretty bad night sweats/numbness in last two fingers and forearms as well as continuous abdominal noises with some constipation/diahrea. Almost forgot to mention that I have a weird vibration in my lower jaw and sometimes in my arms. I'm real scared that I may have this disease! All the Dr's told that I suffer from stress/anxiety and to see a psyc (which I did) and she diagnosed me as being manic/depressed and put me on a cocktail of anti pysco drugs. That just made me sleepy/ foggy and even more vibraty!
I keep telling these Doctors that all of the anxiety/panic attacks were brought on by the twitching! They don't seem to believe me... I'm at a lost here guys. I don't know what to do anymore! I keep telling myself that I'll be ok and that the symptoms have to be related to my back problems... but I keep going back to the A*S stuff. So scared, please help.