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LaPizza

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Mar 22, 2019
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Reason
Learn about ALS
Country
UK
State
London
City
London
Dear forum users,

I've read over several threads and you are so patient and kind to everyone that visits, I take my hat off to you.
I tried my best not to post here, telling myself I am silly for thinking and regret the day I thought it would be a neat idea to Google my symptoms (this should be illegal!), but I finally succumbed to my weakness and so I would be grateful for your knowledgeable input.

FYI - I am a 27-year-old male, normal/underweight with no family history.
Around two months ago I experienced a spasm in my little finger on the left hand while typing, while strange I dismissed this as a strain (I type with my pinky in the air, kinda posh :p ).

Shortly after my left bicep began to twitch, sort of like a fast heart beat in the muscle but you could see and feel it moving, this would last for 10 seconds and would come and go throughout the day. This twitch persisted accompanied by a pain in my forearm and my pinky and ring finger were weakened and shaken, and so after two/three weeks I done the deed of Dr Google (big mistake) and so the first thing that came up was ALS so I visited my primary care doctor.

My primary care doctor could obviously see my worry and asked me what I thought it was, I confessed to seeing the evil unlicensed practitioner Dr Google, she told me its most likely a trapped nerve and not ALS and to rub some anti-inflammatory cream into the elbow and ill be fine.

This is were the brain goes into over drive, I start to think has she brushed me off (of course she hasn't, she is doing her job… but what if?), but I do my best to tell myself its nothing to worry about.

Another months goes by and the twitching persists.

In last week I have started taking multi-vitamins (my diet is kinda rubbish at the moment), and I have stopped all coffee drinking, this seems to have subsided the bicep twitches after over a month, albeit I have noticed the odd random jolt in different body parts. Hurrah I’m cured.

But the last 48 hours I started experiencing a leg ache (my right side, note not the side of the bicep twitch), that turns into a serve pain, this spread to my hip and now into my lower back. This is remedied by taking paracetamol + ibuprofen but its reignited my worries and forced me to post my story, I’m sorry.

I've seen a few threads and understand twitching can be anything, I've also read that pain is not directly linked to ALS, at least not early stages.

I have not fallen over, I have tripped a few times but tbh I think its my work shoes, I think they are too long! (I've been tripping on them long before the twitching started and not really with other shoes).
There is no muscle failaur as such, I don't, however, feel myself, my fingers feel weak when typing or holding my phone, but I have not dropped anything that I can recall other than the odd mistake or struggle to pick things up etc (I suspect the finger weakness is physiological, as nothing has failed it can’t be ALS?).

I guess I feel this can’t be ALS (the odds are ridiculous and time frame is two quick), but my mind can’t dismiss it (no doubt subconsciously matching symptoms to ALS rather than something simple).

To summarise my main reason for posting is:
- Persistent bicep twitching that has subsided in last week due to vitamins and coffee reduction.
- Random jolt
- Pinky & ring finger weird feeling sensation (most fingers when typing, holding phone etc.)
- Leg, hip, lower back pain (that eases with paracetamol and ibuprofen)

I know you are not doctors, I just seek your wisdom, I hate returning to my primary care doctor, she properly already thinks I’m a hypochondriac that Googles everything!

Am I overthinking everything? Is there something that could be early stages that its worth looking into?

Thank you for taking the time to read :)

PS. Sorry for such a long post, I started writing waiting for my account to be approved and I kept going!
 
Did you the read before posting important post?

In it you should have learned
1twitching is meaningless
3 and 4 sensory symptoms like pain and weird feelings are not indicative of ALS which is a motor disease
And 2 random jolts didn’t even rate discussion as they have nothing to do with ALS either

Perhaps a visit to your pcp and discuss the health anxiety she believes you have?
 
Hi, have a read here: https://www.alsforums.com/forum/do-...-common-concerns-about-possible-symptoms.html . It addresses pretty much everything you've posted and there's not much more to say about it. If you're struggling with thoughts of having a deadly disease due to what you have reported, you might need to look into why that is. The good news is that you really don't belong on a forum for people with ALS.

Please work with your doctor or a physiotherapist to mitigate your sore muscles and weird sensations if it continues to cause you to focus on a worse case scenario or prevents you from enjoying normal activities.

Best wishes
 
LaPizza, the first paragraph of your Thread pretty much explains it all..." :)

"I've read over several threads and you are so patient and kind to everyone that visits, I take my hat off to you.I tried my best not to post here, telling myself I am silly for thinking and regret the day I thought it would be a neat idea to Google my symptoms (this should be illegal!), but I finally succumbed to my weakness and so I would be grateful for your knowledgeable input."

Follow Nikki's and Shiftkickers advice.
 
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