joy2
Member
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2012
- Messages
- 25
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- ca
- State
- ontario
- City
- hamilton
I am a 45 year old mother of two girls and all of my symptoms just started out of the blue mid January 2012 and have been getting worse. It started as joint pain (elbows,wrists,knees and ankles) and a burning pain from elbows to wrists and in calves as well as occasional mid upper back pain and overall fatigue. I also felt that my throat was sore, like I was getting a cold, only I never got that cold. I should add that I am not a hypochondriac and normally visit my family dr. once/twice a year. I went to my Dr. in Jan and she basically blew off my symptoms attributing it to my work, I am a dental hygienist. She did some general blood work as it was one year since my last blood work and everything came back nomal. Two weeks later I went back to her because I started getting twitches in my left leg. She thorougly examined me and tested my strength and reflexes, all normal. She sent me for more blood work to check minerals in my blood and a chest x-ray, again, all normal. Over the next week my left leg felt different, tingling in toes and a hot feeling almost like a pulsating blood flow feeling. I blacked out for a split second at work . I took myself to the hospital where they have referred me to an internal medicine dr who took extensive blood tests (10 vials taken), all normal. My twitching seems to be everywhere, ankles, thighs, shoulders, outer part of upper arms and buttocks and back of leg. Sometimes you can see the twitches, other times they are very fine, feel like creepy crawlers constantly moving. My lump in throat constantly feels like someone is choking me, yet I can breathe and while it feels uncomfortable swallowing, I can swallow both liquids and solids no problem. But this tight feeling in my neck is very scary, my neck feels stiff like someone is pressing their fingers into the notch in the middle above your collar bone.
I seem to feel these creepy crawling (fasciculations ? maybe) in my neck ALS. In terms of weakness I feel that my left leg is weaker than my right, but I have not tripped or fallen and have no evidence (so far) of foot drop. My manual dexterity (so far) is fine. I do notice that my arms feel heavy and tire easily when I lift them, however, this feeling comes and goes. When I am at rest I tend to feel these twitches more frequently and think that they are also in my abdomen, possibly diaphragm area, but I am not having any trouble breathing. This new Dr. that I am seeing has scheduled an ultrasound of my thyroid as he said that it feels slightly enlarged, although my thyroid bloodwork came back normal. I will be having an MRI of my brain in 2 weeks and I will be seeing a Neurologist later in March.
I have been sick with worry and cannot get through a day without thinking that I may not live to see my 5 year old daughter grow up, or my other daughter realize her dream of becoming a pediatrician.
My husband is hoping as we all are that this is not ALS, but I have never been sick longer than 1 week and have never had symptoms like these. All I do is cry when no one is around to see and hear.
I just need some support and prayers. Thank-you
I seem to feel these creepy crawling (fasciculations ? maybe) in my neck ALS. In terms of weakness I feel that my left leg is weaker than my right, but I have not tripped or fallen and have no evidence (so far) of foot drop. My manual dexterity (so far) is fine. I do notice that my arms feel heavy and tire easily when I lift them, however, this feeling comes and goes. When I am at rest I tend to feel these twitches more frequently and think that they are also in my abdomen, possibly diaphragm area, but I am not having any trouble breathing. This new Dr. that I am seeing has scheduled an ultrasound of my thyroid as he said that it feels slightly enlarged, although my thyroid bloodwork came back normal. I will be having an MRI of my brain in 2 weeks and I will be seeing a Neurologist later in March.
I have been sick with worry and cannot get through a day without thinking that I may not live to see my 5 year old daughter grow up, or my other daughter realize her dream of becoming a pediatrician.
My husband is hoping as we all are that this is not ALS, but I have never been sick longer than 1 week and have never had symptoms like these. All I do is cry when no one is around to see and hear.
I just need some support and prayers. Thank-you