Please...those with ALS, or doc., I am 22, scared, and think I have ALS.

Hello everyone,
First I want to thank you for coming into this post. I will be brief but specific. In October of 2009 I woke up with complete left side numbness. There could have been previous symptoms that I ignored. This numbness was like if you stick your arm in a bucket of ice and left it there for a while...loss of sensation. Anyway, after about a week it left and was diagnosed by the doc. as a complex migraine...without the migraine? yeah weird. Anyway...had numbness on and off throughout the holiday season and in January happened again...problem is my numbness has not gone away this time. It is now, Feb. 19th so I have had it for over a month and a half. Weakness has also happened in Jan. on just my left side and it seems to be getting progressively worse as the weeks go on. I am waiting for a neurologist appt. in 3 weeks but just pray that I am not completely paralyzed by the time the appt. comes! my walking is no longer smooth and I noticed that I have a slight foot drop on the left hand side. I can't close my eyes without falling over and forget about walking heel to toe. my balance is really messed up, and I know this from being a dancer for almost 20 years of my life. I can still use my left side but it just feels heavy and is extermely tiring. My fatigue level is up, I can never seem to get enough sleep. If you have any insight, please post...Thank you.

kmendsley...Hello, I'm not sure what to tell you. Some of the symptoms sound a lot like ALS...but others not so much. The fatigue, weakness and foot drop are all common ALS issues. But from what I understand, the numbness doesn't sound right. I have no med experience..just a CALS. I hope someone w/ med knowledge will answers your questions.

Will pray for some kind of an answer for you.....c

hi,with the numbness it does not sound like als.
to be honest,given your age and symptoms you really need to see a neuro and get tested for ms.
have you been seen by a neuro? if not ask your gp to refer you.
hopefully its something treatable.

Your symptoms do not sound at all like ALS. ALS does not present with sensory issues.

Good luck with the neuro appmnt.

kmendsley,

I saw a statistic recently that stated the ALS in someone as young as yourself is infintestimal, many times rarer than for most ALS which is already only found once or twice in one-hundred thousand people with the average age of diagnosed at fifty-nine (that"s me)

Not that this helps your current condition. I hope the docs find the cause

Don't push yourelf meanwhile which is easy for me to say, if I was experiencing your problems at your age..I would have been freaked

Nothing you describes would lead any neuro to believe that you have ALS. Your story points away from it. Relax.

Thank you all for your reassurance. Somewhere in the millions of scary postings online of neurological disorders I got confused and thought that ALS did cause numbness problems. Thank you for righting my way! And referring to an earlier post by a member, yes I have a referral to see a neurologist in the beginning of March. I will definately let you all know of my outcome so that it may educate other young adults in taking health concerns seriously and knowing the facts! Many thanks and know of my prayers and thoughts for you all in wherever life may be leading you!