Symptoms, stresses still concerned

Hi all

I posted on here a while back regarding numbness, in my leg and arm and I know have started with twitching and a constant feeling of a blocked throat.also some stiffness in my left hand

I have had all the tests, bloods, MRI, emg and nct, all of which came back normal.

My question is people say ALS is a process or ruling out other things, does that mean because ms etc has been ruled out and my tests came back normal it's more likely I have ALS? Or does something usually show on the test?

Pretty concerned right now

cvg123 said:

Hi all

I posted on here a while back regarding numbness, in my leg and arm and I know have started with twitching and a constant feeling of a blocked throat.also some stiffness in my left hand

I have had all the tests, bloods, MRI, emg and nct, all of which came back normal.

My question is people say ALS is a process or ruling out other things, does that mean because ms etc has been ruled out and my tests came back normal it's more likely I have ALS? Or does something usually show on the test?

Pretty concerned right now

Click to expand...

ALS has been ruled out too.

• Normal EMG == no ALS.
  
• Your doctor found no signs of ALS during your clinical examination.
  
• Twitching is not a symptom of ALS.
  
• A "blocked throat" sensation is not a symptom of ALS.
  
• Stiffness in your hand is not a symptom of ALS.

With ALS, it's not how your body feels, but how your body fails. ALS is a progressive degenerative neuromuscular disease, which means that, over time (and a short time at that), more and more nerves and the muscles that they control will fail -- permanently. It starts in one part of the body -- a hand, a foot, your mouth or tongue -- and spreads through the body from there.

If no muscles are failing, it's not ALS. If the muscle failures aren't spreading -- from the fingers up the arm, from the foot up the leg, or from the tongue to the rest of the mouth and throat -- it's not likely to be ALS. If your problems come and go, it's not ALS.

Put ALS out of your mind and let your doctor do the diagnosing. It's what he's trained to do and what you are paying him to do.

Thanks for the information I wasn't aware of all of that, and it's difficult because like others the doctors were very vague, performed my emg and nct and then left very quickly and said come back in 3 months. So thanks for the advice

Just to clarify when I said twitching I meant muscle spasms all over my body, particularly in y legs and ribs and when I said a thick throat I meant I was having difficulty swallowing and 'a feeling of a blocked throat'

Has anybody had the same?

this is probably why your doctors didnt go into great detail. trfogey just set you straight- and now all of a sudden you change the wording of your symptoms so maybe its als?! Nope. still not als. do you want it to be? seems to me they didnt go into detail about things because they can see that you get an idea in your head and automatically think its als. its more likely you have some sort of health anxiety and if the drs were to go into detail about what you would be going thru if it were als, you would most likely start to have those symptoms.
and its a good thing that the drs said come back in three months.
if it were als, they would have said so.
try to relax. anxiety can do so many crazy things to people. listen to your doctors. they are the ones with the educations and the equipment to diagnose you- not us.
best wishes to you.

Thanks for the advice it's all appreciated.

My symptoms didn't change I simply clarified what I meant by my symptom.

Thanks for all the help

cvg123 said:

Thanks for the advice it's all appreciated.

My symptoms didn't change I simply clarified what I meant by my symptom.

Thanks for all the help

Click to expand...

Your clarification just shows even more clearly that you don't have ALS.

• ALS doesn't start with numbness.
  
• It also doesn't spread to your entire body in two months -- if your twitching was due to ALS spreading that quickly, you would be substantially crippled in the places where the twitching began by now. By "substantially crippled", I mean things like being unable to stand or walk.
  
• Finally, you've made no mention of speech difficulties or choking on food and drink, which are far more common (and specific) symptoms of bulbar ALS than vague "difficulty swallowing".

With ALS, it's not how your body feels, but how your body fails. ALS is a progressive degenerative neuromuscular disease, which means that, over time (and a short time at that), more and more nerves and the muscles that they control will fail -- permanently. It starts in one part of the body -- a hand, a foot, your mouth or tongue -- and spreads through the body from there.

If no muscles are failing, it's not ALS. If the muscle failures aren't spreading -- from the fingers up the arm, from the foot up the leg, or from the tongue to the rest of the mouth and throat -- it's not likely to be ALS. If your problems come and go, it's not ALS.

You'll find much more relevant information for your problems if you look for information on benign fasciculation syndrome, or BFS. Good luck to you.