Dann
New member
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2018
- Messages
- 5
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- Ca
- City
- San Diego
Hello All,
First of I would like to say thank you for opening this forum to people like myself that dont know whats going on with us and are scared sh-less. I think its great that your open to helping both people with ALS and those that are not yet diagnosed or that are just suffering from anxiety or even other problems.
I will spare you all my long winded story, i been reading the post it and several post for a month or so because of course DR google suggested this disease, but also it led me to you guys which have helped a lot of people either move on or deal with the disease.
So my big issues have been the lump in throat and some difficulty swallowing. I started to get worried so i started to focus on it. Dr suggested it might be my GERD, so i took the Omeprezol but the issue hasn't resolved.
Accompanied by the lump in throat feeling i been feeling like when i swallow if i have saliva it goes down ok, but then more saliva feels like it builds up quick and can feel watery at the back of my mouth and foamy towards front. So i keep swallowing and then on the 2nd or 3rd swallow i feel like i have to push it down. This causes some discomfort and small amount of pain. Also, i been getting some hoarseness in my voice, specially when talking to much and my vocal cords feel irritated, my mouth feels really dry and the saliva issues start again.
When i drink water, if i continuously drink, im fine, but if i put an amount and hold it in my mouth then try to swallow i feel like i have to make an effort.
Aside from all that, my jaw and neck muscles have been feeling tight, specially when chewing and that seems to affect the swallowing also. I been doing neck stretches by raising head up, pointing chin up and seems to help some.
I do have some constant pressure discomfort close to the vocal cord area, even if press near that area i feel litle pain nothing major. Also, my throat gets super dry making my hoarseness worse.
I can still eat, though i struggle and now even nervous when i eat chewy food like meats ect. I can drink liquids fast.
Lastly the other things that made me start going to the Dr and coming here was that on the side i had started to have what felt like tendinitis in my feet and some of my forearm/triceps/shoulders.
Dr Visits: So i went in GP, she did all the rheumatoid testing, all clear on that. Went to ENT, camera showed some irritation but nothing major he put me on antibiotics to see if it would help, no real change has occurred. I finally went to Neurologist, and guess this is more pertinent info, she did all standard strength/walking/reflex test, all looked good. Then sent me in for EMG/ECG(?is that right?).
EMG/ECG all came back normal, felt pretty thorough, Dr tested arms, legs, feet, hips, fingers. But did not test my tongue, neck or any other mouth areas.
So my questions to you all is, how do i communicate with my Drs if i still have swallowing symptoms. They said everything is fine, but the swallowing issue is still ever present. At this point i dont know if its ME causing or if its something wrong causing it. Sometimes i swallow fine sometimes i dont.
I would hope you all could help either clarify my symptoms based on your experience so that i can ask the right questions to rule ALS out.
I dont even know if its possible to rule it out if i am in to early, some Dr suggested that things may need to develop further to confirm something. And i dont know if this is early symptoms or just nothing.
Also, i can fully understand if i am being overly paranoid and if you all think i am i can accept your guidance, i just think about my kids and naturally it scares me.
So if you all would spare some of your super valuable time to maybe either help me communicate some symptoms to the Drs that you see may be of concern or if you want to bring me back to earth from anxiety land if you think i am up there i would appreciate it.
BTW, i do have a exam referrals for Barium, and Mystheria Gravis which i am waiting on.
Thank you very much from 42 yr old father. I think i covered most of it in this messy rant which i hesitated hitting submit button for last 3 days.
First of I would like to say thank you for opening this forum to people like myself that dont know whats going on with us and are scared sh-less. I think its great that your open to helping both people with ALS and those that are not yet diagnosed or that are just suffering from anxiety or even other problems.
I will spare you all my long winded story, i been reading the post it and several post for a month or so because of course DR google suggested this disease, but also it led me to you guys which have helped a lot of people either move on or deal with the disease.
So my big issues have been the lump in throat and some difficulty swallowing. I started to get worried so i started to focus on it. Dr suggested it might be my GERD, so i took the Omeprezol but the issue hasn't resolved.
Accompanied by the lump in throat feeling i been feeling like when i swallow if i have saliva it goes down ok, but then more saliva feels like it builds up quick and can feel watery at the back of my mouth and foamy towards front. So i keep swallowing and then on the 2nd or 3rd swallow i feel like i have to push it down. This causes some discomfort and small amount of pain. Also, i been getting some hoarseness in my voice, specially when talking to much and my vocal cords feel irritated, my mouth feels really dry and the saliva issues start again.
When i drink water, if i continuously drink, im fine, but if i put an amount and hold it in my mouth then try to swallow i feel like i have to make an effort.
Aside from all that, my jaw and neck muscles have been feeling tight, specially when chewing and that seems to affect the swallowing also. I been doing neck stretches by raising head up, pointing chin up and seems to help some.
I do have some constant pressure discomfort close to the vocal cord area, even if press near that area i feel litle pain nothing major. Also, my throat gets super dry making my hoarseness worse.
I can still eat, though i struggle and now even nervous when i eat chewy food like meats ect. I can drink liquids fast.
Lastly the other things that made me start going to the Dr and coming here was that on the side i had started to have what felt like tendinitis in my feet and some of my forearm/triceps/shoulders.
Dr Visits: So i went in GP, she did all the rheumatoid testing, all clear on that. Went to ENT, camera showed some irritation but nothing major he put me on antibiotics to see if it would help, no real change has occurred. I finally went to Neurologist, and guess this is more pertinent info, she did all standard strength/walking/reflex test, all looked good. Then sent me in for EMG/ECG(?is that right?).
EMG/ECG all came back normal, felt pretty thorough, Dr tested arms, legs, feet, hips, fingers. But did not test my tongue, neck or any other mouth areas.
So my questions to you all is, how do i communicate with my Drs if i still have swallowing symptoms. They said everything is fine, but the swallowing issue is still ever present. At this point i dont know if its ME causing or if its something wrong causing it. Sometimes i swallow fine sometimes i dont.
I would hope you all could help either clarify my symptoms based on your experience so that i can ask the right questions to rule ALS out.
I dont even know if its possible to rule it out if i am in to early, some Dr suggested that things may need to develop further to confirm something. And i dont know if this is early symptoms or just nothing.
Also, i can fully understand if i am being overly paranoid and if you all think i am i can accept your guidance, i just think about my kids and naturally it scares me.
So if you all would spare some of your super valuable time to maybe either help me communicate some symptoms to the Drs that you see may be of concern or if you want to bring me back to earth from anxiety land if you think i am up there i would appreciate it.
BTW, i do have a exam referrals for Barium, and Mystheria Gravis which i am waiting on.
Thank you very much from 42 yr old father. I think i covered most of it in this messy rant which i hesitated hitting submit button for last 3 days.
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