ALS Fear

[rudiskacel]

I am so scared :(

I have been living with difficulty swallowing now for 3 months and I am almost at breaking point. 3 months of constant swallowing problems.

It feels like I go to swallow, then it just stops half way through and I can't even force it down. I have to stop swallowing and just restart the process.

This only happens when I have no food/drink in my mouth.

I need help, please help me :( I have no idea what can cause these symptoms apart from ALS and I am convinced that's what it is. I sit up at night and cry. My life is becoming increasingly depressing as I can't enjoy a day out with my Girlfriend without me thinking about dying and leaving her without me. I'm only 19. I had an ENT appointment but I'm not sure he understood what I meant by difficulty swallowing.

He put a scope up my nose and looked at my swallow and said it was fine, I don't him it doesn't feel fine and he replied with 'there's nothing to worry about'. I was given a 3 month supply of Omeprazole, two a day. I feel like it isn't doing anything for me.

Anxiety can't do these things can they? It is literally 24/7. There is no rest-bite.

[popejoan]

Anxiety can do these things, your body is in a constant fight/flight mode. I had those problems too.

ALS doesn't cause swallowing problems like yours. In ALS the coordination between muscles is compromised which result in not being able to swallow and it mostly presents itself with problems with drinking liquids. That's why ALS patients use thickeners in liquids.

Also ALS doesn't start in throat, Bulbar onset ALS starts in tongue first, it causes slurred speech, if you don't have slurred speech you have nothing to worry about. There isn't any ALS patient whose symptoms starts in throat before tongue, it's not possible.

ALS should be the last thing you worry about. You don't have it and probably will never have it. It is like 1 in 60 million for you to have ALS at the age of 19.

I would suggest beta blockers and anti-depressants. I was worried about ALS before and it was ruining my life, I started taking propranolol and citalopram and now I feel fine. I still twitch, drop things and trip but everyone does so I try not to think of anything sinister.