View Full Version : fears about possible als?
ohh hi so like last monday morning/ just over a week ago i noticed a tightness on the left side of my chest. i've been a hypochondriac for so long and worried it's a heart problem when a cramp developed in my right leg the next night, so i went to the a&e. they gave a general blood test, one for heart conditions and one for embolism, but said it is nothing to worry about. however as time has gone on i've started to worry about als! i've got a gp appointment for friday. soo will just list some symptoms, what would u make of it??:
- the main thing which sparked this is i noticed a depression under the collarbone where the pain was. this side i think used to be my stronger side with more tissue around the neck muscles, but now it's equal to the right (or even smaller? hard to say)
i worry about atrophy, just seems to cry of anomalousness : (
- my upper arms and my legs feel like they are vibrating, i notice this in bed especially
- right calf is still cramped. i feel mi legs are aching/ slightly weaker, especially when climbing stairs etc, slightly off balance? likewise my arms feel kinda sensitive to exertion
- my left arm seems slightly thinner/more sinewy than the right but i'm not sure if it's always been this way. sometimes a muscle twitches.
- nasal voice seems connected to some tightness in the chest (though the ache is gone), a couple of syllables i'm not sure if i'm annunciating well. this condition of the voice is kinda consistent
- not sure if im taking whole breaths
i wouldn't rule out stress (over health lol! maybe assignments), but it is just unfamiliar for me, all these
.
i'm only 18, and female, i know i wouldn't be the first... but it's rare though isn't it? ofc als is so unpleasant but best we don't worry too much. thank u so much for any comments, or if you have had a similar experience please let me know. also u can ask any questions abt similar stuff you're worrying over : )) oh or if anything here needs clarifying
p.s. oh man does anyone feel so weird abt writing their symptoms, like everything is potential foreshadowing? idk if posting this will make me feel better loll. but it's a lovely community of support here im grateful for it
You don't have ALS. I could put my house on it.
Treat your HA. You are young and should enjoy life, and not fret about some rare diseases.
really? your certainty is reassuring! oh
im worried it seems substantial somehow, ive never had a variation of symptoms before -- but maybe it's just one symptom more widespread. i'd appreciate even more input from others! maybe someone who has had the same, even though i appreciate this reply so much on a deep level
when i was speaking i experienced muscular tinnitus and feared it's a fasciculation lol! but this can be other stuff
Please read THIS (https://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?196071-ALS-and-why-you-DON-T-have-it!) as often as you need to.
Positive thoughts
i think i read it but in parts i felt like i was the exception it's describing and also i'm kinda scared to read criteria for most things even on this website, thank you so much though
everybody pls feel free to add xx
oh i am having a small fasciculation in my left wrist :0
everybody pls feel free to add xx
Clinical Weakness—ALS is about failing, not feeling.
ALS is about failure—falling down, being unable to stand on your toes, being unable to button your shirt, being unable to lift your hand, etc. It is not about these things becoming more difficult. It is about these things being impossible… no matter how hard you try. If you can do normal things, but it is more difficult, you do not have ALS. If you used to be able to do 100 curls and now one arm can only do 50; that is not ALS. If you used to run 2 miles and now you can only run 1; that is not ALS. If you used to run 2 miles and now you can’t lift up one of your feet, you may have clinical weakness.
It really does happen that something stops working all of a sudden. It is generally one muscle so it will not be a whole limb but the movement done by that muscle is suddenly gone. An example is a calf raise. It won't happen. Think of it like your wifi signal. You are surfing the net, then signal is lost and you can't do anything online no matter how hard you try or how long you wait for a page to load. This is what happens to a muscle in beginning ALS it has lost the signal from the nervous system that tells it to work
You're 18 and don't have ALS.
Positive thoughts
everybody pls feel free to add xx
I had a period of ALS health anxiety some years back as well. I had twitches all over my body and perceived weakness. No true clinical weakness though. I also noticed many dents and what I thought were abnormalities in my muscles. This is because I studied them so closely and was basically seeing normal things that I perceived as abnormal. Don’t give ALS another thought. Fishmanpa’s post says it best.
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Everytime I try to edit a post lately, it deletes itself 🤔 but anyways....
Do you know how rare ALS is? There are fewer then 20,000 cases per year in the US. Even more rare is being diagnosed with it at the age of 18. The average age of diagnosis is 55 and its 20 percent more common in men then women...
I know ALS is scary, the sister of a lady I used to work with had it. After I met her I looked it up to learn a little about it and ended up falling into the ALS hole but once I finally found a way out of it I realized I made myself sick with worry when in reality my chances of getting hit by lighting were greater then ever being diagnosed with ALS.
(((hugs)))
so sorry to keep bringing up new symptoms... i get some muscular tinnitus on the left side after i have been talking for a sustained time*. i think it correlates w a neck spasm, which i also noticed when i take a deep breath in. thank u for all the information it's so kind. i am sorta worried i may have noticably anomalous/unusual symptomz
please come with any new inputs xx even if u never had these symptoms before
NotDeadYet
16-10-19, 01:47
Mocata
I would suggest thoroughly understanding Fishmanpa's bolded post prior to even considering other symptoms. Throwing out additional symptoms to those of us on this thread that do not match what Fishmanpa has already outlined will not yield any new responses from us. You, in fact, do not have ALS. Take a deep breath and let that cold hard fact sink in
Best Wishes
you're so right, it's only i made de facto mistake of lookin up that tinnitus and als seemed prominent, maybe it was more what i'm noticing tho...
i posted about als so recently but i think my worry has diversified as im feeling more unwell maybe.... symptoms are:
- tightness, pain and weak feeling in the left arm, it is my thinner arm but i think naturally/not dominant side, same feeling in the legs
- my eye feels a bit hazier also, nothing clear cut tho ... it feels like fatigue... ive been having symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, always wanting to lay my head somewhere (anxiety?), feeling a bit off balance like when u first wake up, as the legs feel weak....
- diarrhea last night,
has anyone had similar? thanks so so much 4 any response xx
im soo worried, hmm what to do : ( could it be anxiety? the doctor said it's inflammation or a common virus, i don't think the arm feeling is tension tho.. i feel my symptoms haven't gotten better since i visited her...
What does diarrhea have to do with ms? Apart from diarrhea, all other symptoms are feelings, which is a common thing with anxiety. Neurological diseases have nothing to do with feelings, with them, you are unable to do certain things.
ohh sorry i didn't know, afraid to look it up, thought it could relate to a different neurological problem tho
thanks very much for the reply
i feel like it is a feeling but not in the wholly imaginary sense... because it is there 24/7 and feels quite substantial.. and i heard ms doesn't often lead to being incapacitated in that way? and there's the question of it being early onset or developed, if that would make a difference.. not sure
i've also had a migraine 24/7 for 2 years (said to be idiopathic/not a secondary symptom tho, and went to an eye specialist), and a headache that started with sunburn in march but ive been feeling it recently. i'm 18. just adding these to be thourough loll
It is still a feeling. If you are able to lift weight with your arm, the feeling you have is irrelevant.
this is so reassuring and im so grateful but anybody please feel free to add if you've also experienced similar xx
Hallo, I'm sorry to be back here! My symptoms are strange. I wondered if anyone has them/ are they normal? I am still sorta worried of ALS but know it could be anything else, or nothing : ( It comforts me to tell myself as long as it stays roughly the same, it is no worry.. and indeed some of the symptoms I'm having seem related to ones I remember having had liike for almost a year! These are- weaker right leg, giving the sensation it's longer because I lean on the left. In February I walked a long way and noticed my hip moves differently on that side. So even though I'm right-handed I think my right side has been weaker, maybe all my life and anxiety makes it worse? e.g. I've always had asymmetrical smile... sorry I forget to list the symptoms :0
Tremor in hands and fingers like a pulse, more noticable when holding something (the book is shaking), slight twitches
Twitches in my thighs also
Arms, wrist and legs feel sorta weak
I'm worried my grip is feeling looser, writing or when I hold a bag to my centre etc., though not alarming for me
The uneven walk mentioned above, I don't think it is visible tho. It is feeling worse than it was 2 weeks ago when all the tremors first started, but hope that these tremors are a benign cause. It is strange because my legs don't feel really weak as much as they feel uneven or unsteady...
A few of them come and go, one night I twitched on the side I was lying on but it was less noticable the next night, and my voice was sometimes feeling so weak but ok at other times. But I'm unsure abt the others
My GP did some basic strength tests on me on Monday, (pushing and pulling away, pushing the hand down, grip was recently checked too) and although I felt I couldn't pull them in with the right hand they said the strength is ok, and it's extremely small chance that I have ALS at my age. He referred me to an anxiety centre and was kinda annoyed/dismissive, was helpful tho. I told him most of these symptoms but I think I emphasised more the weak feeling, but I wish I elaborated on the ones I am more worried about...
nomorepanic
23-10-19, 20:32
Hi
This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your thread was merged with another of your threads.
Please when posting on similar topics add it onto your previous post rather than starting a new one.
It is nothing personal it is just to make it easier for people to follow your story and to give you advice as a whole.
Hii I'm sorry to be annoying : ( I just come back with one more symptom. It is really late now, half past one, but my right arm is going through points where it vibrates for a few seconds, up to 10 or so - really noticeable, like someone is trying to call me loll....
And it's only there... thinking it could be the way I hold it when I'm on the computer for sustained periods but Idk..
Sometimes when I'm walking I get a jolt too and I'm worried I will fall, my legs can feel heavy, shaky etc. of course I do have anxiety tho
i think my right side is smaller than my left. in the last month ive been having twitches on the underside of the right leg and in the right forearm and palm/wrist although it is sometimes on the left side too and in the nose. i can run and the gp said no clinical weakness but feel quite unsteady n tired, she also didn't rule out any illness but said its very unlikely...
It is worse when I think about it or haven't slept but always there I think
just wondering if anybody had similar experience xx
nomorepanic
01-11-19, 22:40
Hi
This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your thread was merged with another of your threads.
Please when posting on similar topics add it onto your previous post rather than starting a new one.
It is nothing personal it is just to make it easier for people to follow your story and to give you advice as a whole.
i have a twitch in my left eyelid along with tremor down the whole right side, just wondering what could it be : ( hasnt seem to have gone away, awful strange
ohh one thing i could relate to anxiety tho- last night when i calmed myself down i felt i can stand on one leg with less weakness
the twitches are worse at night.. i can mostly notice them as fascics in my palms but im worried this is only cuz the skin is so taut there (a bit like how u can see them in the tongue?)
i think my right arm is smaller
just updating but hope someone replies!! it's absolutely ok if no one does tho
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