I need help. ALS or Anxiety.

[rudiskacel]

I have been having constant swallowing difficulty 24/7 for five months now. I can swallow food and drink fine (sometimes food gets stuck, but not often) but my main problem is swallowing when I have an empty mouth. Like when you walk around, and you just need to swallow. Whenever I feel like I need to swallow it won't seem to work for a half a second, then it goes down in a sor of strained way.

I force up burps, but not like a normal burp, it's throaty and comes from my stomach I think. Every-time I do some food or drink comes back up my throat and into my mouth.

I am having a lot of muscle twitches. They are like a little drum and they just thump away for 5 or 6 seconds then stop and they move all over my body but mostly in my upper arms.

I'm 19 and I've convinced myself I have ALS and since the symptoms are CONSTANT and I mean constant then I have ruled out anxiety, since lots of people say - "Oh, you'll know it's anxiety because the symptoms come and go, with ALS there's no coming and going" and that is worrying.

Please help me, I keep coming back here and I don't want to be here. I want to be a happy guy who feels healthy and I just don't feel right :(

[Liv7117]

Hi, I just responded to another poster worried about ALS. First of all, ALS is almost unheard of in 19 year olds. It's already a rare disease, and is EXTREMELY rare in people under 40. I suffer from swallowing issues as well as twitching. For me, I feel like I can't swallow and end up swallowing a lot of air which results in constant burping and noises in my throat. I also get twitches all over, constantly. Whoever told you that anxiety symptoms "come and go" is wrong. Anxiety symptoms are often constant, and don't always come and go. Many of my own symptoms do not come and go, and I experience them 24/7. Anyway, like is aid before, I really would not be worried because ALS is really very rare.

[svenkuijper]

absolutely anxiety, i had the same thing. BELIEVE ME.
i had also your symptoms. no way you have ALS. get it out of your mind please!!! live your life and go on and all your symptoms will go away.

[Frenchy]

Here are some stats for you.

ALS is estimated to effect 20,000 people in America at any one time. There are an estimated 320,000,000+ people in America, meaning the percentage of people affected by this disease is a tiny 0.00627%.

Added to that, ALS typically effects people who are 40 or over. Meaning the chance that this is ALS in a 19 year old is miniscule. Almost negligable, I would suggest.

Perhaps you should see an ENT specialist to put your mind at rest and to check out whether there is something they can identify with your swallow. However the symptoms you have listed can all absolutely be explained as anxiety or totally normal phenomena. Even long term chronic symptoms can be anxiety related.

It is an absolute myth that anxiety symptoms always randomly "come and go" for everyone. Some people experience on going symptoms of anxiety that can last continuously for months and months. You may even convince yourself that you aren't feeling anxious, when in fact you are.

This site is littered with examples of this. Don't use the fact that your symptoms are continual as a sure sign that things are more serious than they are.

[Sophie1]

I have been scared of ALS also and have found out that bulbar ALS is called 'Fazio londe' in under 25's and its actually treatable with riboflavin.

But only less than 100 cases have been found and its genetic!

Basically I am saying you definitely do not have ALS!