Hello,
(Male, 32 years) For the past 3 months, I have not managed to get myself out of the ALS scare. It all started with a brain MRI that showed 4 very small white spots in various areas. My neuro specialist said it was not MS or anything in that family of illnesses. However, she noted that these seem very old, so I might have been born with them, but that she also does not know what they could be specifically.
Another neuro specialist saw the MRI and said these look like ischemic flare-ups, which I probably have since birth, and I should not worry one bit. The problem was that the first doctor's reluctance to attribute those spots to something, as decisively as the second's, sent me down a MS rabbit hole.
After about 3 weeks of sleeping like 3 hours a night and Googling everything, my body began twitching everywhere (left eye lid, back, stomach, arms, right calf, forehead etc), but more often in my 4th toe in my left foot.
I did a long list of blood work and my vit D levels came back as severely deficient, as I was almost 30 levels under the minimum necessary req. for healthy people. I've been taking supplements since then (3 months) and I found threads that put my MS fears to rest.
HOWEVER, since the toe I mentioned did not initially stop twitching, I googled out of curiosity what could cause. That's when the ALS fear began, as Google chiefly pointed to that.
Now, it has been over 2 months since my ALS scare began. I know this because I decided to keep a calendar - I ticked every day I felt I was OK. I still had twitches all over my body, but they began to slowly subside, as did my fears a little bit. I still am very much deep in the severe health anxiety state I would say, because any twinge in my body sends me into an overthinking fret about what it could be.
This overthinking and health anxiety, while going for 3 months now, kind of began to chill out. Until 2 days ago. 2 days ago, I began having twitches in my right ankle area that slowly go up to the calf (and then to the upper region of my leg). And they're unlike the twitches I had before. Before I had em only while resting. Now, in this area, they also happen when I am standing up (not while moving, just standing).
Moreover, my ankle area feels weak. Like I feel I will trip or fall at a moment's notice. I also have this really weird and frightening tickling sensation at the base of my spine, around the coccyx area that has been going on ever since I sat down one day about a week ago for multiple hours on a rough chair.
I read the stickies and tens of posts here, so, mentally, I am aware it should not be ALS, since I can very much use all of my body. I even ran yesterday to and from the shops for groceries. So, if what I'm feeling was ALS, I would not be able to, right? Could this ankle situation be from my back? From whatever is causing my coccyx to feel tingly?
After 3 months of HA fear, first from MS, now from ALS, I'm just very tired. I just don't want to be this person I've become, but every single time one symptom relents, another props up somewhere else that sends me into a worry spiral. Except for the funny tingly feeling in the coccyx. That has been a constant ever since that day I sat in that damned chair. It only lessens when I lie down, but even then not fully.
I read that anxiety, especially one as severe as mine (I did get a psychological check-up and she was the one to jot this down as severe HA) can give twitches, especially if you're like me (unslept well for now 3 months, and with a recovering vit D deficiency). But what about this weakness? This has not gone away for 2 days now, going into my third. It is subjective, as I can still walk, even run, tippy toe, walk on heels etc.
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