ALS and why you DON'T have it!

[Kcguy2017]

Ugh. I was stupid and just read a bunch of posts on an ALS forum. I was doing so much better (mentally), and now I'm back to freaking out. Here's the really stupid thing. I can score a 10/10 on this sitting rising test (look it up on Youtube, I can't link it) and I haven't noticed any trouble lifting or squeezing things. Just some problems with my left ring and pinky fingers and perceived weakness and twitches all over. Irrational fear is a bi*^h.

[tryingtosurvive1]

I mean, I don't think there are 100% hard and fast rules about ALS, but there are general trends. It's generally a disease of older folks that moves fast. We *know* from the internet that there are plenty of benign nervous twitchers out there. Given this, do you *want* to worry for months that you are the exception to the rules? I mean, my therapist was talking about someone who feared getting hit by a car that veered onto the sidewalk. This person fears walking around. Is there 0% chance this could happen? Of course not (in fact it might be more common than ALS!) Is this person hampering their freedom with this intrusive worry? Of course!
Sometimes it's easier to see the pattern of thinking when it's not "your" worry. I suggest listing things you have feared in the past to establish your obsessive nature.
I have the ALS fear and I actually *have* muscle wasting (from a much more benign--though rare--genetic condition). But I'm trying to combat the intrusive fear and remember I have another diagnosis.
In your case, remember that nervous twitching is very common.

[Fishmanpa]

Ugh. I was stupid and just read a bunch of posts on an ALS forum. I was doing so much better (mentally), and now I'm back to freaking out. Here's the really stupid thing. I can score a 10/10 on this sitting rising test (look it up on Youtube, I can't link it) and I haven't noticed any trouble lifting or squeezing things. Just some problems with my left ring and pinky fingers and perceived weakness and twitches all over. Irrational fear is a bi*^h.

Dude... that has to stop! Don't go reading there. And please, don't join and post.

There's a positive in that you recognize how irrational you're being. The key is to convince yourself of that fact. You see, there are absolute facts that eliminate the irrationality.

Let's look at an analogy.... You go to the store, get a fresh cut of beef and some sides, go home and cook it up, sit down to eat and start worrying that the cow they got the beef from maybe had mad cow disease and you might get it from eating the beef (which is impossible).

So... taking into consideration of all that's known about ALS and the overwhelming majority of case studies compared to your symptoms and the chance is equally impossible. That, and the fact you're posting on an anxiety forum so somewhere under the cloud of anxiety, you know you don't have ALS.

Positive thoughts

[vincy]

There's a positive in that you recognize how irrational you're being. The key is to convince yourself of that fact. You see, there are absolute facts that eliminate the irrationality.

Positive thoughts

This is that part that is hardest to me Being irrational was never a worry for me. I've always excelled in logic. Majoring in Physics and Math. Well read in philosophy. Great debater. All of the sudden I can't convince myself of something that is so obvious to everyone else. That I am a perfectly healthy kid! Er.. perfectly healthy young adult

It is ridiculous to me that I'm having so much trouble with this.

[Kcguy2017]

Dude... that has to stop! Don't go reading there. And please, don't join and post.

There's a positive in that you recognize how irrational you're being. The key is to convince yourself of that fact. You see, there are absolute facts that eliminate the irrationality.

Let's look at an analogy.... You go to the store, get a fresh cut of beef and some sides, go home and cook it up, sit down to eat and start worrying that the cow they got the beef from maybe had mad cow disease and you might get it from eating the beef (which is impossible).

So... taking into consideration of all that's known about ALS and the overwhelming majority of case studies compared to your symptoms and the chance is equally impossible. That, and the fact you're posting on an anxiety forum so somewhere under the cloud of anxiety, you know you don't have ALS.

Positive thoughts

I wouldn't post there. The last thing I want to do is bother people who have been diagnosed with ALS. And I don't go there first and start reading posts. I google something and end up there. Still stupid, I know.

[tbl]

I've never been to the ALS forum so I have never seen that post.

Seeing this has made my day though and allayed a lot of my fears over ALS.

Thankyou thankyou