ALS ???

[Nic0715]

Hello,
I am a 29 year old female. For the past 6 weeks I have been having muscle spasms, twitching, and some cramping all over. I also experienced tningling and numbness in my hands head, leg and feet as well. A creepy crawly sensation from time to time. Muscle ache and burning. I am worried I have ALS or MS. I have recenlty had an MRI and blood work done and everything was normal. I have recently been taking calcium and magnesium and iron pills. My PCP and Nuero stated I was fine and my symptoms if anything sound like stress. Can stress have this affect?

I don't realy know what muscle weakness feels like if anything my arms feel really tense and sometimes a little shaky.

I worry because my 37 year cousin (female) was diagnosised with ALS about 2 years ago. I don't know how to relax from thinking about the symptoms I am having. Please help

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-SH]

First of all, keep in mind that I am unable to diagnose you because I am unable to examine you, this forum is for educational purposes.      
    The symptoms and story that you describe are non-specific, but are unlikely to be ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).  ALS generally presents with weakness and atrophy that is rapidly progressive.  This is also associated with fasiculations (twitches in the muscles) in the distribution of the weakness and atrophy.  Cramps are also common due to painful muscular contractions.  Numbness/tingling is not typical for the presentation of ALS.  
    The story you describe sounds like benign fasiculation syndrome.  Fasicualtions can occur for many reasons and are not a marker for ALS.  Fasicualtions can occur in normal people, with excessive exercise, after a viral infection and with electrolyte imbalances.  Benign fasiculation syndrome has wide spread fasiculations (all over the body) and is not associated with weakness or atrophy.  It is reassuring that your MRI is normal (which makes multiple sclerosis much less likely).  It is very hard for anyone to have a loved one diagnosed with ALS and it is natural to worry about developing these symptoms yourself.  Given your symptoms I suspect benign fasicualtion syndrome, but I would suggest that you get an EMG (nerve muscle test).  This is the test that is most often abnormal in ALS.  I think your EMG will likely be normal and will give you some reassurance or help you with addressing any abnormalities.
I hope this has been helpful.

[MagpieLaw]

Hi there

I am glad I’ve found this site as I thought I was the only one with weird symptoms. Over 3 months ago I started feeling neck muscle pains then it gradually spreaded to jaw, wrists, arms, legs, foots and even abdomen. I would not call it a pain but it somewhat feels a little prickly and it comes and goes. Then I started quivering (tremor) on my left side of the body. At 1 point even my face and ear could feel the tremors. I also had experienced twitches at all sorts of locations, although mostly on my feet, calves and thighs, sometimes on the arms also. My left arm also feels weak and clumsy. I also have a lot of muscles spasms but I have not noticed any wasted muscles (yet).

Here are some more strange sensations, I sometimes feel as though there is a numbness rush down my legs, when I try to move they can move freely. But it feels as if your legs are paralysed and that you cannot feel them. I sometimes also have prickly needle like pains on my kneecaps. I also have an intermitting ‘beating’ sensation, once on my left knee, I rested my knee against something and could feel the knee pulsating, at a rhythm!  I have also head similar pain/beat on my skull and on my thigh.

Nowadays I feel ‘spaced out’ a lot, feel as if I am drunk and that I can’t feel my steps properly. I also suffer very bad strains on my eyes under bright light and blurred vision.

I am a 23 male, smokes and do not exercise often. I had no previous major illnesses nor any similar symptoms. This all started out of the blue and is getting worse and worse everyday. I do not believe this is stressed-related, although the anxiety I go through certainly is having an impact on my day to day life. GP in UK is very slow, my routine blood test had returned normal results, just did another blood test today to look at a few more elements. Doctors seemed unconvinced that it is a neuro-problem at the moment. They all think the pains are unspecific and that the twitching locations are random. I hope somebody can help!

[Manhattan]

sounds more like bfs - benign fasciculation syndrome (i can never spell this correctly). you can look this up. i think you would know if you had weakness. just because your cousin has it does not  mean you do. if it continues, you could always discuss an emg with your doctor. have you had a physical exam by a neurologist?

[anxious girlfriend]

My boyfriend is a very healthy 39 year old.  When we first started dating I noticed that his left eyelid was a little “lazy” or slower than his right (just a little) but I never said anything because I thought he might be self conscious about it.  About 6 or 7 months ago he started getting tingling in his left ring and pinky fingers and also his left foot.  It has progressed into the following symptoms:  Nausea, numb limbs (mostly left- hand, forearm, foot and calf), numb left cheek and chin difficulty breathing or catching his breath at times, occasional raspy voice, blurred or double vision in left eye, twitching and muscle spasms…mostly on left side but now a little on the right, stiff sore neck, stiff left shoulder and back by shoulder blades,  frequent headaches, insomnia, night sweats, wakes up and his left arm is completely numb (asleep), and feels like there is bad circulation to his left hand (red and colder).  These have all gotten progressively worse over the past month.  Over the weekend his left shoulder muscle went into spasms and I could literally see the muscle twitching!

A little health history:  18 years ago he was in an accident where he almost died.  He fractured his skull, the left cheek bone and jaw, broke his collar bone (left) and 3 ribs, and collapsed both of his lungs.  

Something else that I wonder could also be a factor is that he worked at a computer constantly for the past 7 years.  The person who ran his company for him left so he’s been doing everything himself now for about the past 8 or 9 months (wondering if it could be stress related but he still seems pretty calm and together).

He has had blood work to test for vitamin B deficiency and an MRI of his head for MS… clearing both.  We are waiting for the test for Lyme disease to come back and are going back to his Neurologist for more physical examinations this week.  Of course every time he has twitching or numbness it consumes him and he becomes obsessed with it and I feel SO completely helpless.  He thinks it could be something very minor to something as serious as Parkinson’s disease or ALS.  

I would love some opinions or suggestions on what to even test him for.  Please help!

-Anxious Girlfriend