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Any Neurologist know if I have a motor neuron disease or ALS (video of my symptoms)?

Age: Turning 22

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 147lb, lost 23lb in last 3 months but not entirely sure why, could be just eating less or something less, not sure

Gender: Male

Medications: No

Smoking/Drinking: No

Pervious illness: None really, I never got sick other than the "common cold"

Duration: 3 months now

Diet: Vegetarian

Oh my.. I just have something that is of extreme concerns, and I am panicking. On my right hand, the pinky and ring fingers are twitching, trembling if I hold the hand out to a angle, look at this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsDEo2cInRw

I JUST noticed this. It is only on my right hand, not on my left. I am going to meet a doctor tomorrow, but this is worrying me so much. As you can see in the video, if I hold my right hand, in a angle, the pinky finger is twitching like crazy. And this is also the finger which I have movement trouble. Please do help me.

I am noticing something very worrisome. I notice my right hand is very clumsy and is unable to do thing it used to. I find my right hand has lost dexterity, making errors while texting/ typing. My right hand, the pinky finger is unable to move away if the other fingers are bunched together, however my left hand is easily able to do this. I shown this in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUKWNnU41j4

This is how all this started. With Flu-like symptoms 3 months ago. I posted it over here, this is when my heart started beating rapid upon exertion, and the muscle twitching began. I believe the muscle twitching began roughly a week after my initial symptoms: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskDocs/comments/8jbr06/for_13_days_the_least_physically_demanding_tasks/

For almost 3 months I feel muscles twitching over my body. They're not going on 24/7, but like hundreds of times a day. I don't keep count of them. These muscle twitches are mostly in my legs, calves, abdomen and chest area, rarely in my arms. They are not coming in the same location, but different location, and come 1 at a time, usually. Not really sure what a muscle cramp is but I did not have those I believe. I used to be very fit, doing intense exercise 5 times a week BEFORE May. And I used to drink alot of protein supplements with BCAAs, and glutamine. I have read about both of their connection to ALS. I can still talk normal I think. Walking up or down stairs is somewhat difficult for me, it feels like my leg muscles are stiffer and have to work harder. Very recently I also feel like my leg muscles have to work harder just to stand. Not sure if that is true, but that is what I feel, especially the upper quad muscles. Also my back posture has curved, compared to before. I am also producing mucus on almost everyday for the last 3 months. And as I mention I did lose alot of weight, 25 pounds in 3 months. Not sure if this was do to having stopped exercising, or just eating less, or something else.

*important. recently I feel like I have a strong urge to stretch my legs (if sitting on a chair), to release the "stiffness". I also have muscle pains over my body. If I apply pressure the pain eases, but it feel kinda of like a burning sensation. Like if I gently rub/massage the affected painful muscle, the pain eases.

I also have to get up to urinate 1-2 times every-night, for the last 3 months. I never had this problem before. And I feel my urine has discolored to a green-ish shade.

For 3 months, little exertion causes my heart to beat rapidly. Before all this I was doing intense exercise fine. For example, walking up a stair with 10 steps, makes my heart beat at 120 BPM, and it usually starts at 80 BPM at the bottom of the stairs. When I am walking outside in somewhat sunny weather, my heart is beating at 110-120 BPM, when I am ONLY walking. Not sure if this is normal. Right now, doing a little physical intensive work, such as climbing a flight of stairs or walking for a while at a medium pace... its makes me short of breath. And I am always feeling for the last couple months, that I can not get a full breath in like I once used to. I am also unable to yawn properly. My blood pressure is also usually elevated when checked, around 142/80. From my understanding, before all this it was perfectly normal, at 120/80. However as of very recently my Blood pressure has came down again, according to my understanding.

Black vessels on palm and fingers (was extremely difficult to get it to show on camera, but it is visible in person): https://i.imgur.com/g1hEsDNr.jpg And: https://i.imgur.com/knq4VFPr.jpg They are like this but on every finger, I never saw them before in my life.... no one else in my family has them. And when i press on them they disappear.

And picture of vessels near bottom of palm: https://i.imgur.com/DWCJxeHr.jpg

Recently I worked out, and the muscles that I worked out do not feel sore as I expected. Instead different muscles that were kind of always sore, feel sore. These muscles are between the chest and shoulder, and they have stretch marks, and they feel tender and sore, as they did for weeks prior.

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Avatar universal
I have had MS since at least going back to my 20s. One time my hand did a dance, I had no control over, and showed my wife the show while it was happening. My MS is well controlled these days, MS, IF? it is, is treatable.
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Avatar universal
Hi there,

I read this post and I literally have every symptom you have mentioned. Except for black vessels, I have red dots I found on my fingers and up my arms. I thought I would share with you what I've gone through as far as tests and doctors appointments trying to figure this out.

It all started with the stomach problems back in March. I ended up getting a colonoscopy and endoscopy a few weeks later (I have GERD and needed to do the upper endo anyway). That exam came back unremarkable, and the Gastro ordered a gastric emptying exam. That exam came back fine as well, so he dismissed me to the wild. Then started the leg stiffness and calf cramping - again don't really want to bore you with details as our symptoms are the same, so to cut to the chase. I ended up in ER after 2 weeks of this pain and cramping and they did an ultrasound and found nothing. They ran a ton of blood work, full CBC, electrolyte panel, and liver and kidney function. All this came back normal. The ER doctor said I probably had something going on with my sciatic nerve and referred me to the chiropractor. During the time of the calf and leg cramping I was noticing some spotting on my feet that ebbed and flowed. Some days I would see these dots other days they would be gone. I was convinced this was petechiae which can be a sign of Lukemia, and went back to my PCP. He did more blood work, all fine (although my white blood cells were right on the borderline of low, the differential and platelets and everything else though were completely normal). A few weeks later the calf twitching started. I actually only noticed the calf twitching after a session of a leg sleeve I have been working on. The twitching is in both calves and follows a very similar pattern to what you are experiencing. Saw my PCP fo this as I was TERRIFIED of ALS, he referred me to a neuro and a rheumatologist to investigate. The neuro did a different metabolic panel of blood work all came back fine. He then ordered an EMG and NCV. He needled my left leg, right arm, right hand right shoulder, and face. All came back fine. He told me I had benign fasciculation syndrome and prescribed  me gabapentin and magnesium and said he would see me in a few months. The rheumatologist ran a different set of blood work checking for autoimmune things and did an xray of my back and hips to see about the pain I was having. All this came back normal. My family has a history of fibromaylgia and when I asked him about his, he quickly dismissed me and said men don't get fibro. I also, experienced the heart rate spikes at very low activity times, and this actually sent me to the ER again. They did an EKG ran more blood work, took a chest xray and all came back normal. So, they had me follow up with a cardiologist who did an ECG and a stress test. All came back fine. Lastly, I saw a dermatologist for the red spots I have started noticing on my arms, hands, and legs. They took a quick look at me and said it was just cherry angioma's which are completely normal.

All of this started back in March when I changed my diet and lost about 25 lbs. I'm not a doctor, and all the blood work has been fine. They haven't checked my vitamin levels though, and I really feel that my diet change caused some sort of deficiency and my body went out of whack.

So, I am still twitching, still in a lot of pain on the daily, and still having some sleep issues. But, after spending months, thousands of dollars, a ton of time in doctors and ER's, and I am completely normal from an investigation standpoint. The only thing that really had me worried in all my blood work (which none of the doctors I saw seemed to care) was my white blood cells being at the very borderline of low. All this has really led me to believe that my mental health is what is really out of sorts. Health anxiety can mimic any symptom from any disease. Every time I got an all clear from one doctor something else came up. Even now, I have this new symptom of my throat clicking or grinding when I swallow. I really have no idea where really to go from here, but I am slowly accepting that most of this could be a reaction my body had to an illness or deficiency from my diet, and they spiraled out of control by my anxiety.

I really apologize for the huge wall of text and hijacking your post. I just thought that by sharing my story and matching every symptom with yours, you can see that sometimes answers will just elude us. I am very lucky to have a great job and great insurance and having chased down answers. But, I still have none and am still confused. I hope we can keep in touch as our stories sound literally identical. PM me anytime if you need support or someone to chat wit.

Regards,
V
Helpful - 0
987762 tn?1671273328
Hi there,

I honestly don't understand how you've become so focused on a condition like ALS as being the cause of what you've been experiencing.....there are other more likely causes that could account for what you've mentioned but you would of had to of skipped over everything more common to even get ALS to come up in your symptom searches...

You said this started "With Flu-like symptoms 3 months ago" and that you have also been "producing mucus on almost everyday for the last 3 months" the more likely explanation would be an infection from a virus, bacteria, fungus or even an allergy issue.

If for example you have an untreated infection over 3 months it would account for being fatigued, all over muscle weakness, random  twitching, tremors, feeling shaky, respiratory issues, rise in blood pressure/heart rate, change in appetite and weight loss etc etc  

Keep in mind though you've also changed your diet and exercise routines in this time frame which wouldn't be helping....."I used to be very fit, doing intense exercise 5 times a week BEFORE May. And I used to drink alot of protein supplements with BCAAs, and glutamine." and "as I mention I did lose alot of weight, 25 pounds in 3 months. Not sure if this was do to having stopped exercising, or just eating less".......

you are also a Vegetarian so you have an increase in the likelihood of your dietary needs being way out of balance  over this time frame and your potentially dealing with additional issues associated with malnutrition....fatigue, weight loss, anaemia, muscle twitching, muscle weakness, low blood pressure, etc

The colour of urine can change depending on how hydrated you are, what foods you've been eating, side effect to medications, vitamin supplements etc, so the green coloured urine could also be diet related and in of itself it's more likely related to your dietary situation than being anything more meaningful.....btw getting up once or twice at night to urinate is pretty normal but you can look at your diet and evening hydration habits to reduce bladder irritants.

Also if your not sleeping very well at the moment if you are highly anxious, your not going to be sleeping deep enough for your brain to shut off registering that your bladder needs emptying, so whilst it isn't actually abnormal to urinate once or twice during the night, your sleep quality could also be a reason why your not sleeping though the night...

I genuinely believe your dealing with 'something' but not as serious as ALS as you've become afraid of, you really need to stop feeding your anxiety about your health researching medical conditions like ALS and go and see your GP for general blood tests to get what your dealing with diagnosed!

I'd also recommend you need to seriously consider that 3 months of an imbalanced vegetarian diet is long enough to have created a domino effect to both your physiological and psychological health and you may benefit from getting additional support and advice from a dietitian and a psychologist over the next few months whilst your getting back on track.

Good luck and i hope that helps you a little bit......JJ

ps we don't have professionals providing our online communities with information anymore, medhelps communities are patient to patient!  
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