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Could this be ALS?
by Zbmwm5, Jul 07, 2008 10:07PM
Hi,
I'm a 23 year old male... have been pretty healthy all my life. About a month ago I woke up with some dizziness, and feeling like i was having slight issues walking in a straight line. I felt slightly off balance and sometimes lightheaded. I also felt like my legs were slightly weak.... though a physical exam of my strength showed no weakness at all...and i have recently gone to the gym and been as strong as usual (no unilateral weaknesses or anything like that).
Well, I am a very anxious person and so I looked up the things that could be wrong with me... one of the first things I noticed was MS. After reading that, I developed muscle twitches all over my body, face, arms. I also had burning sensations on the back of my neck, numbness and tingling all over in different areas. These symptoms would come and go, seemingly.
I had an MRI, and it turned out fine. The dizziness, some of the parasthesias and feelings of leg weakness persisted though. I asked for a Lyme disease test, because I know Lyme can mimic many of these disorders and it turned out negative.... at the time I was feeling numbness in my face, and I still notice an increased number of 'floaters' in my field of vision.
Now I am convinced that I have ALS- I've noticed that I feel like my right side is weaker (it feels tired, but its not actually weaker when I lift weights, for instance)....and I feel like the joints in my ankles, wrists, and knees are funny/tight...sometimes there is slight pain, but it goes away after a little while. I constantly want to stretch or pop them (more than I ordinarily do). I still experience the muscle twitches... but the odd thing about all this is that it seems to come and go, and that the symptoms are kind of transient. If I am really distracted or busy, I dont experience the symptoms really. The symptoms tend to get worse as I worry about them.
I have not yet experienced true 'weakness' of the muscles... they just feel tired....and usually when I think/worry about it. Sometimes the 'tiredness' shifts from area to area....for no explainable reason. I havent had any muscle cramping or spastic reactions...though I'm sure I'll continue to self monitor until I figure out whats wrong with me. I've also continued to feel dizzy and lightheaded sometimes. I've been feeling these phantom symptoms for a month now, and I dont know if they have really gotten worse... or if i would definitely notice a worsening within a month if I did have ALS....
I have seen a psychiatrist who prescribed me Klonopin, which did help for a while... until I got curious/worried that I had ALS and now I seem to be feeling those symptoms more than ever....
I'm sure this all sounds very disorganized and frantic... but I need to know if this sounds at all like ALS, or more like a somatoform disorder....where i should seek help for the anxiety. I would like to go to a neurologist, just to make sure... but really who knows? Given that my initial and chief complaint was dizziness/gait issues/ feeling like i was off balance/ but not having any true weakness (just feeling tired in my legs, and arms transiently).... I dont know what to think? Is is even possible/ likely for a 23 year old to be diagnosed with ALS??
Signed,
Worried in Maryland.
I'm a 23 year old male... have been pretty healthy all my life. About a month ago I woke up with some dizziness, and feeling like i was having slight issues walking in a straight line. I felt slightly off balance and sometimes lightheaded. I also felt like my legs were slightly weak.... though a physical exam of my strength showed no weakness at all...and i have recently gone to the gym and been as strong as usual (no unilateral weaknesses or anything like that).
Well, I am a very anxious person and so I looked up the things that could be wrong with me... one of the first things I noticed was MS. After reading that, I developed muscle twitches all over my body, face, arms. I also had burning sensations on the back of my neck, numbness and tingling all over in different areas. These symptoms would come and go, seemingly.
I had an MRI, and it turned out fine. The dizziness, some of the parasthesias and feelings of leg weakness persisted though. I asked for a Lyme disease test, because I know Lyme can mimic many of these disorders and it turned out negative.... at the time I was feeling numbness in my face, and I still notice an increased number of 'floaters' in my field of vision.
Now I am convinced that I have ALS- I've noticed that I feel like my right side is weaker (it feels tired, but its not actually weaker when I lift weights, for instance)....and I feel like the joints in my ankles, wrists, and knees are funny/tight...sometimes there is slight pain, but it goes away after a little while. I constantly want to stretch or pop them (more than I ordinarily do). I still experience the muscle twitches... but the odd thing about all this is that it seems to come and go, and that the symptoms are kind of transient. If I am really distracted or busy, I dont experience the symptoms really. The symptoms tend to get worse as I worry about them.
I have not yet experienced true 'weakness' of the muscles... they just feel tired....and usually when I think/worry about it. Sometimes the 'tiredness' shifts from area to area....for no explainable reason. I havent had any muscle cramping or spastic reactions...though I'm sure I'll continue to self monitor until I figure out whats wrong with me. I've also continued to feel dizzy and lightheaded sometimes. I've been feeling these phantom symptoms for a month now, and I dont know if they have really gotten worse... or if i would definitely notice a worsening within a month if I did have ALS....
I have seen a psychiatrist who prescribed me Klonopin, which did help for a while... until I got curious/worried that I had ALS and now I seem to be feeling those symptoms more than ever....
I'm sure this all sounds very disorganized and frantic... but I need to know if this sounds at all like ALS, or more like a somatoform disorder....where i should seek help for the anxiety. I would like to go to a neurologist, just to make sure... but really who knows? Given that my initial and chief complaint was dizziness/gait issues/ feeling like i was off balance/ but not having any true weakness (just feeling tired in my legs, and arms transiently).... I dont know what to think? Is is even possible/ likely for a 23 year old to be diagnosed with ALS??
Signed,
Worried in Maryland.
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I hope you find out whats wrong. Any information I find I will share it with you.