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I'm worried I may have symptoms of ALS or MS

Hi everyone,

I'm an active 43 year old male in reasonably good health. In the past few months I've begun to have a couple of concerning symptoms which are starting to worry me. I've summarised the symptoms below. Can anyone offer me some help or guidance as to what these symptoms might signify?

1. Weakness in arms and legs, mostly in forearms and hands with a feeling of stiffness and loss of dexterity
2. Tremor in left hand and in fingers
3. Twitching muscles across shoulders, in back and in arms, which continue during sleep
4. Tingling, crawling feeling in scalp with sensation of pulse in head
5. Deterioration in vision with loss of focus in left eye
6. Dizziness, sensation of being off-balance
7. Weak swallow
8. Stiff neck, neck cracking
9. Irregular heartbeat
10. Intermittent breathlessness
11. Brain fog, cognitive slowness

I spoke to my doctor who suggested that it may be stress or labyrinthitis but I've had no neurological investigations.

I'd be grateful for any help/guidance/advice.

Many thanks,

Nathan
2 Responses
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8754215 tn?1399834273
So my question would be in the past 6 months what medications have you taken? This sounds like it could be due to something youve taken as side effect. You should sit down and write down all medications you are on
and try very hard to think of anything you've taken within the past 6month really even a year. Corticosteroids Antibiotics those sorts of things. Antibiotics especially are known to have side effects that can appear much later on.

Are you getting enough Sun and eating right staying hydrated?  Are you working and using these muscles more than you may have realized and are starting to get fatigue and worn down?
Last question is have you been working around any chemicals that are marked very hazardous?

If you have been working around chemicals they can also cause these kinds of symptoms and depending on the chemical it may show up later. Schedule an appoitment with your Dr.
If he/she suspects anything youll be sent to a neurologist. What you are describing sounds like you need to maybe have an MRI and get checked out.
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Avatar universal
Dear Nathan,

I am so sorry to read this. As a female in late 20s, I have been experiencing the same symptoms as
you. Just wanted to say that I really hope your neurologist will continue to test. Hope you are going to be ok!! For me, the MRIs just came back normal and hope it will be same for you. But the neurologist is now ordering a spinal tap and possible tests for neuromuscular disorders. I am currently wearing an eye patch due to constant double vision and cannot pick up right leg normally (as in marching).
I am just worried for you and hope that you will find someone who will go beyond just saying it is stress. Some doctors have said the same thing to me or have just said to focus on breathing. So I am really not sure but just hoping you will be ok/ receive diagnosis!!

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