Afraid of ALS: Constant Self Testing?

I'm am still so very terrified that I may have the start of the dreadful ALS..... do any of you find yourselves constantly self testing your strength and examining your body for changes!? I do this all the time and can't stop! I have lost so much weight for absolutely no reason the past few months that Im terrified it's muscles wasting that is causing the weight loss!! How in the heck can I get over my fear of the dreadful desiese and get on with my life even though I have the constant all over body twitching?! Please any input is greatly appreciated!

Yes, I think self testing when you are filled with anxiety over your health is a natural reaction. If you are overcome with anxiety it could very well be causing your weight loss. Difficult to get adequate rest and maintain an appetite under such stress. You could be in a cycle of anxiety/stress causing weight loss which leads to more anxiety/stress and more weight loss......Try to focus on getting the anxiety under control and see if your weight loss abates.Best wishes.

my weight came back and even brought a few extra kilo with it within the year after I stopped my worries (however I still have some irrational bouts of selftesting, always resulting onlt in sore muscles and pains).

Ok yes I'm still self examining.... I have noticed that my right hand is getting really really bony.... it is way skinnier then the left hand and my right wrist is smaller too! I'm terrified this is atrophy!! Please reply with any possible words of reassurance! I wish I could post pics so you all could see what I'm talking about!

I copied this from a post I made six years ago. The good news I had the same worries you do and i am still here. There is nothing like the fear of something to make us over analyze ourselves. Before I had my nuero exam I had "percieved weakness" all over. I was sure I was going down fast. It did send me into a period of excessive exercise which in turn made me ache all over. Of course "I realized that aching muscles was a bad symptom" and began to analyze myself for equality of size among my limbs. As is now evident to me, no one has limbs of equal proportion. So I was naturally terrorized by this new revealing find that one leg was less in diameter. This in turn added to my stress, which exacerbated my twitching, which I of couse was certain was the rapid progression of something nefarious. Then of couse I had to much saliva which made me cough and choke, a definite sign of bulbar something. By the time I went to the nuero, he could have raised an eyebrow the wrong way and caused me to collaspe. I was ready for the worse. Which of course did not happen. It all seems a bit humorous in retrospect but it certainly didn't then. Following the "clear report" from the neuro it was amazing how fast my strength returned. Almost the next day! It made me so happy I could have twitched. In fact I did and I still do. But compared to other things I'm happy. talltwitcherInterested Posts: 18iJoined: Mon Oct 16, 2006 9:53 pm

shaskai,on my own experience and on the experience of other people here I can say that often thet difference is caused by edemas. it happens more often on feet/ankles, but sometimes might also happen on hands. Before BFS I had a trouble with my hands - my right one was tingling and numb and also a bit swollen. So it might be that your left hand is just a bit swollen while right hand is as it is. it happens sometimes due to lymphostasis, bad circulation etc. Lower limbs edemas of some specific type are by the way common in people with thyroid troubles (however I am not sure if they also have a hand edemas... who knows.. they have fascial ones for sure, very typical, so maybe upper limbs might be affected too).Atrophy usually indicates also quite a prominent weak muscles.check that remembering anybody who was wearing a cast for a time. Usually one month in a cast is enough for muscles to be a bit atrophied due to non-usage. people with broken leg HAVE TO USE A CANE. People with broken hand have to learn again how to hold a cup - because their muscles are just a bit temporarily atrophied. The CAN NOT HOLD A CUP! While physically the hand or leg might be even not so slim and bony.Should you be really atrophied due to MND, you might be having significant and non-transient difficulties to type, hold utensils etc. If that is not a case - the you are OK and are either super aware of body differences or have a bit of edema on your left hand.