Many of us, if not all of us fear the former. We insist that the neurologists are wrong and that we are smarter than them, when that is not the case. For my sanity, and the sanity of others let me explain the difference based on research so many of us have gathered.ALS: .fatal neurodegenerative disease that usually causes a patients demise within 2-5 years .symptoms mainly include weakness and cramps, with occasional but usually not reported twitching .symptoms such as weakness, appear very early on in the disease because the disease is not a forgiving one. it doesnt hide. By early on, that means 2-3 months . twitching is almost never the first sign and if it is, the weakness sets in quickly. By quickly that generally means once again 2-3 months . horrible, quick, ugly pathology .First emg, usually within 3 months shows very severe abnormalites, and doctor tells patient something is severely wrong. Sends them to better specialist, clinic (Mayo) or what have you .Usually, if not always, patient knows he/she has the nasty by the 6 month mark even though diagnosis often does not take place til one year. .Doctors warn patients by 6 month mark that that diagnosis is most likely coming BFS: .not fatal, non-neurodegenerative SYNDROME .annoying as heck, but doesn't do any harm as can be seen on clinical and emg . twitches are generally random, with hotspots .lasts for years on end... possibly without ever going away .doesn't usually interfere with everyday activities, unless one lets it . scares the heck out of everyone experiencing it at first, but generally improves over times .people think that because twitching is a symptom of the nasty, that means they have it. When in fact, that is basically saying having a stomach ache is probably stomach cancer. .There are so many things about medicine we dont know including what causes twitching it could be anything. A virus, an injury, stress, a metabolic issue (i.e. gilberts syndrome or other liver issues. .We read, and by we this includes ME, rare freaky stories that we have no proof of being true on random websites that anyone could have written and insist this is reality . We choose to ignore the fact that the best clinic in the world, Mayo Clinic, did a study in which, well you know what happened. .We choose to ignore this study in favor of these small, who knows who performed them studies, on like 5 participants without a clear history .We choose to ignore that people from all around the world come to this clinic to be diagnosed with the nasty .symptoms wax and wane, unlike the nasty .people still have emg's after the lifespan of an ALS patient would have ended .emg's continue to be normal, or with little abnormalities not at all indicative of the nasty .Doctor always tells patient not to worry and "you dont have the nasty!!" .And last, but not least, we have symptoms that no patient of the nasty could ever have such as pins/needles, parasthesia, and tremors... Now you decide which one you think you have. I think i know which one i do, until the next symptom comes in that will freak me out. We all, including ME, need to get a grip on this and stop being idiots. I mean cmon the facts are right there, i didnt grab these out of thin air. Take care and I know which group all of you belong in.. 
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..what i was trying to say was, but i think i said it wrong was that by 15 months there would be some serious issues...including atrophy, weakness possibly twitching but not always and deranged emg....didnt mean to offend anyone...