Help Needed: Worried About ALS

[Kevlar0720]

So I'm have a bad anxious day! I went to my chiropractor appointment and he checked my reflexes. He said my reflexes were slight to maybe diminished. He said I had a slight reflex response in all limbs. Is this a sign of ALS or is it when you have those jerky responses? I need someone with great advice to calm my nerves. I've had twitching for 17 months and this is the only time in months I feared ALS again. He said he wasn't concerned but obviously I am.

 

[LKPMetalhead]

I find that my reflexes are always different depending on who checks them. Shouldn't be but it is. If he's not worried neither should you be, especially after almost a year and a half.

 

[Kevlar0720]

It's been awhile since I've had my ALS fear going this bad. When he said he was going to check my reflexes in my mind I was telling myself this is the end to my ALS fear. If I didn't have clonus or hyperrfexia I would end my fears. But instead I got the complete opposite. Even my twitching went down in my body except for my legs. Today was the first time in such a long time I started googling slight to deminished reflexes. For hours I was trying to find that with it being the oposite of brisk reflexes if it pointed away from ALS. So I found hyporeflexia which can be a sign. So On a scale of 0-10 on my anxiety it's about a 9 and I keep asking myself if I need to go to the hospital. This is the compulsive side of my anxiety disorder. Can anyone here that is a veteran to the site tell me if hyporeflexia is something that is associated with ALS? I feel like I'm at the beginning with this fear not 17 months in.

 

[Gracer]

Dave, in ALS slight or decreased reflexes are usually asymmetric and accompanied by hyperreflexia in different reflex zones at the same time due to degenerative processes in both upper and lower motor neurons. This weird picture is one of the diagnostic signs. If you have evenly slight reflexes on all 4 limbs in all arcs, then it is just your personal feature. Especially if you do not have any associated losses in muscle strenght, any deficite like grip loss or foot drop, there is nothing to worry about. This rather means you have generally suppressed motor activity (maybe), which could be due to medication or supplements you take for fighting anxiety for example, or maybe your chiropractor did not exert enough force to cause strong reflexes (this is really individual). Good sign is that it is symmetric for all body.

 

[Kevlar0720]

Thank you for your response. He did say it's was in all limbs and said it was nothing he was worried about. I don't think he hit them hard enough because he appeared to get normal responses when he hit my reflexes a little harder. I'm a heavy weight lifter and after a few hours of calming down I feel better. Zero muscle loss and zero muscle weakness as we know points away from ALS. I've been diagnosed with hypercondria and was treated for it for years. Usually if I have no worries at the moment I find something to latch onto that causes my anxiety to go up. My muscle twitching had gone down significantly only in my legs which has been there for 17 months.

 

[Gracer]

so you are in a good shape generally!good to see this