AlisonEmmaEllieAl
New member
Hello everyone!
I have now been twitching for about 3-4 months. I have seen a neuro, done MRI, Lumbal Punction, been tested for Lyme. I have done NO EMG. First I thought I had MS, that don't scare me anymore, but ALS still does, and it was long since I saw the neuro, which I stupidly didn't ask to do an EMG on me...
Oh well,
as I said I twitch, sometimes not at all, sometimes all over my body (legs, belly are the worst, when I twitch a lot I also get on tounge, face, hands, feet), but the twitches don't scare me a lot anymore, they seem to worsen when my anxiety does.
I have had a feeling of weakness in my right leg, it has become worse, and sometimes I feel I have trouble walking... but I don't seem to be clinically weaker, so that don't scare me either.
Lately I have had in my throat, and also difficulty swallowing, I thought first it was a throat infection, but it has been a month now. It comes and goes though, so I don't think it can be ALS related... still, that and the fact I sometimes feel I have trouble speaking scares me a little. I know though that this is most likely to be caused by anxiety, maybe some infection and I can let go of it...
So what is the problem then? What really scares me?
The thing is, I go to a gym and work out every other day. About once a week I train my biceps. For the las 2 months I haven't become any stronger in these muscles... if anything I have become weaker (I get stronger in other muscles... breast for example). Now the last two times I have become markantly weaker. Should I be worried, or could even this "objective" measurement (how many reps I can do) be in my head? Last time I did this exercise I got really high anxiety, almost an attack, and the time before I came in already being sure that I would be weaker. Could these things make me weaker...
The other thing that makes me worried is related.. I train my belly muscles, once a weak at the gym, I have also been doing situps at home evry day, yet these muscles have become very much weaker! I now have a hard time doing the gym excercise with 40 kg of resistant as opposed to being able to do 55 or 60. And this I know is not in my head, these muscles have become a lot smaller, that is they have atrophied.
I always try to convince myself that it is not ALS, so I think that maybe I have done to many situps too often and broken down the muscles instead of building them up, but I don't know.
I just wonder what you guys think, and see if anyone else have had problems such as these, that are so convincing me that I am getting weaker.
How does ALS work? Can it "attack" the biceps and belly first? Sometimes I think I am weaker in hands and legs too, but I can't "prove" that, and it's probably due to anxiety.
What worries me is that I am only 23, and I read ALS does not progress as quickly when young.. maybe my 3-4 months of symptoms is nothing...
At this rate I am going crazy, having high anxiety almost everytime I go to the gym (and the rest of the days too), and everytime I look in the mirror and see my atrophied belly muscles...
I'm now trying to stop my situps fpr a while.. if I still get weaker I don't know what to do... I guess I'll get to know next time I train my belly at the gym.
I rambled on a lot now, sorry!!! I am just really upset now.
I hope someone can help me. :S
/Alix
I have now been twitching for about 3-4 months. I have seen a neuro, done MRI, Lumbal Punction, been tested for Lyme. I have done NO EMG. First I thought I had MS, that don't scare me anymore, but ALS still does, and it was long since I saw the neuro, which I stupidly didn't ask to do an EMG on me...
Oh well,
as I said I twitch, sometimes not at all, sometimes all over my body (legs, belly are the worst, when I twitch a lot I also get on tounge, face, hands, feet), but the twitches don't scare me a lot anymore, they seem to worsen when my anxiety does.
I have had a feeling of weakness in my right leg, it has become worse, and sometimes I feel I have trouble walking... but I don't seem to be clinically weaker, so that don't scare me either.
Lately I have had in my throat, and also difficulty swallowing, I thought first it was a throat infection, but it has been a month now. It comes and goes though, so I don't think it can be ALS related... still, that and the fact I sometimes feel I have trouble speaking scares me a little. I know though that this is most likely to be caused by anxiety, maybe some infection and I can let go of it...
So what is the problem then? What really scares me?
The thing is, I go to a gym and work out every other day. About once a week I train my biceps. For the las 2 months I haven't become any stronger in these muscles... if anything I have become weaker (I get stronger in other muscles... breast for example). Now the last two times I have become markantly weaker. Should I be worried, or could even this "objective" measurement (how many reps I can do) be in my head? Last time I did this exercise I got really high anxiety, almost an attack, and the time before I came in already being sure that I would be weaker. Could these things make me weaker...
The other thing that makes me worried is related.. I train my belly muscles, once a weak at the gym, I have also been doing situps at home evry day, yet these muscles have become very much weaker! I now have a hard time doing the gym excercise with 40 kg of resistant as opposed to being able to do 55 or 60. And this I know is not in my head, these muscles have become a lot smaller, that is they have atrophied.
I always try to convince myself that it is not ALS, so I think that maybe I have done to many situps too often and broken down the muscles instead of building them up, but I don't know.
I just wonder what you guys think, and see if anyone else have had problems such as these, that are so convincing me that I am getting weaker.
How does ALS work? Can it "attack" the biceps and belly first? Sometimes I think I am weaker in hands and legs too, but I can't "prove" that, and it's probably due to anxiety.
What worries me is that I am only 23, and I read ALS does not progress as quickly when young.. maybe my 3-4 months of symptoms is nothing...
At this rate I am going crazy, having high anxiety almost everytime I go to the gym (and the rest of the days too), and everytime I look in the mirror and see my atrophied belly muscles...
I'm now trying to stop my situps fpr a while.. if I still get weaker I don't know what to do... I guess I'll get to know next time I train my belly at the gym.
I rambled on a lot now, sorry!!! I am just really upset now.
I hope someone can help me. :S
/Alix