Mystery Zapping and Cramping - ALS?

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InvisibleItches

Well-known member
guys, I'm not going to make it. I'm sorry. It is just all to real and I'm now certain it is something sinister. likely alsI'm at work, and my legs and arms have been violently ZAPPING all day. Not like normal hot spots I USED TO GET.For example, I picked up a single piece of paper, and ZAP and POP. I felt it in my right hand and it made a noise. FREIGHTINGMy hands and toes are cramping as well and the zaps and tingles continue.Last night, before bed, my entire back was tingling. I can't take this anymore. I know the worst is near and I'm very afraid of visiting a doctor. I won't because I don't have health insurance yet
 
Ryan..I am praying for you and sending good vibes your way not because I think you have anything other than bfs but you have got to get a grip on your anxiety! Go see someone if that is what it takes but you WILL be ok!!
 
Ryan,I know you have heard this from everyone, but you do not have &LS. The one hallmark symptom is weakness and you don't have it. In fact, most of your symptoms are sensory, which are not even related &LS. You have to remind yourself of this over and over again. I know how frightening this can be, and most of us have been through what you are going through.What I suggest is talking to your general practitioner about anxiety management at this point. You sound like you're practically falling apart from anxiety. While benzos are not always the best way to go, I think you would really benefit from taking a Xanax or Ativan or something that will make you calm and logical. It worked really well for me while I was waiting for my appointment to get an EMG. Somehow logic pops back into your head and you're much more able to cope. This would only be temporary, but I think you need some help.Please hang in there.Mitra
 
You need to stop and clear your head - have you even read the 'all about bfs' article on this site? You should. Many of us have had sensory issues and are still around - do a search here for 'sensory' and maybe even 'weird' and you will see how many stories people have about the weirdness they've experienced. If you haven't been to a doc you could actually have a rather common problem like diabetes or low electrolytes - at this time you have no idea so need to stop thinking the worse. If nothing else, find a free clinic and see if they can help but stop diagnosing yourself. Unless you have a medical degree, specialize in neurology, and have years of experience, you aren't qualified.
 
Ryan,I'm going to be blunt here. Your symptoms seem pretty mild to me. My body twitches all day long and has done that for a year now. What makes you think twitches are a precursor to anything bad? If they are, tell me some people on this site (who twitch as much as you) who have developed something serious. Zaps on your arms, tingling in your back? Happens to me every morning. Please relax. -Matt
 
Of course this is all real...do you think that the other people on this board are imagining the symptoms???? ;) ALS does not have zapping. Guess what, it is totally normal to zap and twitch and tingle and have pins and needles and tremors and pain and shakyness and numbness with BFS. All those funky things are part of it. Be thankful to have this website and are able to benefit from all the experiences of oldtimers. And use the search function. The information is all on here, not on ALS Boards and for sure not in your anxious mind.
 
Hi Ryan, I'm so sorry your going thru such a bad time at the moment...but please believe what all this great people and what your drs are telling u...u have benign twitching just like the rest of us...nothing u have sounds like anything different to what all the rest of us have...all your sensory symptoms are classic bfs..nothing else...please try and get some help for your anxiety...hugs shanny
 
Go ahead and do a search on this site for finger pain, numbness, cramping, etc. There are people all over this Board who have that problem. It is still just BFS.
 
Thanks Mike I just did a search and found some people who had similar concerns....I wonder how they all turned out??? It seems cramping is pretty common with BFS, but perhaps the most scary, because it is more closely related to *** than sensory stuff. At least that is what I've concluded, and as such, the cramping and knee pain is by far my scariest symptom. I'm almost coming to grips with the zaps and tingles I've been getting lately. Although new and now more prominent, it is almost like the HOT SPOT I had on the left side of my back for almost all of last year. So, I guess it has just turned up to 11 with my ANXIETY. Also, I do really mean what I wrote previously. If I'm still alive and healthy next year, I'd love to become a "veteran" on here....and, better yet, help organize a PARTY of all of us beating BFS and living good lives. I hope I make it that far! I'll stand by my word. Final obstacle:constant knee pain and pressurefinger and feet cramps :confused: joint painAlmost ok with:Constant zaps, tingles, and twitchesTotally beat and come to grips with:Eye twitching for over a year and back hot spot (I almost forget about them now)-Ryan
 
Hey Ryan nice to see you find some peace with the fact after 20 month of twithcing some symptomes had subsided and no one developed into something horrible.as for the constant knee pain and pressurefinger and feet cramps joint painthis is, as it was told already, could be caused by two reasons - physical trauma caused by heavy gyms done before or by fear (as fears cause a lot of simple muscle strain and due to prolonged exposure of your body to stress hormones could cause a kind of chronic inflammatory reaction resulted in stiffnes and pain in joints). Or by combination of gyms and fears.So it is good that you got a bit of grip on your symptoms, and my advice as an old (almost twice older! ohoh!) GAD sufferer is to go and do something for anxiety treatment first. With good antianxiety course (even free clinic can assign it to you I think) you might be feeleing much better in few month.I have feet cramps every day. I have unpleasant feeling in my thums (sometimes even painful) quite often and I've seen in earlier posts here people complaining for knee pains similar by description to yours own.Do not ruin yourself further. go treat anxiety. I look forward to meet you here in a year!best regardsYulia.
 
Hi Ryan, ok finger pain especially thumbs I can relate too..actually my hands are stiff and sore most days as are my knees and a lot of my other joints...and I will come your bfs party in a year , but whose gonna pay for my ticket?? I live in Australia...lol... :LOL: ...forgotto tell u I get finger and hand cramps too especially near my thumbs...keep your chin up u will be ok... :D)
 
Invisible twitches - I get finger, hand, and feet cramps. You are so not alone on this one. It has always bothered me as well. But I have talked to a few people on here about my concerns on these and they really are not that uncommon. I too have pain in my right thumb AND the first BFS type symptom I had was a tremor in my right thumb so, again, I understand your worry on that. Having said all that, the ONLY thing you and I and lots of other folks with these and all the other symptoms we have can do is listen to our doctors and what others are telling us. I realize that does not mean we are 100% comfortable with what is going on with us. What makes me think I know more than they do? I don't. And if for whatever reason you can't get there mentally (and I struggle here too), then seek some help with anxiety because it will not help anything. That I can tell you with 100% certainty. Peace brother.
 
Volfan, I've sought some anxiety help and I believe it is going to be a HUGE help.....although, the cramps and fingers, foot pain is by far the scariest....Like I said above, I'm coming to grips with the zaps, twitching, and tingles, because it is CLEAR that SENSORY stuff is UNRELATED TO ALS :)Shanny,Although I'm only 25 I'm finally starting to realize my dreams and goals -- in the work place, and who knows, by next year I may have enough to help fly ya out! haha :)My biggest and final crutch is obviously this fear, for it holds me back from a lot of happiness and total productivity. However, I'm still getting some stuff doneGracely,My question is, and I'm going to propose it to everyone again, how do we DEAL with the foot pain, cramps, etc. etc.How do you deal? Everyone,The fact that I'm coming to grips with the zaps and tingles is a step in the right direction..........However, I need help dealing with the foot cramps, leg fatigue, and hand/finger cramps. Yesterday when jogging home from the gym my left foot "LOCKED UP" like sometimes used to happen to me -- every month or so, randomly - as a boy and into college while lying in bed. My feet would just "lock up". This happened last night. While JOGGING! I was horrified, and I don't know how to separate this from my fear of ALS because it seems very much in the SAME BALLPARK. Likewise, today at work, pain/cramps on the lower ARCH of my left foot, so my mind is like, "muscles are dying, muscles are dying...and remember Ryan, you are having trouble running and getting tired so easily. This is the sign. what am I going to do?"How is this different from ALS and how can I cope with this? How do others accept this as benign and not sinister and how do you know that it is true?-Ryan
 
my own experience on dealing with cramps is more water intake. probably due to elevated adrenaline I lose more liquids that average person with urine (however I never had it measured). really when last summer I started to take extra 1L per day of mineralized water - I was Ok with cramps. I mean they ceased almost completely after few weeks when I cannot even turn in my bed without cramping.many people here say that warm bath, hot pad (or vice versa ice pad) help them with pains.when I had stifness and cramps in my hands, I found that simple self-massage (rubbing) was very very helpful. I am also used to search for painful points on main joints and do a kind of shiatzu - I press those points with my trigger finger (flat tip, not pointing-like) until I still can tolerate the pain - three-four times per each. ususally it gives some relief to tendons and makes me feel better. Sensory issues need sensory treatment mostly - rubbing, massage, warm\cold applications, etc.anxiety relief would probably also resolve part of your pain/cramp issues toohave a good luckyulia
 
Thanks for the advice Gracely,I'm just worried because every time I walk I feel it :< and I do this test I remember the Neuro did on me last year where I'll walk on my tippie toes and I FEEL it big time and in my mind I'm like, "YEP MUSCLES ARE DYING.":<
 
Okay, so you've accepted that all your other symptoms are not going to kill you. Thats great. Remove all of that, we are left with what? We have Ryan who experiences some occasional cramps. Do you have any idea how common cramps are? My wife has cramps more often than I do (and I have them fairly regularly). Should she be worrying they are the start of ALS? You recall having cramps as a child. Was that the start of ALS? If everyone who has cramps thought the same as you then the whole world would be in chaos. Besides, cramping isn't even a common first symptom of ALS. ALS is a disease of WEAKNESS. Most victims just stroll through life unaware then one day they can no longer hold a coffee mug, but everything FEELS normal. If you continue to associate every new symptom (or old) to the "start of something sinister" then you will be miserable. The questions you should be asking is "what needs to be done to fix my anxiety disorder?"
 
I definitely see the logic there and I being a logical person should follow, but I can't :confused: I think the reasons are twofold:1.) I've never had such constant and extreme cramps and "lock-ups"and 2.) I don't know where, but I read that cramps are associated with *** After reading that it was like when I read about the twitching, but this one I can't minimalize because twitching is SENSORY and Cramps are not . So, I'm in full freak out mode again. Couldn't it be an early sign. Because things aren't working as well as they were. There seems to be this HUGE correlation and I can't shake it. Why are the 2 not related if some say they are a sign and symptom ?
 
Ryan,Have you tried increasing your electrolytes and upping your magnesium? While cramps are often a symptom of BFS, there are also extremely common in most people without any sort of disorder. I used to get horrible cramping in my feet and legs when I was younger, especially when I was active. Back in those days I didn't care at all about my water intake or my electrolytes intake, and would go skiing or do something active, and cramp up. In fact, I used to get foot cramps all the time, even if I weren't active. And, I never, ever would have thought it was anything neurological. Most people would tell me to drink more water and eat a banana.Mitra
 
Mitra,I drink lots of water and I'm very active! Well, less so the past few weeks. My knee has been acting weird and likewise, my left leg has felt weak. I have read that cramping is common in BFS and that is good to know, but, I fear it extremely, because it is more closely related to ***. I just get scared because it feels of late that my legs are getting so tired and then, lately, foot cramps. Especially the left foot and on the arch where I can feel the muscles below. So I truly don't know how to cope, and if I had never read about cramping and *** I wouldn't be scared. But I read that and now I'm very worried.-Ryan
 
And can I add further......HOW DO PEOPLE DEAL WITH THE CRAMPING AND NOT THINK IT IS ***?Do I only think this will lead to *** because I once read that on another site? Is it the same slippery slope? Or, is it truly an early indication and many on here are just being nice to me and telling me I will be okay when in fact the outlook may be much more sinister? And again, I apologize when I come on here in fits of anxiety. But this foot cramping has me thinking each moment may be the last. Or that every step may be my last. That the pain I feel in the arches and bottom of my feet are those little muscles fading away.....so, it is hard, because I'm reminded of it when sitting and when walking. Constantly. And I can't escape this fear.
 

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