New Member, Worries of ALS

[RedFalcon]

Hi everyone,I've posted here before; I'm a new member. I too, freaked out over ALS in the past few months and had not one, but TWO EMGs done. The second was done on my request by the 3rd neurologist I saw. I have had a variety of sensations since December.December - cold, tingly feelings on side of legs and arms while at work (stressful environment).Face would get red hot and I'd feel burning in my neck. March - burning back spasm in spine area, followed by fasics all over torsoApril - pain in arms, legs and hands began. Pain and tightness in knees and hamstrings. Tingling and cramping in hands and feet. May- had 3-part back and brain MRI, showed nothing. Had seen already 3 neurologists. Continued with twitches and fasics, plus a lot of pain.June- Intermittent buzzing in ankle/foot areas. Saw MS specialist. Said it was fibromyalgia. Put me on lyrica. Made great progress on lyrica.July-fasics died down, saw another MS specialist, said no to it; said I have BFS. Developed buzzing in legs, sides of arms, feet and hands. Tingling in hands and feet. Tinnitus got worse.Right shoulder began to buzz and get tingly August- feeling like hands are touching cotton candy or cobwebs, occasional vibrations in hands, feet and legs. Cramp in left foot arch. Fasics in face, arms and legs. Left chest area is tight. I am now scared of MS. It's not ALS, but I am still fixated on it.

 

[Gracer]

oh dear,looks like you got the stage of criticality loss. It happens when people are get deep in stress. They just can not analyse information and each and every new bit of it causes rather emotional (and rather negative) reaction.I know you might be not able to digest what me and other people would say to you (including your doctors).But1. All your symptomes indicate some autonomous disregulation (hot and cold flushes, tingling, burning, circulatory disruption causing spasms) which is a good sign of stress/anxiety underlying your troubles. 2. You report good results with Lyrica, which in fact is used for many years as out of prescription antianxiety drug (main prescription is antiseizure).3. You have clear MRI (several ones), which allows to say you do not have leisons necessary for MS diagnosis4. Your symptomes do not match MS clinical picture (there is a difference between list of symptomes in the medical encyclopedy and how do they present in a live person - severity, region, typical patterns etc. This is called clinical picture of disorder and can be only observed on a live patient, that is why doctros often can exclude MND just by having seen you without the tests)5. You can not stop to think about MS denying all the above, which in fact turns us to the item number zero: lost criticality, a sign of deep and prolonged sterss influence.I do not hope that would help too much. But maybe even a little help is a good one.

 

[JohnnyRocket]

You have BFS.What you're experiencing is nothing like ALS, and nothing like MS. Anyone who is thoroughly familiar with all 3 realize they are not remotely similar. At one point I was worried about MS as well. Get it out of your mind and move on. Easier said that done, I know.

 

[skyCoyote76]

I get the tingling and buzzing a lot. They're my primary symptoms, in fact. I twitch more often than I used to, but not constantly or even daily. The twitching only ever truly makes an appearance when I'm more stressed than usual. The tingling, however . . . I get the tight feelings, too, here and there, and a sense of weakness in my shoulder. But I'm clear. No MS. No ALS. Even as I type I feel the buzzing in my foot. I didn't a moment ago, but I wasn't thinking about it. I think that's the key: thinking about it. Don't. Distract, distract, distract, and it will disappear, either because you are so distracted that you don't notice it or it's just no longer there. There comes a point where you need to believe that the experts may know what they're talking about. It's a leap of faith when you're the one who's experiencing the symptoms. Even so, they've have years of intensive study and practice in the field. MS is not an uncommon disease. They know what it is. They've seen it countless times before. If three neuros say you're fine, in all probability, you are.