Seeking Guidance - Worried about ALS

[hustleace2]

Thank you for your time, I need to ask you some guidance, I have read all posts about why its not ALS and they are great, but like a lot of ppl I am lost in fear. About 2 weeks ago my right thigh started twitching BAD, after about 3 hours I went to the ER, they checked my blood ect, I asked straight up if its ALS or something deadly the auto response was "NO" with a smile. In the first 4 days I went to another urgent care asked the same ? to another doc, he said dude you would be in a wheelchair for 2 years b4 the twitching like this started, I went to my GP doc and he said I dont think so, but sent me to the Neuro anyway because he knows about my anxiety and health fears, so I went to the Neuro, asked him, his intitial answer was the same immediate "NO". he did all of the physical tests strenth an what not, I pushed him again asking if he is sure, then he started with the "well anything is possible, but no I think its highly unlikely" (why did he go from NO to that, possibly because i pushed him into a "corner" so to speak"?) so then he handed me a pamphlet about EMG and told me to shecdule the test, and walked out. All of my blood work is fine, my strength is good I think but he didnt mention anything (I am fearing he saw something that made him order the EMG, but I also dont know if he is doing the reassuring thing) I have been doing my own strenght tests, I can do 15 squats on the leg that is twitching, I could only do about 5 at first (by the way the twitching has diminished but its not gone if it was 100% the first day like 1000+ times) its about 50 times now, but its in my calf now, and some other random places like my arms and pectoral, and a lot in my calf, I can also see my left calf do it but not often ect), I have no other outright symptoms except the leg twithcing and belive me I have been checking, and when I am distracted (like in a conversation, or playing playstation ect it generally goes unoticed. I am so afraid for my EMG, if it shows something positive does that definitely mean ALS? The neuro does not seem to want to even talk to me about it, and I envision him sitting me down to tell me you have ALS and have 3 years.....I am 37yrs old and I have a LOT of stress and anxiety in my life in general for years now.I am sure you get this all the time, and I knwo your not a doc, but have you heard / seen my story b4? any indications this is BFS?Thank you for your time all.DUKE Joined: Fri November 18th, 2011 8:02 am Private messageE-mail

 

[JohnnyRocket]

The question isn't "have we seen your story?", the question is "how many times have we heard this story?". The answer is......many, many times. The fact of the matter is that if there was a chance in hell this is ALS then your story would be very, very different. Neuro's will rarely say anything with 100% certainty so stop trying to read between the lines...there's nothing there. Get the EMG if it will help your anxiety, but any time spent worrying about this is wasted time. That much you can be sure of.

 

[antThatGuyWithNoName]

Based on what you said there's not a chance in hell you have ALS. When muscles twitch with ALS they are a long way towards being completely dead/unusable by that time. The fact that your twitching is occuring in the other calf and intermittently in other places on your body is very classic BFS. ALS starts in one place and you would get noticeable weakness there before it spread elsewhere. Even if you had localized twitching it means nothing without weakness. Many people on this site began with twitches in one spot that soon spread everywhere. You're not weak. Strengh testing will get you nowhere here. Also, don't be surprised if one leg is stronger than the other or is a bit larger, this is completely normal and seen in *beep* near the entire population. Your twitching will likely spread and become more frequent. This is all common in BFS. You're a classic case. You can get the EMG if you feel it's necessary but that's more to alleviate people's anxiety. It will be clean. The "twitches" that indicate early ALS can't even be seen or felt. By the time it progresses to noticeable twitching, the muscle is very weak.I hope this has helped alleviate some of your fear.

 

[hustleace2]

thanks, anyone else afraid and feel like they are the unique case? its been a rough year, had kidney cancer in january And now this....cant seem to get any health peace, praying its not ALS, THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT..