Seeking Support for Twitching/Weakness

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AndyStreams

Well-known member
Ok, as much as I try not to worry anyone else on this board, sometimes I crack and come here when I really feel like I need help and support. I totally need that now. I started twitching in November of 06 and about 6 months later I was playing baseball and my pinkie finger "died" afterwards; i.e. it became so weak I couldn't lift it. It came back the next day. This happened every now and then and I stopped worrying about it, but now the fatigue is not just in one finger but my whole arm. After playing Nintendo Wii last night with my roomate, almost my entire arm is incredibly weak/fatigued. Putting my phone to my ear feels intensely difficult.I understand that doing anything strenuous can cause fatigue, but this is far from normal. My arm is shaking like crazy and it is very weak; this is not happening to anyone else who is playing the same game (that requires a pitching motion.) I combine this with weakness my scalloped tongue, my foot scraping, my twitching, my thenar atrophy (that showed up over a year ago and never got worse) and last, my twitching, and it has me very concerned about ALS.The things that point me away from ALS are the fact that I'm 27, two clean EMGs (last one was about a year ago), the fact that I've been twitching for 2 years and 3 months and the wide variety of "non ALS" ish neurological symptoms that I have such as flickering vision, parasthesia and sore spots. I've honestly been pretty good not worrying about ALS for the past year, but it was difficult raising my toothbrush to my mouth this morning and I'm kind of freaked out.
 
Have you pitched a baseball much in the recent past? I only ask that because I used to be a pitcher, and these days (even before my twitching) I wouldn't go anywhere a full out strenuous pitching exercise without first working my way up to it. I tried it once about five years ago (full speed pitching, 30 minutes) and the next morning my whole arm was so stiff I couldn't move it for a couple of days. Before you had twitching, you would probably just have chalked that up to "not being 18 anymore." I did the same thing once to my back by swinging a bat.In my opinion it just sounds like a 27 year with known exercise intolerance who went and did something foolish. :D)Is your arm sore besides just being tired and weak?
 
Thanks for your reply Mario (which, in Boston we pronounce Mah-io) You definitely make sense; if I never had ALS in my brain I probably would just be like "holy crap my arm is gettin old!" and laugh at how weak it is rather than worrying about something insidious. But now it is obviously concerning me quite a bit. I didn't warm up or anything, but it concerns me that this is focused so much in my right arm/right hand. Obviously last night the only thing I used was my right arm, but when I went snowboarding the other week, I pushed up off the snow using both left and right arms and it was my right that gave me trouble.That being said, I took an exercise class a few months ago and I literally couldn't walk up the stairs after it, so it happened to my legs as well. That too, also worried me. It just seems weird how much more affected I am by this compared to my other peers. My arm is sore-- is that a good thing?
 
It sounds like you are very sporadic with your exercise. Feeling weak after doing stuff you haven't done in a long time or have never done - this is always a problem for people after the mid 20's. Hate to tell you but it gets worse as you age for most people - you kind of need to keep some kind of program going so this doesn't happen. I don't know about your peers - would they say if they were tired or just suck it up? Most of us here would probably agree that whatever is wrong in our systems that causes PNHE stresses out the muscles in general so they are naturally fatigued more easily (they don't relax like perhaps your peer's do so you have a longer recovery). You could try some relaxation techniques or a simple hot bath with epsom salts after to see if that helps. Plus, with BFS/PNHE muscle can get overly tight after exercise, pull on tendons and ligaments, screw up your alignment, and even compress a nerve so that could be some of it. This happens to me sometimes - often it is just a repositioning of the limb that will bring it around but sometimes it take a few days (rarely it takes a week). Note - a few days - that means guess what? no nerve death, it's not progressive, so nothing serious. However I realize, that sometimes it is really irritating (both aging and PNHE!)
 
Hi Andy, old friend. You know this is the same old drill with our bfs. If we insist on being week-end warriors rather than sticking to a regular, habitual work-out routine, this is the EXACT sort of perceived weakness we will experience. I had the pinky finger weakness, back in the day, too. It really is unsettling. I think it doesn't help that we are always typing on the computer, swelling up the tendons in our wrists, thus compressing the nerves. Just this past week-end, there was an adorable 19 year old girl who was desperate to teach me to swing dance. I did not want to disappoint her by telling her I am too old and tired to learn new things, so off I swung. Or should that be "swang?"My right thigh has been complaining, ever since. It aches, it gives-way, but I know this is my punishment for not swing-dancing every day. The answer is always to get our butts moving, even MORE, not sit at the computer and scare ourselves silly. Gosh, I've been at this for over four years and nothing surprises me, anymore. You'll get there, just be patient with yourself. Blessings, Sue
 
Nintendo Wii is known for its ability to create a lot of muscle injuries while people consider it being a normal computergame and forget to warm up. Actually it can be very hard to play. It would be like playing tennis for hours as a newbie. Afterwards: a dead arm for days.
 

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