health anxiety about ALS
Posted , 3 users are following.
I have some real health anxiety issues that i am finding difficult at the moment. I have had cramps in my thigh and calf for a couple of months followed by muscle twitiching and i have googled end and just about convinced myself i have ALS! I know i suffer with health anxiety as everytime i get something unexplained I google and find the worst case senario, i then look for reassurance only to read more things i dont wnat to see. what suggestions please to stop feeling like this?
0 likes, 2 replies
jan34534 alliefairn
Posted
you can relax. Muscle twitches and muscle cramps are extremely common. I’ve had muscle twitching for over 30 years off and on due to my anxiety , and so have many people on this site. Many people get muscle cramping sometimes it’s related often to overuse, dehydration or strain, Or mineral depletion such as potassium, calcium or magnesium..
ALS is not a sensory disease. muscle twitching as well as other symptoms don’t come until later in the disease.
in the beginning of the disease, you don’t get muscle twitching or cramping. The main thing that people get is a severe weakness in an arm or a leg. This was told to me by a top-notch neurologist. , Who I went to see when I was getting strange sensations in my leg. He tested my muscle strength was excellent. So that really made me feel a lot better.
Yes please don’t think automatic worst case scenario like I did because my weird sensation was due to sitting with my knees drawn up for hours it A time almost every day when we were all inside the house for several months. It ended up sort of pinching my nerve. it’s funny because as soon as I left the doctors office, that weird sensation started going away. The power of the mind!
if The cramping and twitching don’t go away, consult your doctor just in case it’s mineral depletion which is easily fixed.
HOPE this helps!PS. Don’t google! there are so many more explanations of why people get symptoms than the worst case scenario! ❤
dave65685 alliefairn
Posted
I had the same about 15 years ago. It started off with a bad neck, I thought I'd pulled a muscle in the gym, my head felt too heavy for my neck. After a few weeks I Googled my symptoms, the first thing that popped up was MS, then within a few days I had more MS symptoms. I then Googled the MS symptoms I had, this led me to Parkinson's and twitches developed within minutes of reading the symptoms. I twitched everywhere, arse,legs,arm,fingers and thumbs. I Googled again and ended up at ALS. I must have had nearly every symptom that came with ALS, my face went numb,I became weak to a point I couldn't turn the key in the front door, I had horrible cramping feelings in the legs, my speech became slurred, I became clumsy, I kept catching my feet on tables and chairs, I was convinced I had ALS. As soon as I got rid of my computer my symptoms cleared up, it took around 18-months for me to rid me of the symptoms. I now know insomnia and lack of food can also cause similar symptoms. I was popping 3-4 sleeping tablets just to get 3 hours sleep, without them I wouldn't sleep a wink. I had to force myself to eat, I could easily go a week without food if my Missus didn't insist I ate. I always dismissed people who said they haven't eaten for a week, but that horrible feeling you get in the stomach when you suffer from anxiety is far worse than hunger pains.
The sad thing about anxiety, I don't believe it ever goes away, you can control it but it will always rear it's ugly head at some point, hence the reason I'm on this forum.