Health anxiety about ALS
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hey everyone,
I'm fairly new here, mainly to put my worries at rest if possible.
So my name is Lena. I'm 29 years old and I'm from Belgium.
Now, a couple of years ago I started experiencing issues with my health. Clueless as I was, I decided to google my symptoms. Big mistake, I know. So anyway, that's how my health anxiety started. I was 22 back then. The fears ranged from cancers (due to weird stabbing headaches that would start at random times) and ALS (thanks to some muscle twitches that persisted for quite some time). Especially the latter was always on my mind.
Now, I'm not sure what I did back then, but at some point I stopped worrying about it and I felt considerably better.
A couple of weeks ago, however, the worries started again. I went straight to the doctor and had my blood checked (to rule out cancer at first). Everything seemed normal. However, that didn't really ease my worry for ALS. Sure enough, the muscle twitching started again, which I know can be a sign of anxiety. But just to be sure, you know?
Last week, I started getting the feeling of something being stuck in my throat. Not necessarily the globus feeling of a mass, but more like my saliva or liquid slowly dripping in my throat and I had no way to clear it. That really spiked the anxiety, because I never really had that before. It has persisted for a couple of days now. It's just that feeling. I'm not really experiencing any issues swallowing as of yet.
Anyway, so today I suddenly have issues speaking. It feels like I need to put more effort into pronouncing words, another symptom of ALS so it seems. And honestly, that worries me.
I just hope that there's anyone on here who can put me at ease a bit. Has someone else with health anxiety experienced this, or is it as alarming as I think it is? Should I ask my doctor for more tests? I'm extremely scared that my fears for ALS will indeed be confirmed.
Thank you for reading this. I hope you all have a wonderful day.
0 likes, 3 replies
jan34534 LenaB
Edited
i’m sorry you are so worried. But I can tell you that I’ve had health anxiety for over 30 years complete with muscle twitches, trouble with speaking sometimes, the feeling of something stuck in your throat can definitely be due to the anxiety that’s going on. People get that all the time.
I want to tell you that muscle twitches are extremely common with anxiety. If they were anything serious, I wouldn’t be here by now.
athletes get them all the time with how they use their muscles. They are called benign fasciculation’s. That means they are harmless muscle twitches. The more I thought about them the more I would get them. Now it’s extremely rare if I get one, but if I do, I simply ignore it and they go away. my neurologist told me that ALS is not a sensory disease. In other words, you’re not going to feel muscle twitches, or any other sensations. those only come in the later stage of the illness . I hope this helps you! Listen to some meditations on YouTube for relaxation and breathing. Going to be OK! Private message me anytime.
MStudent LenaB
Posted
Lol you dont have ALS, its incredibly rare and usually isnt noticed before serious symptoms occur.
i9252 LenaB
Posted
Sorry to hear you're going through all of this - I've been in a similar situation so many times over! My advice would be to discuss your feelings with your doctor again but in the context that they may be related to anxiety, particularly health anxiety, so you can look at improving your mental health and worry about having a physical illness.