Scared I might have ALS
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hello, I am a 32 year old Asian male and beginning of this month I started experiencing stiffness in my fingers. Soon my hands started feeling weak as well as my legs feeling shaky even after light exercise. At first I assumed it was due to possibly working out hard the week prior to my symptoms showing but soon my anxiety grew and I thought I might have ALS . I saw my doctor and of course dismissed the idea due to my age and ethnicity but referred me to a neurologist anyway. Since then I have been battling my anxiety but my fears came back full swing when my neurologist wanted to do an EMG right away and my blood work showed I had an elevated CK (reflecting muscle breakdown) I know it is a rare disease and even rarer given my age and ethnicity but I can't help shake the idea out of my head. I constantly wake up with anxiety fearing if I am weaker than the day before. I just want to know if anyone out there experienced the same thing I am currently going through just to help with my anxiety until I get my EMG and finally get my answer.
0 likes, 2 replies
elaine_10691 carl424
Posted
Hi Carl,
I'm sorry that you are going through this worry. I know only too well how this feels. I really hope you get some answers soon. You would probably love to believe that the anxiety itself was causing the symptoms. I would, for myself. In the meantime you must look after yourself kindly. When I am really panicky it helps me to almost see myself as two people(now you are thinking I'm crazy...maybe so!). One is the frightened child inside who is feeling out of control. The other is the strong, almost parental self, who is soothing and loving and listening to this inner child, allowing her to cry and feel very bad but caring, listening and waiting for the terror to pass. Sorry if this doesn't help your anxiety while you wait. It helps me just a little..and that is better than nothing.
ozcar carl424
Posted
Hey there,
sorry to hear what your going through, i thought i might help shed some light on this topic since im Asian as well and in the same age group as you and have had ALS related health checks and anxieties for the past 5 years or so, firstly im pretty sure the doctor wanted to do an EMG just to rule out something rather than due to the fact that he suspected there's an issue and wanted to check, they usually use EMG's and NCV's to check for pinched nerves and other issues as well, im pretty sure thats why he wanted to check, as for CK levels, those can be elevated due to many reason's, you mentioned you work out and even that can cause it.
For someone who has been and is still in the process of figuring out whats wrong with me i can tell you for sure that ALS is probably the last thing you should be worried about, i have done various test, Emg's etc and most of them came back normal but some did have issues and variations , the human body isn't perfect and we need to accept that, some people are more sensitive to things rather than other's, ive learnt to overlook a lot of those issues and continue with my life, for a terrible disease like ALS before a person can even figure out something is wrong with them, other's around you would notice it first, its due to the fact that you will feel your body functioning like it usually does and you will not notice anything different but other's around you will notice you talking weird, or choking often or not being able to walk straight or dropping things , being clumsy all the time etc etc, the list is endless, usually when people notice those symptoms is when they go for check ups and go for further investigations, its a diseases of inability to do something rather than feeling like you cant because your weak or tired.
Dont stress out about this, if you can still hold a fork, write , type on a keyboard, snap your fingers, count numbers on your finger tips etc etc, then you have nothing to worry about, and if you cant do one of those things then you need to think about a pinched or irratated nerve.
Thats about it.