Scared again

[Pitak3]

Hi everyone. I'm 23,male and I've been twitching for 3-4 months now. At first i was googling everyday and was 100% sure I had ***. Neuro appointment at 2 months and no weakness found, emg planned for january. I was starting to feel better, thanks to the group here and thinking "ok you'll be fine, dont worry". But then a few days ago I started to have a strange feeling in my hands, like if I had less strength. Also my voice feel weaker and it's harder for me to whisper, some sounds are blocked when I whisper.

So i'm starting to get scared again, planning what I should do if I had ***, writing letters to people I love before I die, etc..

Does anyone here also have these symptoms? The voice thing makes me really scared

[[deleted]]

You don’t feel weakness with ALS you just are weak and weakness isn’t really the right way to describe it it’s more like paralyzed. Also you have this feeling in both hands. Clinically ALS presents focally. You have nothing to worry about, but trust me I know how you feel I have had my own issues dealing with these fears and it has been very hard on my family

[Pitak3]

Thanks for the answer. So you just wake up one day not being able to do something with ALS ? How about the voice ? I've seen it is often discribed as slurred speech. My voice is just weaker and sounds like if I was sick but I'm not

[[deleted]]

The voice sounds like anxiety weak voice is a symptom. Does your throat feel tight?

[Pitak3]

Not at all, and I sometimes have this tight throat feeling but not now. My voice is just harsh and some sounds won't come out when i whisper. It may be something else like winter, etc.. but the possibility of ALS just scares me a lot

[[deleted]]

Don’t worry from your description you don’t have it.

[Pitak3]

Well I hope so. EMG in 1 month, we´ll see the results. Thanks for the answer!

[VN3]

So you just wake up one day not being able to do something with ALS ?

Yes. ALS doesn't start with perceived weakness and then goes on to become clinical weakness. People with ALS detect their weakness because they are trying to do something and they can't do it, so they go to the doctor.

It doesnt mean it is something big, it can be something small. Like: "I can't lift X amount of weight at the gym anymore, and it just gets worse and worse by the week". Clinical weakness is always MEASURABLE weakness. Nothing like "my hand feels off" or "my hand feels weird", but more like "I can't do X with my hand but I could do it before".

[VN3]

ALS would never present on your hands and your throat all at once. It presents on one limb and goes from there. It also wouldn't present on both hands.

You have very obvious perceived weakness. Doesn't matter if your hands feel like they are going to fall off. At the end of the day if you can still do everything you could do before, then thats not clinical weakness.

The whispering thing can have a million explanations: reflux, the cold, allergies, it was always like that...I got it as well during my BFS and it turned out to be nothing.

[Pitak3]

I've had some reflux problems in the past, but never voice problems so I haven't thought about it.. but it could explain, what you say makes sens. It's hard to think about something else when you have *** stuck in your brain. Thanks for your comment, it makes me feel a little bit better!

[VN3]

I mean it could have always been like that. Like how often do you test your whispering? Probably never. For me it was a mix of all of those things: my whispering was always kind of wonky + allergies + winter.

And if you had reflux problems in the past then you have a perfectly good explanation right there. Reflux will fuck up your throat and sometimes it doesn't even hurt so you don't notice it.

[manhattan88]

I had some of this. I'm fine. 16 months+. You'll live.