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Hello. This is not my first time going down this worry. It happened back in 2018, where I was focused on my body and twitches. For a whole year my anxiety was thinking I had ALS and it came to the point where I saw a neuromuscular neurologist, they did my EMG and it was clean. Nothing, not even fasics showing on my results. No evidence of NMD or neuropathy. I was happy to let this go and which I kinda did. It was always back of my mind but I moved on with my life. Now. A few weeks ago I was helping my coworker out and helped her carry two 12 packs of sodas from her car to our offices which is a pretty long walk and I can tell my hand was tired. So I sit down and I grabbed my soda and I noticed my left hand was shaking. Almost like a tremor. I decided to just relax and not over think but it was it was still on my mind. Couple days pass and I did yard work with the weed eater and my hand was again shaking. I was really concerned and got me worried even more. Now whenever I use my left hand I’m seeing if I shake or trembles which it does to a certain degree but nothing like it was before. Now my head is in a big cluster of thoughts thinking is this how ALS starts. I’m doubting myself and rational thoughts. I know this clear symptom is failure. But as you know we try to find certain ways that it applies to us and I can’t seem to move on from this. I even ask my family if my hands are shaking and everyone tells me no.

Hello everyone- where do I even begin? It's 3:30am- I've maybe slept 30 minutes tonight because a tongue twitch woke me up- after a week of having new twitches all over my body and going down the ALS rabbit hole. i know I have anxiety- have been on Wellbutrin since April, dose upped in July. I am 34 year old mom of 2 and the thought of any symptom I have being ALS have put me in a bad spiral! Ugh! history- I had a DVT a few years ago during my pregnancy- healed fine. The leg that had that has recently been having some mild aches. I attributed this to some circulation issues post clot & went down the rabbit hole there- trigger anxiety to a level I didn't even know was possible. The next day- I noticed a few twitches here & there in my calf muscle occasionally.. now I'm HYPER SENSITIVE to every little thing my body is doing.. I now notice every little twitch... throughout the day- 1 in my calf, 1 in my thigh, 1 in my arm, shoulder, other calf, foot, hand... just a quick little twitch- that's it. Google symptoms- convinced this is ALS & go down that rabbit hole. the anxiety has been unreal since- I am losing sleep, I've lost weight due to no appetite, am checked out from my kids & husband because I'm so consumed with every little symptom & the twitches are happening more frequently & I notice every single one... tonight I got somewhat calm- then my jaw twitches (1st time) sends me in a panic.. can't sleep. Doze off finally- and wake up to a tongue twitch/spasm. Everything I've read says that is almost always associated with ALS & here we are- 3.30am, unable to sleep. i am seeing my doctor in 2 days- to discuss overall symptoms & anxiety. i have no pain (just that dull ache in the calf) no weakness that's at least noticeable or new (I'm out of shape so yea.. lol) no speech issues or falling... but the rabbit hole.. i would appreciate hearing similar experiences, symptoms... also reading so much that most twitches are caused by stress/anxiety. Seems crazy an emotion can trigger physical symptoms but wow... thank you all.

Hello everyone, first time posting here. I’ve been very concerned and have myself completely convinced that I have either ALS or MS. Over the past 2 years about, my left hand has felt weaker than the right and also the left hand is noticeably smaller than the right, especially the area below my thumb knuckle connecting to my wrist - also the palm area around the thumb (which I read in article was a sign of ALS) There is a skin fold at the base of my thumb because of this. I still can do things with my left hand, but it’s very awkward and clumsy. My hand also gets very sore and achy and the pain travels up my arm. I’m thinking this might be muscle atrophy? I’ve attached a picture of both hands for comparison. I also get bad headaches on the right side of my head and twitching all of my body especially at night. I notice the twitching most in my legs and eyes. My lower back tends to get sore very often as well. I’ve fallen in such a dark hole constantly worrying that I have something wrong with me. I find myself examining myself all day and being completely obsessed with my health. I’ve read every forum and like I said, I’ve just convinced myself that I have one of this diseases. I know I need to get things checked out, but I’m even more petrified to go to the doctor because I’m certain I’ll get the diagnosis that I dread. I’m hoping this is just anxiety getting the best of me. I hope I don’t sound crazy. Any help is so appreciated. Thank you all so much.

Hi all, I Am a 18yo male who are suffering from Cerebral Palsy since young. Recently I dropped into the fear of ALS. I have been noticing a localized twitch in my left thigh for about 3months. Before the twitch began I had a major stressful period of college applications. At the same time I noticed some perceived weaknesses (call it perceived because My parents have not really see any problem with my muscle besides the twitch ). It's impossible to test my reflexes because with the CP condition. My reflexes are naturally abnormal the twitch is on the scale of entire thigh muscle and NOT just part of it. When I twitch the entire muscle will visibly contract and sometimes strong enough to move my leg for a centimeter or two. The intervals of each twitch is anywhere between 5-60 seconds . The strange part is that the twitch is postural. I will twitch Only if I am sitting in my wheelchair, lying flat on the bed (with leg un- Crossed) and lying on my belly. Movement of leg muscle such as crawling, walking, or even standing and kneeling would not trigger the twitch, it doesn't interfere with sleep either. I do have muscle shrinks in both of my lower legs. But it's probably due to lack of exercise during the pandemic time... My question is whether twitch in ALS could be eased by movement? Am I safe from ALS for twitch 3 months without any weaknesses? Thanks

It’s been awhile huh? Hope everyone is doing okay. Just came to check in and say everyday I’m getting back to normal. I don’t really check this forum anymore because it would flare up my anxiety but I feel like I’m in a good state of mind rn. If you a worrier about ALS please look thru my past post. I was also a huge ALS worrier and there was months were I would just lay in bed because I felt like “today was the day something was going to show, my foot was gonna stop working or my arms” i have ave yet to have a EMG due to the fact I’m doing everything I was able to do since last year. I still have twitches here and there but I don’t let them get to me. I promise you this anxiety of yours will pass. BUT. YOU. Have to make that decision. You have to be strong and tell yourself you don’t have this disease that it’s all in your head. Believe your doctors...:enjoy your life. If anyone has any questions please lmk. Thank you and God Bless

Dear all, First time poster here, 22 year old male living in Australia, I've been following this forum for a while and it has been a great source of comfort to see that I am not the only one going through this horrible experience with health anxiety. Mine has been going on severely for about six weeks now, starting IMMEDIATELY after I googled the symptoms of that dreadful disease - funny that! Immediately all of the symptoms, which we all know are both generated by our anxious minds and EXTREMELY REAL, started happening. Just thought I'd share something that has been helping with my recovery and made me, ironically, laugh about the mess our irrational minds can make of us! I'm lucky enough to have a father who is an extremely experienced critical care doctor, specializing in neurology and respiratory medicine. He is also an ex-bodybuilder. Immediately he told me I'm not sick, he said any doctor could spot it a mile away if I was, and after I kept on bugging him he put me on a workout he used to do, something from a book by Arnold Schwarzenegger, that involved every muscle group. Push ups, dips, sit ups, leg lifts, pull ups, squats, calf raises, everything. It was hell, but I COULD DO IT, even though it was only three pull ups or ten sit ups. And as long as I COULD DO IT, there is no reason to be worried. "You don't have a**, you're just anxious and unfit" he said. He also said that any serious disease will progress, and if it stays the same or gets better, there is very little reason to worry. My anxiety hasn't stopped after that, but now every time I do a strength test to prove I'm ok, I think about what he said and I get a little boost of confidence. You often feel like you're going crazy - I recently tried testing myself with a one legged squat, on my toes, in the shower, and then got anxious about the cramps and perceived weakness I felt afterwards! Hope this helps anyone even a little bit. Remember that the mind is so so powerful and can convince you of anything. Remember that it will get better, the panic will go away, trust your doctors, don't Google ANYTHING specific that isn't just "health anxiety" because that's the real beast we're dealing with, be grateful every day for the gift of being alive, and sometimes even laugh at yourself - half the things we try to test ourselves with, even very fit people would struggle! Wishing everyone a beautiful day, Matt

I wanted to share very briefly what I have been going through the last month. Im a 39 year old male and Ive had HA off and on since I was a child. Some months are great and some months are bad. My most recent episode started with me having internal trembling when I was in bed. Whenever I would wake up throughout the night I would have sensations of my limbs trembling (non-visible). I've had this off on through the last year, but it was becoming more persistent. So, I made the mistake of googling what might be the cause. Of course many things can be the cause, but I zeroed in on ALS (which I guess internal vibrations is not a common ALS symptom). This is when all the crazy stuff started to happen. At the time I started to Google ALS the only symptom I had was internal vibrations. The more I read the more I started to manifest symptoms. The first new symptom was that my hands started to feel stiff and I started to have a lot of trouble typing (within one day of googling ALS). I'm graphic designer so I type and use a mouse all day long. Next my legs started to become very weak. Both legs from my thigh to my feet would become very wobbly and felt that I had just worked them out. My legs felt like they were falling asleep and would be tingling, almost ticklish. I then started looking for foot drop and I started walking funny and favoring one leg over the other because one leg was weak and tingling more than the other. Next came twitching and spasms at night mainly, but some during the day as well. Next I started remembering back that there were times when I had thought I was slurring my words. The slurring started to get worse and I was concentrating on my voice and speech constantly. My neck began to hurt and my voice began to be more raspy and hoarse (almost no voice at times). My tongue started feeling awkward in my mouth and I began to inadvertently bite it. Next I started checking reflexes and noticed that I was very jumpy and my fingers would constantly twitch when I would fan them out. This all happened within two weeks from when I first started googling ALS. My inclination is that many of these ailments/symptoms already existed, but I'm just more aware of them because Im looking for them. I still have all the above symptoms and I'm still constantly checking all parts of my body and I find new symptoms that I think point to ALS every day. I'm a little over three weeks into my ALS fears and my mindset and more importantly my body is really feeling the affects of my anxiety. I'm sore all over and I have the urge to cry and my throat feels tight (can't cry though). I'm sharing all of this because there is a big part of me that knows a lot of these symptoms are very likely due to anxiety and my ability to manifest very real symptoms. I also thought it my be therapeutic to express what Im going through and also help anyone else who has had these symptoms and is battling HA. I look forward to the day that some of my symptoms subside so I can get myself out of this viscous ALS fear cycle (ALS symptoms seem to mimic anxiety symptoms almost perfectly at times). Thanks for letting me express myself and feel free to reply if you can relate.

Hello everyone, So after about two months of twitching and worrying about ALS, I finally got up the nerve to go to the neurologist. No pun intended. I've also been hoarse off and on and I read where a doctor said hoarseness is a symptom of bulbar ALS. I told the doctor about my twitching and he said he doesn't think I have ALS. I would expect any doctor to say that to anyone because it is rare. He did tell me that in 40 years of being a neurologist he has only diagnosed maybe 5 people with ALS. He wasn't convincing in easing my concerns though. He was rather casual. And said stuff like "nah" and z"it's on the bottom of the list". He said the twitching could be benign. He tested my reflexes and said that my reflexes are a bit jumpy or hyperactive. That is concerning to me because it is a symptom of ALS. I expected him to send me for an EMG as I know many ALS worriers have had them, but he said that it's invasive and involves needles and that it's not necessary. He sent me to the lab for a bunch of tests including lupus, Lyme disease, some kind of muscular disease detected in blood, and vitamins. None of that was even on my radar so now I'm worrying EVEN MORE. He wants to see me back in 2 weeks. Why would he send me for all of those tests, what is going on? Thank you all.

I am new to this forum and I am in your exact boat. I have been worried about ALS for 6 months ever since I had a brother in law diagnosed with it and started having twitches. I posted my story in my intro here. Today was my neurological appointment, and the Dr told me I was the 4th person this week that had presented with severe twitching all over the body and not a single one had ALS. She gave me a complete neurological exam and was told I passed with flying colors. I could have an MRI if I needed for peace of mind but in her professional opinion it was not necessary. She then told me I had something I had never heard of and explained my symptoms (muscle twitching, perceived weakness, trouble finding words (not slurring), fatigue, numbness, etc). Functional Neurological Disorder/Disease - FND. Often brought on by trauma, chronic stress/anxiety, panic attach, or even infection. In short, it is when you have no problem with the hardware in your brain (no tumor, cancer, stroke or structural disease such as MS or ALS) but there is a software problem in the way the brain is sending signals. I have scanned the document I was given below and the website it references. I did a search on this forum and only found 2 posts under FND so not sure how often it is mentioned or known. The big thing is it gave me a real explanation for my symptoms and something to believe in other than all the worse case scenarios I had been imagining in my head. It explains why the twitches don't stop even when I feel calm and why the jerkiness and trouble walking are not just in my head. And the great news is it is very reversible with therapies and other treatment. I encourage research on this and even googling it (yes, finally something positive to google). Having this knowledge helped my symptoms immediately. I hope this helps. Links to the websites in the document: http://www.neurosymptoms.org and http://www.fndhope.org

So I’ve been having my twitches way before October but I just never really honed into the twitches till after I googled “twitches” im just thinking, if I had twitches since October of last year something more sinister should of showed up by now right? I keep waking up with this constant fear, hate waking up sweaty and my heart racing.

Hello everyone, I’ve been off and on this site for awhile. Let me just keep it simple.... back in October that’s when I started my HA FEAR. My hotspot is my left calf. And of course I twitch everywhere else sometimes but majority left calf. Ive seem more than 3 doctors and they told me it was ALS. I was good for awhile, I got a new job, etc. started working out more and more. I had an appointment last month with a neurologist but I felt like I was okay. A month later I twisted my left ankle in basketball cause I tripped on my friends foot. Then I reinjure my ankle cause I was dancing and I guess I slipped on some water on the floors anyways my head has been saying “what if it’s the beginning” ive had twitches since October and I know something more sinister would show by this time now so I calm down a little but it’s always there. I’m going through a brake up right now, I dropped my friends and don’t go out as much anymore. I sleep most of my days. Just a lot going on rn and I don’t know what to do. I’m 25 and I feel like I’m going no where in life and everything is falling apart. Thanks for reading this.

First, let me say thank you for the many members on this forum and their willingness to share information. It has helped me stay "grounded" through my health anxiety struggles the last 6 months. Brief history - Had an SVT (super fast heart beat) back in July18 that kicked off my first genuine panick attack and a series of stress related health issues (or so I believe). Although the Dr. said that sometimes they just happen and my heart was fine (normal EKG) I freaked out about all the sensations in my chest I felt for many weeks following and looking back realize I have been in a constant state of high alert ever since. Then camping with my family on Labor Day, I felt a vibration sensation going down my neck and internal tremors throughout my body. They were mostly noticeable when I was at rest and varied in intensity. In the middle of the night in my RV, good old Dr. Google made me 100% certain that I had MS and I had my second panic attack. Completely ruined the rest of the weekend as I was paralyzed from fear. A visit from my general practitioner the following Tuesday came the diagnosis of anxiety and the prescription of Zoloft. I struggled with the tremors and getting a good nights rest for several months. As the year ended, I actually started to calm down a little and decided to drop the Zoloft as I did not like the side effects. Then came the terrible news that my Brother-In-Law had been diagnosed with ALS. As I set up a Go Fund Me for him and learned of the circumstances he would be facing, I felt my anxiety coming back on. And low and behold, my tremors turned into muscle twitches, I noticed I seemed more clumsy and dropping things and my muscles seemed tired and fatigued all the time (even though I was capable of doing all the normal activities, yard work, cooking, cleaning, etc). This led to multiple visits to multiple doctors (the first one had to be wrong, right?) all of whom stated it was anxiety. In February, as my muscle twitches were still ongoing, a return trip to my new primary care gave me a referral to a neurologist. She didn't know what was causing my twitches for certain (although she still believed anxiety) but wanted to give me peace of mind. She also started me on Wellbutrin to help calm the nerves. The neuro didn't have openings UNTIL MAY!! Instead of peace of mind, now I had several months to worry about the appointment and what I was just certain was the true cause of my twitching. I also started seeing a counselor, who taught me coping techniques such as breathing and grounding. She also told me to stay off google or to google twitches AND anxiety since anxiety was the only thing I had truly been diagnosed with. That google search led me to countless YouTube videos along with this forum. A place filled with people who shared my story, in many cases almost to the letter. I got a call today that they had a cancellation and asked me to move my neuro appointment up to this Wednesday, 3/27. Even though I am much better now thanks to medication, therapy and the stories on this forum, I am obviously still nervous that I will be that person that was misdiagnosed with anxiety instead of the very rare, terrible neurological disorder that so many people with health anxiety fear. I mean, that's what anxiety does. 100 arrows pointing one way and we only pay attention to the one going the other. I will know more on Wednesday but this forum has helped and will help to get me through until then. Thanks to all that share and I hope I will soon be able to help as well as someone who overcame what was only a fear.

I’ve had the twitching since December. At first I thought my weakness was just perceived. But every day it gets worse. I can’t lift things like I used to. Every thing I do I shake uncontrollably. When I wake up to go the bathroom my legs and arms are quivering and I feel as though I will collapse. The doctor confirmed it’s not just anxiety. I had an emg maybe 20 days after twitches started. I don’t feel like it was long enough to catch anything. Doc wants to do a Repetitive Nerve Stimulation test. Ive read tons of stories where a person loses gradual strength like me. For example: http://www.alsa.org/about-als/2013-aam/stories/2013-aam-stories-427937571.html Im about to lose my family over this.

Hi guys i am a 20 yr old male and for the past 2 weeks I have had twitching throughout my body first it started in my eyelid and now it happens throughout my body randomly in different places any place in my body such as shoulder back butt forearm practically anywhere . I keep worrying that it is either als or some type of terrible disorder. I defiantly have health anxiety and worry about any little thing. I just am worried about this and I feel that posting on here and hearing others will help me tremendously. My twitches happen at random even at times when my anxiety flares up I do not notice them more than usual. They also can happen at anytime anywhere even if I’m not anxious nor thinking about them. Also when I go to look at them typically they are not there nor twitching only have seen my eye and leg and shoulder do it very few times. That’s how fast they come and go. They are 1-3 second twitches every time and only in my eyelid persist more than that or they’ll twitch for 1-3 seconds on and off for a couple of minutes . I’m very active I ran a mile today and did 100 push-ups and sits up yesterday and the day before that. I just am worried it is something worse and that it is not yet progressed because it’s only been 2 weeks. Please help

Hi everyone, need help!!! 12 years ago(I was 25) I had some small fasiculations and since I suffer fron severe health anxiety, ended up consulting 5 neurologists over 2 years and 2 EMGs. All clean and got the diagnosis of Benign Fasiculations. Tried to keep my anxiety in check over the years but last 6 weeks were very stressful workwise and commitments of a young family. two weeks ago the twitching came back and back with a bang!!! All over the body but more focussed in the arms(biceps,forearms and palm) and legs(calves). With it came a lot of fatigue and perceived weakness. And this put my anxious mind in a tailspin. Was checked by a neuro last week and he did his PHD in MND. He went through my history and did a quick neuro exam including mouth and reflexes. He thinks that I don’t have MND and he talked about his experience diagnosing MND. He said if I still want I can have an EMG in 5 weeks. To be frank I am freaking out right now... Need guidance from you all.. Anxiety is making me feel like I have never felt before. thanks for reading. Felt so good writing this.

Hi, Since Friday, my big toe and 2nd toe is going numb on and off. Has anyone felt the same? Just a bit anxious with my twitching. It is going on continuously and the calves feel weird as if I am having constant goosebumps. And hating the butt twitching which feels like thumping and starts when I lie down. Praying it to go away. I know that’s not gonna happen till I ignore these twitches. thanks for understanding

Hi there, I was wondering how many of you have been dealing with muscle fasciculations? Mine happen all over my body, but primarily in my knees/thighs when I am at rest. I was wondering how many of you also experience perceived weakness in it's company? Lastly, how many of you can pinpoint these to PTSD and/or other traumatic experiences? I have a long history of familial emotional trauma, in addition to having worked in Alternative Educational programs in the inner-city of Chicago, where I have seen and been the victim of various forms of trauma from that role as well... Any and all insight is welcomed.

I am 22 years old, and the past couple years for me have been some of the most difficult times of my life, from a mental standpoint. Health anxiety is something that has affected my sister, and I never understood her pain, until recently I have realized I am going through the same thing. These past 2 years have been extremely difficult, and it actually caused me to quit a very good job and move back to my hometown, which was something I never thought I would do. The more frequent it is becoming, the worse the incidents are. Lately, the past 3 months to be exact, I have completely convinced myself that I have ALS. I started working 68 hour weeks on nights, and started twitching in my eyes constantly. I tried to ignore it to the best of my ability, but never could completely block it out. Then one night, I started to twitch right above the knee on both legs, along with a feeling that I just ran a mile. Dr. Google had come up with ALS, and of course that is what I set my mind on. The constant twitching and weakness went away, but my worry of ALS just got worse. Now, I have random twitches all over my body, and a perceived weakness in both shoulders and my right hand. I went to the doctor, and he referred me to a nuerologist, but the appointment is 3 months away. When I can keep occupied, the twitching and perceived weakness seems to go away. But once it crosses my mind, it’s there again. I can’t help myself from reading every google article that comes up about ALS, as well as patient stories. It’s getting way out of control, and it is affecting my social, work, and everyday activities. Any help, comments, tips, and just a conversation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all.

Before I begin speaking any, I guess I should give a little background on who I am and what I have been going through. My name is Daniel Hall and I am 18 years old. I'm currently a student at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee; I am studying conservation biology as I have always had a love for nature. I have always been a hypochondriac. I can remember multiple times throughout my very young life (6-15 years old) where I was having episodes of what I now know to be anxiety. These episodes were mostly due to the usual--cancer worries, tumor worries, etc. In my junior year of high school--to my great dismay--I was in A.P. Biology class and we watched a documentary on Steve Gleason and his journey with ALS. Ever since, it has been my biggest fear; however, it was never affecting my life in any way... until about 2 months, 1 week, and 3 days ago. I began having a twitch in my neck. I honestly don't believe it twitched more than two or three times and then stopped. Anyways, ALS had popped up in my mind a few days prior as I had read about someone famous being diagnosed with it (I believe), so, I immediately Googled "muscle twitching" and found that one of the first things to pop up was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--ALS, or as it's better known, Lou Gehrig's disease. As many of you can imagine, an immediate panic went through my body and I freaked out internally, but managed to keep my cool as I knew it was super rare and that I most likely didn't have ALS. That didn't matter, though, as within hours I was twitching body-wide, head-to-toe, non-stop. 24/7 fasciculations. Luckily, my school was just about to begin Thanksgiving break and I was able to have a week to research (wish I didn't), mope (still do), and manage to get over my first bout of anxiety. I found that fasciculations are rarely the presenting symptom of ALS, and that body-wide fasciculations are even more rare as a presenting symptom. In fact--I've never read a story of body-wide twitching being the presenting symptom of ALS ever. Queue the happy, fun, and enjoyable Daniel. Back in business! That didn't last long, however, as I began to notice a tingle in my left arm which I knew had nothing to do with ALS. I began wondering if this is maybe MS or neuropathy or whatever other inconvenient but non-life threatening disease I could imagine. Then I began to notice an odd weakness in that arm. It only felt weak; I could still perform any action that I could before the feeling of weakness, but it definitely felt weak. Queue the anxiety! Within a weeks time this went away. I'm going to make the rest of this as short and undetailed as possible as this is beginning to really drag itself out. After the perceived arm weakness came perceived swallowing issues. I was having trouble swallowing, I had choked on my water maybe two or three times, and I was absolutely freaking out. The next symptom was nasal speech that was due to a very small sinus infection that I began dealing with. The perceived swallowing issues went away immediately. Then came perceived slurred speech. My tongue felt huge and was "dragging" in my mouth. It felt heavy. The perceived nasal speech went away as soon as my sinus infection went away. Then I finally accepted that I wasn't slurring and this was all in my head. It worked! I stopped worrying and had no more anxiety--or so I thought--and was out of the rabbit hole. I wasn't slurring, and life was ready to be lived from Mr. Daniel Hall! Until I began working out and noticing that my left arm was sore longer than my right :). I strained it. Very easy to do. I used to work out a lot, but quit after the beginning of my health anxiety over ALS. When I went back to working out, I went full force and full effort. I was sore for nearly a week! Anyways, this soreness led to more perceived weakness and tightness that has now went away as my focus has shifted to a new symptom--speech changes. Last night, my girlfriend and I were laying on her couch watching a movie, and I said something to her. Her reply was "your voice sounds different." I don't believe the panic was as bad as it has been before, but it was awful. She immediately knew what she had done, and she apologized and tried to calm me and reassure me. I was beyond the realm of peace from reassurance. I panicked and was anxious all last night and all today. I have been non-stop honed in and focused on my voice and the way it sounds. The point of all of this is to show the effect that anxiety can have on our lives. I joined this forum only days ago and already have seen countless threads of people worrying about ALS. I am 18, have no family history of ALS (or any neurological diseases in fact), with a family history of severe anxiety. Everyone on my father's side relies on anxiety medicine. I have just started anxiety medication not too long ago, but it is not helping as much as I'd like it to as I am letting this fear take control of my mind. The fear is irrational and is of something that I don't have and couldn't control if I did have it. It's funny, too; I can go on someone else's thread and reassure them and give them all the 1,000+ reasons why they don't have ALS, yet I seem to make the faintest connections from dots of information that aren't even real--dots of information that are just made up in my world of fear. I hope some of those who are having problems with ALS fears, or health anxiety in general, can read this and take a step back and look at their situation from a more mature and less anxiety-ridden view. I also hope that I can get some support from those of you who have been through these fears and understand the struggle. Anxiety is a real illness that can sometimes take a greater toll on an individual and those around them than a very genuine and very serious illness, but unlike those illnesses, anxiety can be conquered if it is recognized, understood, and an attempt is made to get rid of it, and support can make all the difference in the world when trying to accomplish those three things. P.S. Sorry for rambling on. My mind has been in a fog due to all of my anxiety, and thus my writing is very random and uncoordinated.

Hello everyone, just came back from my pcp appointment and let me tell y’all. Note: IVE BEEN FEELING ALOT BETTER ON MY OWN THINKING RATIONALLY, TRUST ME IVE BEEN THERE WHERE I FELT LIKE I COULDNT USE MY HANDS, LEGS. FELT LIKE I COULDNT WALK OR DRIVE, EVEN TEXT. LOST ALMOST 20 POUNDS DUE TO THIS HA. IVE ONLY GOTTEN 30 HOURS OF SLEEP IN A MONTH, SEEN MULTIPLE DOCTORS. I WAS 140, NOW IM 160 I FEEL LIKE I OVER SLEEP NOW HAHA AND ITS GETTING BETTER EVERYDAY. She was getting mad at me because I wasn’t focusing on the things I need to focus on haha. (I go to a university hospital and If you read my past post I’ve seen a lot of pcp just wasn’t mine cause she was on medical leave but she knows about my information since it was noted” Well to sum it up, she knows that I’ve been going through many ALS fear for some months now and she knows about my fasciculation's in my left calve (my hotspot) and all over. she said, “you don’t have ALS, we don’t look for twitching in ALS, we look for real clinical weakness.” She also said “you’re 25 years old, your muscles are probably telling you... hey I need to move.” I told her I haven’t been exercising or anything at all just labor work. She also explained, if you’re working out and you can barely curl a 5 pound weight come see me. She then asked me if I wanted to see a neurologist and I was kinda caught off guard, I told her “I do but I feel like I’ll be feeding into my anxiety. You don’t think i have ALS right?” She looked at me like I was crazy cause she just explained everything about ALS to me haha she said “NO.” she said “well I’m going to put the referral in and it takes months to see one anyways so if you feel like you don’t need to then don’t.” its funny because the doctor was telling me I should be worried more about diabetes and heart diseases because of my family. My parents also see my pcp so she’s very familiar with my family and she knows that diabetes runs in my family. So now she wants me to eat more healthier and work out more. i actually have an appointment with a neurologist on Monday cause someone canceled, I was kinda happy. so next Monday I have an appointment with a neurologist and I’ll keep y’all updated but just wanted to share my follow up.

*first post* So in September I was hospitalized for high internal cranial pressure with a diagnosis of p-acne menegitis. I lost my eyesight and had an EVD tube placed in my head for drainage while I waited in the neuroICU for 8 days. my eyesight came back except for blind spots and peripheral damage in my right eye. Keep in mind I had several tests done. Two spinal taps 4 CT scans, 3 MRIs bloodwork done everymorning. The works. Since then I have suffered severely from HA. It’s almost constant. I pray a lot and I give all my thanks to God for me being alive and well enough to be a stay at home mom to my 9, 2 and 4 year old. I’m 23 and I have my two kids to raise and a step daughter. The thought of not being able to care for them is devastating. It all started with being terrified of MS, my hands contract and when this happens my thumb and usually my pointer finger will bend into the palm of my hand while remaining moveable but it’s more labored, also my thumb pad will twitch vigorously. It doesn’t last for more than a couple hours but will happen 3-4 times a week. My eyes twitch almost constantly. I see a neuro ophthalmologist and he said it was stress and that my eyes don’t look like those of someone with MS. HOWEVER, with the muscle aches, muscle twitching and my hands being strange I couldn’t help but worry. I eventually moved on from that and stopped worrying about anything all together. But then I started googling and landed on the ALS speculation. That troubled me for about a week then after reading threads and learning more about it I stopped worrying about that. But while driving and watching tv with subtitles I started noticing “double vision” mildly and now I’m back on the MS kick. I can’t shake this stuff. It’s so hard to move on from fear off illnesses now. Help!!

Where do I start? I was overcome with fear about ALS because I had a sudden onset of twitches and jerks. Then I had pain in my foot and my toes got weak. Went to the neurologist. Found out I have a gluten sensitivity and my twitches could be cause by that. Also found out that I have low vitamin D which could also explain the bone pain. In fact, once I started taking vitamin D my foot feels better but not completely. For the past week, my foot will shake back and forth 3 or 4 times when I am falling asleep. I know about hypnic jerks, but I read that it is only one single muscle contraction. My leg shakes like I trying to shake something off my foot. Anyone else experienced this?

Hello, I wanted to put my situation out there after reading a lot of other's fears and situations and see what other's thoughts were. This will be sort of lengthy. My story seems to be similar to others on here, I'm a 30 yr old male who is very active, running and strength training 6 times a week. I work a pretty demanding job that puts a lot of stress on someone, especially during peak times (I work in ag, so fall season). This past Thanksgiving week, myself, wife and our 1 yr old who is a terrible car traveler ventured off to visit family on an 8 hr drive. I was very stressed about this trip and admit I let some pretty little things get to me. I noticed while driving a muscle in my left arm/shoulder twitching. This persisted to the next day and I showed my wife, she thought it was weird, but I'd gotten random ones before, typically after a heavier training day. The week goes by and I honestly am not sure if the twitching persisted. Going into the week, I had some other stressful stuff come up, top of which a mole that was biopsied because it looked funny. I also had had some sensations of tingling in my feet and hands, prior to this for quite some time, but hadn't thought much of it. For one reason or another, I noticed my left anterior deltoid shoulder muscle had a consistent twitch (still does) and this got me someone concerned. Was it the same muscle from over a week ago? So, I start looking up tingling and twitching, see MS, get pretty upset about that and this runs into the next weekend. That Saturday I am sitting there and my right arm completely siezes up, totally strained, couldn't hardly close my hand, this really freaks me out. So I go to google again and see ALS. This is where my demise really happened. I'm fairly concerned and decide to make an appointment with my doctor that day (we have an online portal thingy, got it scheduled for the next Monday). I am trying to stay busy the rest of the weekend and not think about the twitching that happening in my left shoulder, but the right arm thing is really bothering me. I will say, I knew what ALS was, but didn't realize the severity of the disease if you had it, I search life expectancy and completely drop, like couldn't function. Not sure I have ever felt more broken down in my life. That night I don't sleep a second, constantly clenching my right arm, feeling my strength disappear. My wife basically holds me all night because I am having multiple panic attacks. I'm sure I have ALS and won't get to see my son grow up or our expecting child. We go to the doctors, I explain my situation and my fears. We do the basic neurological exam, check out fine to the doc even with my right arm not feeling right (I also thought my right leg was now hurting). Doc can see I am distraught so she says lets run some labs, look for increased creatine kinase, guess that can be an indicator of ALS, if it comes out clean, your good, it's for my peace of mind. She also prescribes some anxiety meds to help me out. So we do that and labs come back great, I'm so relieved, and I'm feeling pretty good for about 12 hrs. But, I look some more stuff up on ALS, realize that blood test isn't all that conclusive and I'm back down the hole. My wife has me go to a chiropractor, he thinks I'm fine but works on my back and arm just to try and help things feel better. I get a message to try and loosen myself up. Nothing is helping, I'm emailing my doc over and over every day. I'm able to work out, pretty much normally, lifting basically the same weight, but my grip strength is reduced in my right arm. She says, we can do more tests if that would help you, but doesn't think I need to. I tell her I'll let her know the following week (this would be about 3 weeks after original symptoms). That weekend actually goes pretty good, my arm seems to be improving, and I'm like "This wouldn't happen with ALS, it only worsens, right?" So I tell the doc, nope, don't need more tests, I'll see ya at my regular physical. I should have just scheduled the test... I played a game of ping pong and again, my right arm seizes up, I still have twitching in my left shoulder (I check it about 100 times a day) and I have ALS. I can't handle it, emailing my doctor, I start to get body wide twitching, and another hot spot, my right hand (especially when I'm my mouse at work). Doc has me come in again, she does more reflex tests, scrapes my foot all that, seems fine. But I show her the twitch in my left shoulder (it's the only real consistent one), and with that, she says there's enough for her to refer me to the Nuero for an EMG on both arms. But also wants me to start really tackling my anxiety. Puts me on a more long term med and asks me to see a therapist. This was the week before Christmas. I see a therapist, talk to my pastor, all of it, because I have to do something to get back to normal. That all helps, and the week of Christmas doesn't go too bad. Right arm seems to heal up nice, I'm able to work out that week and I start to feel better. But I still have twitching at night, also have tremor like sensations when I wake up from a nap or sleep sometimes, really disturbing stuff. So now we come to tomorrow, when I have my EMG scheduled. I am fairly confident it won't show ALS, but still worried all the same. It's been about 7 weeks since my initial symptoms, wouldn't I be worse if it was ALS? Thanks for anyone's comments.

I was feeling happy last night from all my support here. I was finally calm. This morning I woke up and the jerks I had before my twitches are back. It’s like the jerks you get before you fall asleep, but during the daytime. They happen maybe 3 times in 5 min. My leg will jerk, my jaw, my back, my arms. It’s just one quick movement, not a twitch. Is this Hyperreflexia like they talk about in ALS? Every single time I think I’m ok something else comes to haunt me. I haven’t gotten out of bed yet, I’m just crippled with fear. I haven’t found many people who have the jerks and that’s what scares me. I have been testing my reflexes (yes I know I’m not a doc, but my fear does not care) and my legs kick way up in the air. Brisk reflexes! Also read that these jerks are a symptom of Hyperreflexia. I’m drowning and I can’t stop it

I think I'm having als.. around christmas I noticed my body twitches almost everywhere but later on I convinced myself it is not ALS, it's not a persistent twitching... my pinky went numb for once... but now I don't think those are ALS indicators... just because they're not constant and they aren't getting worse but better instead anyways.. after I convinced myself it is not ALS I thought something like that - "HMMM.. What about Bulbar onset als??" then I focused on my tongue... now my speech seems slurred but no one noticed it besides me... they all say I'm talking just fine... some say I'm actually talking too fast (this I can agree with) but then I read more about bulbar ALS, now I never experienced twitches in my tongue.. just the slurring thing and the feeling as if something's stuck in my throat(occasionaly)... Not actually sure what slurring is supposed to mean but here I'll explain my experience with it... Occasionaly I'd say a word containing S like Sword and (almost never) I'd pronounce it Shword(started when I thought about the bulbar als..) and the R sound, sometimes I miss it completely but again very rarely and after the thought of bulbar als... I usually take naps when I can and I remember taking a short nap for about 10 minutes when I woke up the slurring and the feeling as if something was in my tongue + the feeling of my tongue being heavy went away then it came back once I remembered.. (This makes me think it is not als but then again I became worried.. it still feels like this and my tongue is very tired I thought about it all day long... maybe when you think about an involuntary muscle actions and try to cntrol them you actually do them bad by "blocking" them, so to speak).What do you all think .. Is this somethiing I should worry about??? It make me worry a lot .... even tho I'm pretty sure its not als