u/Any-Meeting6751

I've been having body-wide fasciculations for about 3 months AFTER developing an intense fear of ALS/MND. They've been all over the body but my left thigh seems to be my main "hot spot", and its been feeling really achy for a while now. Not cramping, just achy and the whole leg is kinda stiff and shaky. Is this normal? It kind of makes sense to me that fasciculations might cause muscle fatigue because they are literally muscle movement?

I (22M) have been experiencing many strange, unpleasant, and sometimes painful symptoms, some relatively new, some going back years, some fairly constant, some coming and going, and many of them seem to line up with MS based on what I've seen on the Internet, but I currently have no access to health care as i am staying in a foreign country with relatives and cannot afford the medical bills out here. I will not be back in my home country (UK) for at least another 5-6 weeks. I will try to list them in order of when they appeared.

• Lhermitte's Sign?

This is the first "symptom" that I developed and it began many years ago when I was 14 years old. Anytime I turned my head too quickly, I would experience an intense, extremely painful burning electric shock like pain on one side of my neck that would radiate up the back of my head and down my cervical spine that would be very intense upon occurrence and would gradually dissolve over about 2-5 minutes. Typically, during this recovery time period, my neck would become very stiff. Sometimes it would be accompanied by a "pop". I went to the doctors about it and they put it down to me being unfit and lazy (I was). This symptom has persisted on and off over the 8 years that have passed since I developed it, but it has become considerably more infrequent now (I am very fit and active now). I used to experience it at least once a week, now its only once or twice a year. The most recent time I had it, it was the worst it has ever been. In fact I would say it was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. That was earlier this year and I haven't had it since.

• Fatigue and low energy.

I began to experience intense fatigue as a teenager but being as I was incredibly unfit and ate a horrific diet I thought nothing of it. But then once I began to get in good shape, exercise regularly, and really fix up my diet, I noticed that I still never feel like I have any energy. I never drink or smoke by the way.

• lazy speech and word finding issues.

This issue also began around 14 years old and has worsened somewhat over the years. It tends to come and go. Sometimes I literally cannot find ANY words when I am talking, and sometimes it feels like every single sound I try to make with my mouth is a chore.

• Optic Neuritis?

The next major symptom would not occur until I was 21 years old. Beginning around September/October last year, I suddenly began to experience intense eye pain and persistent morning/all-day headaches and neck ache that radiated into shoulders, aswell as some very concerning vision changes. I had blind spots, blurred vision, decreased colour saturation, vertical double vision, worsened astigmatism, intense light sensitivity, increased floaters, decreased contrast sensitivity, and at the worst point I genuinely could not make out ANY of the words on my phone screen. I literally could not see any of the letters, just vague shapes and lines. It wasn't blurry, it was "gappy". I couldn't read or write text messages for about a week. And then it just went away. Just completely vanished and has not been back since.

• Tingling, numbness, and burning sensations.

I'm not really sure when this started, I almost feel like I've had it my whole life, but I'm not sure. I just always get these strange random burning pains like a hot fire poker being jabbed in my skin or random numb/tingly spots. I woke up after sleeping during a long car journey the other day and I had a huge numb/tingly spot on one side of my face that lasted about 20 minutes. These sensations are relatively infrequent but I get at least one per day.

• Random episodes of light-headedness/dizziness that can last days.

• Tightness/"locking" in diaphragm and intercostals. MS hug?

This symptom began suddenly during early February this year and has come back intermittently since. My diaphragm and intercostals will suddenly feel like they can't expand properly when I breathe. This symptom is often accompanied by a tight band sensation around the chest and sometimes dull aching pain.

• Balance + gait/coordination issues.

I've had poor balance my whole life but recently it has gotten worse and now I'm having weird gait and coordination issues. I feel like I'm waddling when I'm walking and my hands/arms are shaky whenever I'm doing things with them. I often get "action tremors". When i stand with my feet together and close my eyes, I start swaying and stumble around to the point if nearly falling over within seconds.

• Tremors and internal vibrations

Generally they are worse in the morning but can come on suddenly throughout the day. I began experiencing this around 2-3 months ago. Tremors are usually in hands/fingers.

• Memory issues.

My long term memory has got a lot worse and I barely remember anything short term, I forget practically every single conversation I have and my short term information retention is terrible. I forget everything I'm told sometimes.

• "Brain Fog".

• Constipation and increased urinary urgency/frequency.

The constipation is new but the urinary issues have been going on for a good 2-4 years.

So what do you think? I think that is all of them. Most of them having been going on for at least 2-3 months and generally wax and wane throughout the day. Does this sound like MS or maybe something else?

https://www.reddit.com/r/MuscleAtrophy/s/bcQnETU6xE

I made a previous post before saying I probably wouldn't post here again but I've noticed this behind my right knee and now I'm concerned. I'm currently not in my home country so I'm not sure how I'd get access to healthcare out here. Anyway have a look and tell me what you think.

First of all sorry for "clickbaity" title, but that's the truth. I've been really struggling with a very severe ALS scare for over 2 months now, and to be honest I'm really not sure how exactly to feel right now, but - even though i haven't been to the doctors to rule anything out - I'm starting to feel a little bit more hopeful that WHATEVER it is that is happening to me, it is more than likely NOT ALS. The main revolution I have come to in my mind that helped me realise that (and this may be helpful for many others here too), is this:

My symptoms seem to be MULTI-SYSTEMIC, but I have not experienced ANY failures in a single one of those systems yet.

My legs/feet/ankles feel heavy/uncoordinated/weak/stiff/achy/easily-fatigued but I'm still walking, running up flights of stairs, still able to walk on my heels and my toes, still able to train legs in the gym, etc, etc.

My hands and forearms, especially my right disproportionately, feel incredibly tense and weak and stiff, again easily fatigued, and they ache with certain movements, but I'm still gripping everything fine and according to my brother my grip strength is still very strong. Still doing pull ups in the gym, still holding dumbells/kettlebells/barbells perfectly fine, still typing, still playing guitar, they're just achy and tight.

My face feels tight and weak on one side, my speech sounds slurred (to me) and it feels effortful and awkward, my swallowing feels stiff and slow, my cough feels weak, my voice feels weaker and sounds different (once again, to me, not to anyone else) but it's all still working fine. I haven't choked once and I'm still perfectly understood when I speak.

I've been having breathing issues for months. It feels like randomly throughout the day, or on and off across the course of weeks/months, my diaphragm and intercostals will become extremely weak, tight and stiff, even paralysed, and then it will eventually resolve itself. There have been periods where I could not lay down flat for days on end without feeling intense pressure on AND in my chest. But it comes and goes, and I'm still technically breathing fine, it just FEELS more difficult sometimes.

Lots of feelings, but no failures. Here's the point I'm building up to:

IT CAN'T BE HAND-ONSET, LEG-ONSET, BULBAR -ONSET, AND RESPIRATORY-ONSET ALL AT THE SAME TIME! ALS tends to pick one area of the body first (a hand, a foot, the tongue, the throat, the diaphragm) and generally you will completely or at least partially lose ANY ability to use that part of the body before it moves onto the next. I understand this is a very generalised and overly-simplistic way to look at it, but there is at least SOME truth in that statement.

ALS doesn't tend to start in multiple places at once, and it certainly doesn't start EVERYWHERE ALL AT THE SAME TIME. I have hand symptoms, arm symptoms, leg symptoms, foot symptoms, bulbar symptoms, AND respiratory symptoms aswell as other general neurological symptoms like fatigue, tremors, internal vibrations, bladder/bowel issues, and more. From the research I've done, the multi-systemic nature of the symptoms I've been experiencing, especially considering the fact that I'm still technically in the "onset" phase of whatever is going on with me, would strongly point AWAY from something like ALS. And to anybody else in this sub who is also experiencing a bunch of multi-systemic symptoms all rapidly appearing very close to eachother, it's probably the same for you too.

I don't know. We'll see. I'm trying to be positive and open minded and steer away from that absolutist, catastrophic thinking that tends to lead people like us down these rabbit holes in the first place. I've got no choice but to leave my home country for 2 months, so my access to health care will be limited for a while, but once I'm back, assuming nothing terrible has happened to me in the meantime, I'll be getting all my symptoms checked out. I really don't know what's going on with me, but I'm just praying it's not ALS/MND and to be honest, lately I've felt a little bit more hopeful. All the best to everybody here, I know how insanely stressful and terrifying this rabbit hole is. We're all going through this shit together and hopefully we'll all come out the other side of this happy, healthy, and ALS-free.

EDIT: meant to say WITHOUT weakness in the title

I (22M) have had a bunch of concerning symptoms affecting multiple systems in my body occuring over the past couple months, many if not all of which vaguely line up with ALS in some way or another (though they likely don't match the typical pattern of progression), and I'm wondering what to even think at this point. My "symptoms" so far have all been feelings and sensations not actual failures, subjective rather than objective, and this has been going on for over 2 months now.

I've had body-wide and localised fasciculations that come and come go throughout the day and tend to go away with movement, there's been better days and worse days but I've had them every day for at least a month now, coughing/sniffing/swallowing/speaking and annunciating words properly feels weaker and more effortful and my tongue feels tight and lazy, I've had breathing difficulties (tightness in chest muscles, shallow breaths), general muscle tightness across the body, I have recently developed stiffness and maybe mild cramping in both hands and forearms though it is significantly worse in my right, my grip in my right hand (which is my dominant hand) suddenly feels weaker and objects feel ever so slightly heavier than in the left, I've had increased urinary urgency/frequency, increased diarrhea, perceived facial stiffness and reduced movement on one side (though everyone tells me it looks normal) and there are certain spots across my body where my brain is convinced I'm seeing muscle atrophy but once again everyone else tells me it looks fine. Also my uvula looks deviated. It feels more difficult to maintain proper posture and my balance feels really off all the time but worse in the morning. I also seem to be salivating more and have been producing a lot more nasal mucus lately. And I've had increased digestive issues and acid reflux, especially during and after eating.

I really cant tell if my "symptoms" are progressing or not, and I can't tell if they're fluctuating or if I'm just noticing them more at some times and less at others. I seem to be "gaining new symptoms" quicker than previous ones are "progressing". Would this set of symptoms generally point away from something like ALS, even with the single handed weakness/stiffness (which has been the most recent symptom), and point more towards something benign like stress/anxiety/poor sleep or other medical issues like nerve compressions, neuropathies, or maybe something like MS? I really can't tell what's in my head and what isn't at this point. What do you all think?

EDIT 2: Suddenly my right arm/hand has started aching/burning? Forearm and hand are worse, but the whole arm feels very fatigued though it is obviously still fully functional. My hand/fingers feel stiff and my palm feels really tight. Opening my hand feels like an elastic band being stretched out, it just wants to snap back shut. Any ideas?