manbearpig
Member
Hello Saints, Heroes, SGoTs, Senior Members, Members, Interested and New Members (like me),I feel like at least a Member already because I've been reading this forum for more than 1 month now. I've read many times BFS in a Nutshell, Why You Don't Have ALS 1&2, and many, many of the other posts. I've read Jilllita Horton's articles on Yahoo.While waiting for my account activation (it takes so long) I decided to write down my (not so short) story in notepad 
.I am a 37 years old man, who never had major health problems. But in the begining of 2012 it all began.Since March 2012 I've worried that I might have brain tumor (due to a permanent headache) - clean brain CT. Then I was afraid I have lung cancer (shortness of breath for few months after bronchopneumonia) - clean chest CT. After a C-spine MRI it all eventually turned to be a two-level C-spine discopathy - nucleus pulposus protrusion with spinal cord compression. I am being furtherly diagnosed and maybe an operation will be necessary to remove 2 of the disks c5-6, c6-7.But since I'm here, as you suppose, this is not my major worry, because I don't think my neck problems cause the twitching.As diagnosed with neck problems I was instructed to start swimming on my back, so I started to swim several times a week. After few weeks I noticed that my right leg feels strange and stiff. And I made the worst mistake - I googled "weak, stiff muscles" and ALS pages came out of the dark Internet.At that time I didn't worry too much, because I read about the fascics, the problems with swallowing and so on. I didn'thave those.One morning, when I woke up I noticed that half of my face feels numb. I ran to the mirror and noticed that my tongue seems very thin (compared to my wife's and my kids').I recalled all I've read about ALS and since September I am freaking out that I have this deadly disease. I recalled also a story of a man exactly at my age posting his ALS fears and having all of the symptoms, including (true?) weakness.. This sent me into a downward emotional spiral which leads to not being able to enjoy life any more.I spoke to my wife and told her about my horrible worries. And the next day I had an appointment with a neuro and a psychiatrist. The same evening I noticed my first twitch in the right calf. I'm actually not much worried about the bulbar, because I don't have problems with speaking and swallowing (yet).The neuro (a very nice old lady) examined me and said she didn'd see any ALS symptoms, but since I'm so worried she referred me to a brain MRI and EMG.2 days later I had a clean brain MRI, but I was supposed to have the EMG a week later. Then I started noticing/feeling buzzes, bubble-like twitches, jerks everywhere in my body. This was one of the worst weeks in my life.The EMG (right leg and hand) turned to be completely normal. I went back to the neuro, and she said that since EMG result was normal, let's look for something else. She asked me about my eating habits and learned that I don't like meat. So she said that it can be a B12 defficiency and prescribed me B12 shots (AFAIK you can't overdose B12). I've alredy had the shots, but in the meantime my twitches got worse. Most of the twitches I've seen and felt (yes I feel them) seem to happen in my right calf. I've felt jerks, buzzes everywhere, but 95% of the twitches are in calves. I didn't think that it's a constant 24/7 twitching, but whenever I look at my calves I see a twitch, so it must be quite frequent. I mostly feel them when I'm relaxed or when laying in bed.I have problems with falling asleep. I wake up at 4 am in the morning and can't sleep any more, because my sense of body awareness is off the scale. I read someone in the forum felt the weakest wind in his hairs on his hands and thought of shaving them. I think I've reached a similar level of selfobservation...I had an abdomen twitch under my lowest left rib for 2 days last week. I had a face twitch, lip twitch, left shoulder buzz, but I feel and see buzzes, jerks, thumpers mainly in right calf. And I did the second big mistake - I measured my legs and hands! It turned that my right leg's is 1 cm (about 1/2 inch) thinner in circumference than the left one, especially above the knee and above my ankle. I'm right handed, if it matters, and my right hand is bigger. I know that mommyLDN has a 3/4 inch difference and that this is nothing special, but since it's my more twitching leg thinner I'm worried.In the meantime (october 2012) I got shingles (caused by extreme stress since September, I don't know?). I've read about the theory whether the twitches are caused by a Herpes virus. IMHO - mine got worse after the shingles.My psychiatrist diagnosed me with a Somatic Anxiety Disorder and I'm 6th week on Zoloft. The first few weeks I was on a Benzo/Zoloft combination.I know SSRIs can cause twitching as a side effect, so this may be another reason why my twitching got worse, not only shingles and anxiety...But Zoloft is supposed to be working already and should decrease my [health] anxiety as should the therapist I'm meeting weekly for a month. Unfortunately I don't feel much better and every single twitch i feel or see redirects my thoughts back to ALS and not seeing how my kids (4 and 2 years old) grow up, go to school, ...I don't think I have clinical weakness. I passed all the strength tests - jumping, heels and toes (I could barely walk for a week after the first series of tests). I can do 30 push-ups, I can jump for minutes on each leg. My right leg still feels strange and stiff behind the knee, hamstrig to calf I suppose. I make the self-tests several times a day, so my muscles don't have much time to relax.So I'm 3rd full month into twitching now and I have severe ALS anxiety, despite the meds I'm taking to calm me down... I know that my severe anxiety isn't helping me. As I wrote I have an enormous sense of body awareness - I hate it, but can't reduce it too. I found this site about a month ago. I felt so reassured, that I thought that I will go to my psychiatrist and tell her that I'm already ok.But then came the doubts whether what I'm experiencing is just BFS or a mild begining of ALS (as I wrote above, I first noticed leg weirdness, then twitching)...Sorry for the long post and my English (not a native speaker). And thank you for creating this site and for staying here and helping people in need and fear.And a recent update. Since 12/12/12 I have twitches in my left calf mainly (few per minute), and after inspecting my feet - also in both my feet.It took me 5 minutes in September to believe that I have ALS, how long will it take to believe that it's not?I really will be grateful if someone replies does this story sound like BFS?P.S. Another of my symptoms: cracking joints, night sweating, pins and needles in legs and hands, 2 numb fingers in the left hand and 3 in the right (neck issue I suppose), Lyme WB Test - negative.P.P.S. I am going to have another EMG on Wednesday, so most of you can imagine how I feel now 
- scared that the previous one was done too early and that on wednesday I will hear my death sentence. . __Andy
.I am a 37 years old man, who never had major health problems. But in the begining of 2012 it all began.Since March 2012 I've worried that I might have brain tumor (due to a permanent headache) - clean brain CT. Then I was afraid I have lung cancer (shortness of breath for few months after bronchopneumonia) - clean chest CT. After a C-spine MRI it all eventually turned to be a two-level C-spine discopathy - nucleus pulposus protrusion with spinal cord compression. I am being furtherly diagnosed and maybe an operation will be necessary to remove 2 of the disks c5-6, c6-7.But since I'm here, as you suppose, this is not my major worry, because I don't think my neck problems cause the twitching.As diagnosed with neck problems I was instructed to start swimming on my back, so I started to swim several times a week. After few weeks I noticed that my right leg feels strange and stiff. And I made the worst mistake - I googled "weak, stiff muscles" and ALS pages came out of the dark Internet.At that time I didn't worry too much, because I read about the fascics, the problems with swallowing and so on. I didn'thave those.One morning, when I woke up I noticed that half of my face feels numb. I ran to the mirror and noticed that my tongue seems very thin (compared to my wife's and my kids').I recalled all I've read about ALS and since September I am freaking out that I have this deadly disease. I recalled also a story of a man exactly at my age posting his ALS fears and having all of the symptoms, including (true?) weakness.. This sent me into a downward emotional spiral which leads to not being able to enjoy life any more.I spoke to my wife and told her about my horrible worries. And the next day I had an appointment with a neuro and a psychiatrist. The same evening I noticed my first twitch in the right calf. I'm actually not much worried about the bulbar, because I don't have problems with speaking and swallowing (yet).The neuro (a very nice old lady) examined me and said she didn'd see any ALS symptoms, but since I'm so worried she referred me to a brain MRI and EMG.2 days later I had a clean brain MRI, but I was supposed to have the EMG a week later. Then I started noticing/feeling buzzes, bubble-like twitches, jerks everywhere in my body. This was one of the worst weeks in my life.The EMG (right leg and hand) turned to be completely normal. I went back to the neuro, and she said that since EMG result was normal, let's look for something else. She asked me about my eating habits and learned that I don't like meat. So she said that it can be a B12 defficiency and prescribed me B12 shots (AFAIK you can't overdose B12). I've alredy had the shots, but in the meantime my twitches got worse. Most of the twitches I've seen and felt (yes I feel them) seem to happen in my right calf. I've felt jerks, buzzes everywhere, but 95% of the twitches are in calves. I didn't think that it's a constant 24/7 twitching, but whenever I look at my calves I see a twitch, so it must be quite frequent. I mostly feel them when I'm relaxed or when laying in bed.I have problems with falling asleep. I wake up at 4 am in the morning and can't sleep any more, because my sense of body awareness is off the scale. I read someone in the forum felt the weakest wind in his hairs on his hands and thought of shaving them. I think I've reached a similar level of selfobservation...I had an abdomen twitch under my lowest left rib for 2 days last week. I had a face twitch, lip twitch, left shoulder buzz, but I feel and see buzzes, jerks, thumpers mainly in right calf. And I did the second big mistake - I measured my legs and hands! It turned that my right leg's is 1 cm (about 1/2 inch) thinner in circumference than the left one, especially above the knee and above my ankle. I'm right handed, if it matters, and my right hand is bigger. I know that mommyLDN has a 3/4 inch difference and that this is nothing special, but since it's my more twitching leg thinner I'm worried.In the meantime (october 2012) I got shingles (caused by extreme stress since September, I don't know?). I've read about the theory whether the twitches are caused by a Herpes virus. IMHO - mine got worse after the shingles.My psychiatrist diagnosed me with a Somatic Anxiety Disorder and I'm 6th week on Zoloft. The first few weeks I was on a Benzo/Zoloft combination.I know SSRIs can cause twitching as a side effect, so this may be another reason why my twitching got worse, not only shingles and anxiety...But Zoloft is supposed to be working already and should decrease my [health] anxiety as should the therapist I'm meeting weekly for a month. Unfortunately I don't feel much better and every single twitch i feel or see redirects my thoughts back to ALS and not seeing how my kids (4 and 2 years old) grow up, go to school, ...I don't think I have clinical weakness. I passed all the strength tests - jumping, heels and toes (I could barely walk for a week after the first series of tests). I can do 30 push-ups, I can jump for minutes on each leg. My right leg still feels strange and stiff behind the knee, hamstrig to calf I suppose. I make the self-tests several times a day, so my muscles don't have much time to relax.So I'm 3rd full month into twitching now and I have severe ALS anxiety, despite the meds I'm taking to calm me down... I know that my severe anxiety isn't helping me. As I wrote I have an enormous sense of body awareness - I hate it, but can't reduce it too. I found this site about a month ago. I felt so reassured, that I thought that I will go to my psychiatrist and tell her that I'm already ok.But then came the doubts whether what I'm experiencing is just BFS or a mild begining of ALS (as I wrote above, I first noticed leg weirdness, then twitching)...Sorry for the long post and my English (not a native speaker). And thank you for creating this site and for staying here and helping people in need and fear.And a recent update. Since 12/12/12 I have twitches in my left calf mainly (few per minute), and after inspecting my feet - also in both my feet.It took me 5 minutes in September to believe that I have ALS, how long will it take to believe that it's not?I really will be grateful if someone replies does this story sound like BFS?P.S. Another of my symptoms: cracking joints, night sweating, pins and needles in legs and hands, 2 numb fingers in the left hand and 3 in the right (neck issue I suppose), Lyme WB Test - negative.P.P.S. I am going to have another EMG on Wednesday, so most of you can imagine how I feel now - scared that the previous one was done too early and that on wednesday I will hear my death sentence. . __Andy
Finally, I am 33 and I also have 2 boys, 4 and 2 years old, so I think we are really in the same situations. Let's hope everything will be OK for both of us (and of course all the members of this nice board) and that in a few month or years maybe we could laugh at those messages.The thing that is really striking me is that we both knew about als symptoms BEFORE knowing that we had the symptoms. I am still asking myself if my brain could have triggered the fasics, or if they were just there waiting for me to look at them. Don't mind about your next EMG, I am sure it will be 100% clean.See you around