Hello to all,I am new to the forum, and please excuse my English but it is not my first language, so expect many mistakes. And I also apologize for the length of this message but I need to vent all this. Yes, I think ignorance is bliss, and I missed the old time when people used to go to a doctor for a health concern and then come back reassured and forget about the whole issue. Today with internet it’s different since anyone can be in the shoes of those early med students with access to infinite knowledge on health topics without the experience and wisdom to filter that information. I am starting to wonder if there is not two disease in there: BFS (benign fasciculation syndrome) where fasciculation can be clearly picked up by doctors and EMG, and GFS (Google fasciculation syndrome) where concerns rise primarily from internet research which brings an over awareness to every single thing in your body. Today my personal state of mind is very low, and I am pretty convinced I might have that damned ALS, especially that I am a 41 Y.O male, so in the risky age frame and gender.When I was 26 y.o I passed through a lot of health anxiety after experiencing strong dizziness and checking the symptoms on the Net and on some medical software that I bought back then. For 2 years I jumped from a doctor to another: neuro, Otorhinos, GP, orthopedist etc. everyone said Stress, depression and anxiety. After 2 years I started a therapy plus a lot of sports and relaxation techniques. All my symptoms vanished in 6 months and for the next ten years I did not experience any health anxiety.4 years ago I went through a very stressful period in my life: Dad diagnosed with prostate cancer then Alzheimer disease, very difficult time at work and in my private life, so the whole health issues came back. I first focused on tinnitus that drove me nuts for a year and thought I had a benign brain tumor (Acoustic Neuroma) because my tinnitus was located in one ear only, then I switched to heart palpitations concerns that were due to stress according to my doctors, then stomach problem, i feared a stomach cancer and did an endoscopy that came back normal, then lymphoma concerns because of a benign swollen lymph node, then early onset dementia because of my dad’s issue, then throat cancer cause I knew someone who had that, then rabies cuz I was scratched by my friend’s cat so I started searching rabies on internet LOL. During this period I also took a lot of weight 22 kg, jumping form 83 kg. to 107. However, I had one real health concern regarding a rare bone tumor in my right foot that was seen on CT-Scan and MRI. Biopsy showed that it was completely benign (it’s called an Osteoid Osteoma, worst chronic pain in my life), yet it was extremely painful for 2 years until they were able to remove it through radiofrequency ablation (first try didn’t work). Here also I freaked out about the long term consequences of Radiations due to CT Scans, and had my Google focus on that too… 2 months ago I noticed a hot spot of twitching on my right deltoid. It came after a workout and a sleepless night due to work and lasted a few hours the first day, a few minutes the second day and then disappeared and never came back. All this could have stopped here, but I did the mistake of my life, I googled muscled twitching knowing perfectly that I shouldn’t, due to past experiences with Cyberchondria. So I freaked out, and became obsessed with ALS, and in a matter of days twitches became widespread. A month later I saw a neuro (in my country it is easy to see a neuro immediately without waiting for months). Neuro did a quick and in my opinion not very thorough clinical exam. Made me walk on my heels, then toes, tested my strengths in my arms and legs and each finger, tested my eyes, then the reflex in my four limbs then said no ALS. He said he twitches too from time to time and mentioned BFS but did not say that I have it. The funny thing is that when I told him that I was experiencing twitching, he replied: “…and then you went looking for it on Internet and you saw ALS” 
I was starting to accept the benign diagnosis till 10 days ago when I had a second hot spot in my left thigh that lasted 15 hours, couldn’t sleep that night. Went back immediately to the neuro, but the twitching had stopped when I was at his clinic. He kept his opinion that I did not have ALS, but on my insistence he ordered blood tests, CPK, thyroid and many others and also an EMG. He told me that after that I should stop seeing doctors for this issue. Tests are scheduled in January.In the mean time I started testing myself like hell all the time, with no apparent weakness and I also started checking myself for atrophy. And guess what, I found clear atrophy in my left thigh (the one that was fasciculating) and right thumb (which had twitched also). An explanation for the left quadriceps atrophy might be that in February 2006 I had a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during and Aikido practice. Had surgery, but poor reeducation, and my muscled had shrink a lot. Even one year later I could not climb a stair on that leg and the muscle was clearly smaller than the other. Atrophy and extreme weakness (not able to rise my leg) came very quickly after the ACL reconstruction surgery (in less than a week), but then with serious physiotherapy with a new physiotherapist it went better and I was able to get back to full sport practice and run a half-marathon. An explanation for my right thumb atrophy could be that I broke that same thumb when I was a kid and it never healed properly. I still can’t bend that thumb correctly. But I am so focused on a doomed issue for my problems by now, that I am unable of a rational thinking. Sometimes I think that if I did not googled those symptoms, I wouldn’t have even visited the neuro and would have forgotten the whole issue after a couple of days instead of jumping into this downward spiral of anxiety.My questions are the following:1) What do you all think about my symptoms, early ALS or BFS?2) Can old injuries be the cause of body shape differences even years later?3) What do you think about the internet effect regarding the subject of muscle twitching?4) And the most important how do you overcome the fear of undertaking the first EMG. Fear of the results I mean not the procedure itself. I am paralyzed by fear of negative or abnormal results that might shows up on the EMG; especially that ALS has no cure so knowing earlier is of no real help. I feel that doing that EMG is like flipping a coin: head I’m clear, tail I’m doomed . Some days I think about canceling the whole test. Any advice or help here, cuz I really want to do the test for peace of mind?Thanks a lot for reading all that, btw reading the threads on that forum have helped me a lot to put things into perspective, but still extremely worried. From now on and unlike Neo, if confronted with a choice I will definitely pick the blue pill, Cypher was right after all: Ignorance is Bliss 
)
I was starting to accept the benign diagnosis till 10 days ago when I had a second hot spot in my left thigh that lasted 15 hours, couldn’t sleep that night. Went back immediately to the neuro, but the twitching had stopped when I was at his clinic. He kept his opinion that I did not have ALS, but on my insistence he ordered blood tests, CPK, thyroid and many others and also an EMG. He told me that after that I should stop seeing doctors for this issue. Tests are scheduled in January.In the mean time I started testing myself like hell all the time, with no apparent weakness and I also started checking myself for atrophy. And guess what, I found clear atrophy in my left thigh (the one that was fasciculating) and right thumb (which had twitched also). An explanation for the left quadriceps atrophy might be that in February 2006 I had a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during and Aikido practice. Had surgery, but poor reeducation, and my muscled had shrink a lot. Even one year later I could not climb a stair on that leg and the muscle was clearly smaller than the other. Atrophy and extreme weakness (not able to rise my leg) came very quickly after the ACL reconstruction surgery (in less than a week), but then with serious physiotherapy with a new physiotherapist it went better and I was able to get back to full sport practice and run a half-marathon. An explanation for my right thumb atrophy could be that I broke that same thumb when I was a kid and it never healed properly. I still can’t bend that thumb correctly. But I am so focused on a doomed issue for my problems by now, that I am unable of a rational thinking. Sometimes I think that if I did not googled those symptoms, I wouldn’t have even visited the neuro and would have forgotten the whole issue after a couple of days instead of jumping into this downward spiral of anxiety.My questions are the following:1) What do you all think about my symptoms, early ALS or BFS?2) Can old injuries be the cause of body shape differences even years later?3) What do you think about the internet effect regarding the subject of muscle twitching?4) And the most important how do you overcome the fear of undertaking the first EMG. Fear of the results I mean not the procedure itself. I am paralyzed by fear of negative or abnormal results that might shows up on the EMG; especially that ALS has no cure so knowing earlier is of no real help. I feel that doing that EMG is like flipping a coin: head I’m clear, tail I’m doomed . Some days I think about canceling the whole test. Any advice or help here, cuz I really want to do the test for peace of mind?Thanks a lot for reading all that, btw reading the threads on that forum have helped me a lot to put things into perspective, but still extremely worried. From now on and unlike Neo, if confronted with a choice I will definitely pick the blue pill, Cypher was right after all: Ignorance is Bliss )