do I have als? I'm scared to death.

[kevrock15]

For the past four years. I have been having major gi problems. Since feb. I had been scoped and nothing found. I been having hard time swolling and hicups until the food goes down. Every once in a while. I been having a lot of greasy and fatty diherrea that stick to the bowel. It comes and goes. Since maybe this time last year or in october. I started having tingling in my face like a tickle. Like spider webs on my face and extreme cold hands and feet that are almost frost bittenn. With in the last week. Or 2 I have noticed I have lost some muscle and weight. You can tell. So I thought it was stress I been having extreme stress and anxiety and sleeping a lot. The otherday I had noticed I had very painfull joints and cramping. And I was very weak or tired. Not muscle weakness. Today I was fine but I noticed A DENT IN MY RIGHT THIGH. An indentation I can see it when flexed and can feel it when I touch flexed or not. I googled that and saw als and lost my mind. I am being tested for lyme as 4 years ago I was near tick while fishing and working. And made a lot of sence. One more thing was every once in a while starting in maybe october or november in maybe once in a while maybe 2 times in 2 months or longer. As I am walking or going to walk up a ramp my right foot will get slightly caught up n the bottom of my foot will graise the floor. Again no weakness. But same leg as dent. And every so often I jumble my words. Like sayin joe crab shack ill say joe crab shic  I thought all this could be lyme. And weight loss to malnutriton because of the stettoreah. I dunno I'm loosing it. Anyone?

[Adult Neurology, M.D.]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with a doctor.

Without the ability to examine and obtain a history, I cannot tell you what the exact cause of the symptoms is. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

Taking into the consideration the chronology of your symptoms, it appears that your GI symptoms came a lot before your symptoms of muscle cramps and “dent in right thigh”. You are describing steatorrhea (which is fatty, greasy diarrhea). This is a sign of malabsorption.

ALS is an uncommon disease: the incidence is about two new cases per 100,000
population per year. Typically one sees wasting of muscle and muscle fasciculations along with cramps. However the GI symptoms and joint pains you describe would be unusual with ALS

More likely is that you might have a GI disorder which leads to malabsorption and decreased absorption of nutrients and vitamins into your body which may lead to weight loss and muscle breakdown. Also diarrhea can result in electrolyte abnormalities of sodium, potassium and magnesium which are important for proper muscle function. Electrolyte abnormalities can cause muscles to cramp or make you feel weak overall.

If you have already set up a neurology appointment it is ok to keep it but I would recommend seeing a GI doctor.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.

[Qbreck]

Yea I'd get that checked out quick! Yea I know what you mean thinking its lyme I hunt and fish throughout the year and have been bitin by plenty of ticks and mosquitoes

[kevrock15]

I have had ultrasound mri and now I have a appt to see neuro. I'm hoping a doc sees this and can give me some insight. Only thing is my malabsortion. For the dent. I don't know and the anxiety for other stuff. Or maybe lyme with no knee pain. I was around the woods a lot. I really want a doc to see this

[Qbreck]

Yea my muscles ache a lot and i have twitches all over my body. I've noticed I feel fine when i wake up but an hour later the pain starts and the brain fog its like I'm just not myself and i find myself staring into space at times not thinking at all my whole body feels heavy. I've been to the doctor plenty of times with new symptoms every week and they look at me like I'm crazy I'm now seeking additional help since my doctor has no clue what's going on I'm now gona try infectious disease doctor and i already have a app with a neurology specialist hopeful one day soon this will all be over and i can get back to my normal life before all this I was Workin hard, running, lifting weights and now this. What kind of test have you had done? I've had heart ultrasound, stress test, ct of my brain and chest, mri of my neck but I'm waiting on the last two results and numerous blood and urine test and everything ao far has come back normal so now I've decided on my own this is something the regular doctor can't treat.

[kevrock15]

I since the other day I now have twitching every once in a while. Now the last few months I have been suffering from extreme stress and bad anxiedy. However the dent in my thigh is real. And the muscle loss. I thought to chalk it up to stress n anxiety (gad) but the dent is freakin me out plus jumblin my words every once in a while. I hope its lyme but I have no real knee pain. My finger joints ach a lot. But that's it

[Qbreck]

I to am going through some similar symptoms you explained I have bad headaches sometimes burning sensations under my skin, my speech sometimes sounds like jiberish i always weak and tired I now have anxiety issues and pain all over my body I was fine a couple months ago but was hospitalized for bronchitis after that I was fine but now I have all these symptoms that don't make sense I to am worried none of the test the doctors or er have ran have shown anything now i am going to seek help from infectious disease center next week since I've been bitin by ticks and mosquitoes all the time thinking mabe it could be lyme or some other form of a parasite good luck to you let me know the results

[kevrock15]

I am 28 years old