ALS, MS, etc. fear

[Mr. Shack]

In the past couple weeks, I have started to suffer from muscle pain/soreness/tiredness/weakness and it seems like virtually ALL my joints are cracking nonstop, both in my legs and arms.  Also recently my joints have started hurting themselves, especially in my right arm in my elbow, wrist and shoulder, and also in my left hand in my fingers.

The rational part of my brain tells me this is probably a nerve issue, stress, sleeping poorly, etc., but the fact that it is ALL OVER my body has me worried.  I'm only 19 so the chances of having ALS are obviously miniscule, but the irrational, hypochondriac part of my brain ignores this fact and has me worried about muscle wasting, etc.

Has anyone else suffered from anything like this? Can a trapped nerve or something similar cause all these problems?

[Larry86]

Hello,

I suffered from the same exact thing pretty much all of February and March.  My joints especially hurt.  My heels, ankles, knees, wrists, and even toes and fingers hurt non stop.  I also had off and on pains in my arms and legs and a constant pain in my left shoulder.  I was tested for lupus twice as well as Lyme but nothing was wrong.  I was pretty much 100% certain that my second ANA test looking for lupus would be positive.  When it came back negative, I told myself it was not lupus and pretty much within 24 hours every single ache and pain went away and has not returned.  You can start off by having some harmless pains but if you dwell on them and worry constantly like I was doing, it won't be long until you're hurting from head to toe and no amount of pain killers will help.  It's when you realize nothing is physically wrong and change your thought pattern that the "symptoms" will vanish.

I doubt it is a pinched nerve or anything like that.  Mostly a pinched nerve would cause tingling and numbness.  I think it's way too premature to think about ALS or MS.  Check with your doctor and ask for some blood work.  It's possible you may have a vitamin deficiency of some sort.  Right before my test results came back, I started taking a multiple vitamin daily as well as the liquid vitamin B complex that you put under your tongue.  Exercise will help you too.  My best advice is to get as busy as you can doing something you enjoy and get your mind off the aches and pains and see if that helps.  Please keep us updated. Since this has been an issue for me in the past, I am interested how it turns out for you.  Hang in there, everything will be fine.  Mind over matter! 

[seleck05]

hey you sound like me! I have a lot of joint stiffness pain along with feelings of weakness cracking and popping all over and a whole bunch of other stuff. I am in the same boat as you too as I am only 21.  Does not sound like MS at all, that'd be more sensory I believe at least. Same for a nerve entrapment, plus that wouldn't be all over your body. Get checked out by your doc. but I bet you're fine! You seriously sound just like me.

[Larry86]

Seleck,

Since I have been reading your posts I have noticed that I crack a lot too when I get up, especially on the back of my heels.  I'm sure it is just normal.  Though I have an excuse as I'm just an old man. (36) 

Both of you are fine!

[hbug1624]

I have been going through the EXACT same thing. I have been under so much stress lately and it's really taking a toll on me. Everything you said is EXACTLY how I have been feeling for about 2 weeks now. I just started working out at Curves in January but it's hard for me to enjoy it anymore with all the muscle aches. I haven't been sleeping well at all lately, so I'm sure that isn't helping. I am 21 and I have had 2 complete physicals with blood work and everything in the past 6 months and everything was great. So I'm sure this is all just in my head. It's like I start aching and then I can't stop thinking about the pain and wondering what could be causing it, and it just gets worse from there. But if I am doing something I enjoy like hanging out with friends I don't even notice the aches anymore. It is just so frustrating and I can't get it to stop. My family just keeps telling me it's all in my head and that my physicals wouldn't have come back fine if there were something wrong with me. I wish I knew how to get rid of these feelings, it's really starting to interfere with my life. I feel like I'm losing all my energy over this, just worrying about it all the time.

[haukurkr]

I've had the same worries.

Twitching EVERYWHERE.
Lump in throat and other throat problems.. Even affects my voice at some time..

I have a EMG appointment next week, if that comes out normal. I should be able to rest assured.

My advice though,
DO NOT GOOGLE ALS SYMPTOMS.
DO NOT VISIT THESE ALSFORUMS sites.

It will only mess up your head, believe me.

Im 24 by the way ;)

[seleck05]

I second haukurkr on avoiding the sites it WILL only make it worse. But also as a piece of advice you need to work on your way of thinking the clean EMG will not automatically make you feel better, I had several neuro. appointments and a clean EMG yet I still worry 

[haukurkr]

I talked to a my neuro the other day and told me that if any weakness, twitches etc. were due to ALS, it would be seen on the EMG.

He said it was a conclusive way to rule out ALS.
I actually told him about the things I've read on alsforums.com (that awful awful site), that some people have had multiply normal EMG's and still have ALS and he told me not to worry and he believed that it could be that some of those people was tested with a old EMG technology. EMG testing has evolved alot over the years.

Hope it helps you.

[Mr. Shack]

Its funny to see that so many people have the same symptoms.  My ALS fear has gotten a lot better (of course it was replaced by heart fear).  Probably the one thing that really convinced me i DIDNT have ALS was time.  As the weeks went on I really didn't feel any weaker, and although my muscles even now still get tired really easily (sometimes just holding a cell phone up to my ear for a while gets my shoulder sore) I realized that since with ALS the muscles actually atrophy, I would be having more and more trouble even LIFTING the cell phone, which hasn't happened.

Hope these comments helped, although sadly I feel like the only real remedy for ALS fear is time.  And the worst part is I already know that sooner or later my ALS fear will peak again and the whole process will start over.  However just thinking rationally (however hard that is at times) usually helps to a point.