Patient replied :
Can you tell me how quickly ALS or muscle atrophe can occur?
I've been dieting and losing weight since April and the past few months it seems to have accelerated. I tried garcinia cambogia only before large meals on cheat days and last night was one. I took one and ate a couple silces of pizza when I started to feel a tingling sensation on the engire left hemisphere of my body (left side of scalp, left shoulder/arm, left torso, left hip/leg/foot.
The best comparison was that my body was withering away and at the time it just felt like the bone was disolving. This morning it appears to be more muscle than anything. My left arm feels like its significantly weaker than my right and my right arm's been injured for months and hasn't been worked out nearly as much as the other so this is an entirely odd feeling to have.
I have a horrible memory and I felt like a jerk tracking my body's progress in weightloss that I have nothing to accurately compare the change to.
Right now the entire left side of my body feels like it shrunk. My left leg feels like I hobble when I walk now, even the left side of my face feels thinner and weaker.
When I try to compare my right to left side the best comparison is that my right side feels "fuller" and more tense. My left side feels almost completely relaxed.
Another thing I noticed is the left side of my law feels like it's also shrunk. When I clench my teech the bottom left molars now have a gap between them and the top. I'm fairly positive I could clench all my teeth. My bottom right teeth feel bigger and the muscle in the right of my jaw is definitely more pronounced.
My left tricept is weak and floppy with no definition. Again my right forearm was injured over the summer and I've limited the work I perform on it but overnight it's significantly stronger.
I hate to say this but I'm terrified this is a rapid form of ALS. My mom says she recently found out she has Myasthenia Gravis which this sounded like until I woke up and see it effected the entire left side of my body.
Hi,
Thank you for posting your query.
I have noted your symptoms and can understand your anxiety/concern.
I would like to reassure you that your symptoms are unlikely to be due to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). This is because ALS does not start and progress so rapidly, and moreover, both sides of body get affected in ALS.
In view of acute onset and rapid progression, we need to consider other diagnoses such as infarct, vasculitis or demyelination. Any involvement of right side of brain would lead to symptoms on the left side of body. An MRI scan of brain would help us exclude the three conditions I listed.
I feel, you need a detailed neurological examination to ascertain the significance of the symptoms/signs you have mentioned. After that, appropriate investigations may be done.
Best wishes,
Dr. Sudhir Kumar MD (Medicine), DM (Neurology)
Senior Consultant Neurologist
Patient replied :
Thanks Dr,
I went to the Emergency Room to get a CT scan and speak to a doctor and try to see a neurologist. It wasn't very helpful but I've attached my discharge papers.
Since the panic has somewhat subsided I've tried to articulate my symptoms better and it made me look back that maybe this wasn't so sudden.
For a while now my left shoulder slightly hurt while exercising my shoulders. It was never enough to stop just a noticable pinch in the middle.
In July I hurt my right arm and rested it for a long time. Because of that I didn't work out my bicepts with any heavy weight and because of compensating for months with my left arm my left arm was fairly well defined. During this period I noticed my right hand get more and more tense. I assumed it was related to my hurt forearm and maybe it was just tense so I would regularly stretch my right hand through out every day.
Now that I have no proprioception on the left side of my entire body it makes me question if my right hand was really getting more tense or if my left arm was slowly getting more and more weak. Looking back my left leg had a few moments of this feeling but it usually resulted after resting my left left over my right (because it was more flexible, again thought it was just because that's how I always sat) so I just assumed it was asleep despite no tingle sensation to awaken. To be honest I can't even recall if it woke up or if I just adjusted and never thought about it.
The muscles on my left side are completely relaxed and with out proprioception just feels empty. I got into stretching after working out and noticed last night that the flexibility of my left side is something insanely flexible I've NEVER had.
I went to the gym last night to test it with a few exercises and with shoulder press my left arm has no fatigue nor am I able to get any idea of the force its exerting. When I did the free-weight shoulder press my left arm looked like I was eagerly raising my hand to ask a question. Much more easily than my right side and my right side shoulder was ALWAYS stronger. This time my right arm got tired around 14 repitions of 90 lbs and my left arm I could do 20 repitions until it just felt like I couldn't control the muscle anymore, but no fatigue.
Same result with my left leg in leg extentions. I used a free-weight machine and did both, left, right, both and my left leg didn't get tired but just seemed harder and harder to control when I continued to press through after my right leg became tired.
The left side of my body seemed to lose a lot of fat over the past days and its disporportionate to the right. This could just be panic and trying to associate with the recent issues but I wanted to note it.
One thing I didn't think to mention is after I felt this tingle on my left side my left ear became clogged like a major change in altitude. I only thought of this because while at the hospital, sitting on the bed, my left ear felt like it was possibly unclogging (although I didnt noticed it clogged previously). When I tried to unclog it I started to regain sensation in my left shoulder, chest, and bicept. My left tricept brachii longus is undefined and the top feels like a string compared to my right. Again this was my strongest and largest arm for the past few months.
I know its a lot to read but my questions are...
If the nerve to my muscles are dead would the muscle be able to be moved?
I definitely have proprioception but are those nerves the one that repair and maintian the muscle?
I can cope with having proprioception but I oboviously don't like the idea of the left side of my body shriveling up and becoming a dead-like body part.
Hello,
Thank you for writing back. I have read your symptoms and viewed your report in thorough detail. The first thing is that it does not suggest any serious neurological illness. Also, the symptoms are still not suggestive of ALS.
I would still like to know if any neurological abnormalities were found on clinical examination by a neurologist (or a competent doctor). If none were found, then, we need not worry. However, if there were neurological deficits on clinical examination, then, further investigations would be needed.
I hope this helps allay your fears that as of the current information it does not appear like you have any serious neurological illness. Feel free to discuss further
Patient replied :
I just got diarrhea and my left eye is bloodshot now.
Any of this help? Certainly not helping me. Ha
Hello,
I have examined both pictures carefully, both eyes appear normal.
First of all, the term diarrhea is applied when there are increased episodes of loose watery stool. If this description fits your diarrhea, it is important to know the causative organism responsible first. Can you tell me what you imagine could be the food that you could have eaten which could be responsible. Certain organisms have certains foods they are associated with. To know the organism, your stool would have to be sent for examination in a lab.
Additionally, do you have any blood in your stools? fever? nausea?
Assuming that the cause of your diarrhea is infective, once the organism is known antibiotics can be prescribed (for parasites and bacteria but not for viruses). In the meanwhile I would recommend that you prevent dehydration by drinking plenty of fluids, fruit juices and soup.
Hope this helps,