Still afraid of als

[Brandon713]

Are you physically unable to move it, or does it feel that way?

I feels like it’s kinda difficult to move but I am still able move it normally

 

[Seryn]

Can you at least see what we've been saying "feels like" it's difficult to move. But you can move it. You can feel like anything. But it's just that. A feeling. Doesn't mean your arm is dead. Anxiety can make you "feel like" anything. Especially what you are scared of.

 

[Canuck]

I feels like it’s kinda difficult to move but I am still able move it normally

So, not ALS.

 

[Brandon713]

Can you at least see what we've been saying "feels like" it's difficult to move. But you can move it. You can feel like anything. But it's just that. A feeling. Doesn't mean your arm is dead. Anxiety can make you "feel like" anything. Especially what you are scared of.

I definitely see where everyone is coming from.

 

[Seryn]

I think you're getting better at acceptance! It won't just go, the worry might not ever go but if you can accept it is more likely anxiety. You're halfway there

 

[Brandon713]

I think you're getting better at acceptance! It won't just go, the worry might not ever go but if you can accept it is more likely anxiety. You're halfway there

It’s very difficult to accept especially when I have a bunch of symptoms and feelings and when I read and listen to others that have similar symptoms as me they later got diagnosed. That’s the scary part for me.

 

[Seryn]

Why are you reading and associating with people off the internet though? You're affectively comparing yourself to the world population and terrifying yourself for no reason. I currently have a stabbing pain on the left side of my chest. If I googled now I would find people who had heart attacks. Doesn't mean I'm having one just because I feel a pain there. Thinking rationally I had lunch and hour ago and probably have indigestion. My mind and anxiety might tell me heart attack but it's up to me to rationally think and not jump to the worst case scenario. You have to trust your medical professionals who have had years of extensive training. If diagnosis was as easy as ticking off bullet points from the internet then doctors wouldn't need decades of training.

 

[Brandon713]

Why are you reading and associating with people off the internet though? You're affectively comparing yourself to the world population and terrifying yourself for no reason. I currently have a stabbing pain on the left side of my chest. If I googled now I would find people who had heart attacks. Doesn't mean I'm having one just because I feel a pain there. Thinking rationally I had lunch and hour ago and probably have indigestion. My mind and anxiety might tell me heart attack but it's up to me to rationally think and not jump to the worst case scenario. You have to trust your medical professionals who have had years of extensive training. If diagnosis was as easy as ticking off bullet points from the internet then doctors wouldn't need decades of training.

point well taken. Im gona try to stay off the internet for a while, no matter what symptoms may come up, get with this therapist and work on myself.

 

[bin_tenn]

It’s very difficult to accept especially when I have a bunch of symptoms and feelings and when I read and listen to others that have similar symptoms as me they later got diagnosed. That’s the scary part for me.

Symptoms and feelings that "feel like" something you fear. You just answered your own problems. That's why I asked the original question.

 

[Brandon713]

I finally got an appointment with a therapist on Monday. Hopefully it’ll be a new start for a positive turn around. My symptoms are still the same and somewhat worse. My left arm feels like it’s lifeless, dead weight. It feels totally different from the other arm. My body feels like it’s loosing a lot of muscle but my weight is still the same. Certain parts of my body feels tight and thin. I just pray and hope all of these symptoms I’ve been dealing with are all anxiety.

 

[Seryn]

Did your Dr tell you they were anxiety? He certainly would have known from tests if it was als. One thing I tell myself is it's absolutely rediculous to diagnose myself from my interpretation of symptoms and absolutely rediculous to do it from the internet. Drs rely on factual tests. Imagine if you got diagnosed from something just because you fit a few bullet points from some Google search. Drs train for decades for a reason. Medicine isn't diagnosable from Google. I've been telling myself this since I'm waiting for results. I've got trust my Dr.

Good luck with your sessions

 

[Brandon713]

Did your Dr tell you they were anxiety? He certainly would have known from tests if it was als. One thing I tell myself is it's absolutely rediculous to diagnose myself from my interpretation of symptoms and absolutely rediculous to do it from the internet. Drs rely on factual tests. Imagine if you got diagnosed from something just because you fit a few bullet points from some Google search. Drs train for decades for a reason. Medicine isn't diagnosable from Google. I've been telling myself this since I'm waiting for results. I've got trust my Dr.

Good luck with your sessions

The doctor didn’t tell me I had health anxiety but was certain that I didn’t have als. He insisted that I see a therapist but new symptoms come up and the old symptoms get worse. I feel that my body is collapsing at this point.

 

[Seryn]

It's because you're not yet recieving treatment for your mental health condition so it's ok to not be better yet and all these symptoms aren't going to go away over night so it's to be expected that you may feel worse and certainly not better yet. Can you cover up and stay away from.mirrors. sounds a bit silly but it does help. I'm purposely wearing socks and trousers (pants. sorry I'm UK and saying pants just seems so strange because that's men's underwear here!) just so I stop looking at the swelling on my legs and constantly testing how deep the pitting it. I noticed every time I pressed I would just get a surge of worry. Me checking and looking constantly isn't diagnosing anything or helping me in the slightest.

 

[Brandon713]

It's because you're not yet recieving treatment for your mental health condition so it's ok to not be better yet and all these symptoms aren't going to go away over night so it's to be expected that you may feel worse and certainly not better yet. Can you cover up and stay away from.mirrors. sounds a bit silly but it does help. I'm purposely wearing socks and trousers (pants. sorry I'm UK and saying pants just seems so strange because that's men's underwear here!) just so I stop looking at the swelling on my legs and constantly testing how deep the pitting it. I noticed every time I pressed I would just get a surge of worry. Me checking and looking constantly isn't diagnosing anything or helping me in the slightest.

I’ll definitely stop trying checking for things. I know it’ll be very difficult but like you said maybe it will help a little bit. Hopefully these sessions will make a difference. We shall see. I hope that’ll get better

 

[Seryn]

Good luck I hope your first session goes well. Stick with it and don't expect change instantly

 

[Brandon713]

Good luck I hope your first session goes well. Stick with it and don't expect change instantly

I had my session and it went very well. I definitely will continue to go through the process. He said it’s a process that won’t happen over night and will take some time. The day afterwards I was feeling a little better and then I started feeling worse. Feel like I’m loosing more strength in my arms and they get tired very quickly.

 

[Seryn]

That great news it went well! Just keep remembering what they said that it won't happen over night. These are sensations will still be there for now.

 

[Brandon713]

That great news it went well! Just keep remembering what they said that it won't happen over night. These are sensations will still be there for now.

I’ll keep that in mind

 

[Brandon713]

At this time I think honestly think I have a**. I’ve been doing therapy and I wasn’t expecting an instant turn around but I was expecting some improvement for my mental and physical health. Since therapy started it seems like I’m getting worse. My clothes are fitting a lot looser and I’m eating the exact same way I was but my weight is still the same. It’s like I’m loosing muscles. There’s clear atrophy in my legs, thighs, arms, shoulders, chest, neck, hands, feet, arms and tongue. I can now wrap my hand around my wrist which I haven’t been able to do in many years. I’m getting weaker but still able to do everything. My arms look flat especially around the elbow and near my biceps. My voice changes a lot. I get numMy arm feels weak but this weakness is different from what I felt before. Sometimes I have to pick up my arms to get them going in the morning. My hands feeling soft like I’m loosing strength in them. My entire body is changing.

 

[Seryn]

Do you also accept that all these symptoms are huge indicators of an anxiety condition? You've been "wasting away" for months and months now yet here you are still able to lift everything, walk, talk and be alive! You might "feel like" you can't do these things. But that only feels like. The reason your weight hasn't changed is because nothing has changed. Only your thoughts. If you've managed to stop symptom checking online that's great, but have you stopped symptom checking physically? No. You don't need to be looking constantly at yourself to check how flat your arm is? This behaviour is just reinforcing your anxiety condition. If you want to believe you're ill accept your illness as an anxiety driven one. Therapy will help but you have to start with accepting this is a mental health illness. Your doctors have had decades of training and complex medical tests next to you checking in the mirror and thinking your arm is flat therefore self diagnosing als? Every symptom you have listened is a symptom of chronic anxiety not als. You can do it, come on! Routing for you to get over this!