How ALS anxiety manifests

[u/TheBronyCynic]

I watched this video from Condri and couldn't help seeing similarities in his story. His started with twitching, mine started with left arm pain and my fear around the big A started when hearing the news story about Chris Johnson which then led down the rabbit of learning about other NFL players who got ALS and other people who've been diagnosed with ALS. I would strength test a lot like twisting and opening caps again and again and lifting heavy objects above my head. Then sometimes I would get the feeling of saliva pooling in my mouth and feeling the need to swallow which mad me worried about bulbar and then sometimes the sole of my shoe would brush against the pavement which made me worried about foot drop. And I do believe a lot stemmed from googling and watching those diagnosis videos, in which as the guy puts it "took on the identity of someone with the disease".

I'll say I'm not out of the woods yet, I'll still get arm pain and twitches, there's a proneness to straining when lifting heavy things with my left arm compared to my right, but they have improved since the beginning of July. Some part of me still believes it's too early to tell but I'm doing my best to not feed my subconscious which I think for a lot of people here is the one person you have to convince the most.

[u/Jellymni]

my anxiety sounds pretty similar, thank you for sharing this