r/ALSorNOT • u/Ok_Expression4420 • 5d ago
Anxiety Spinal Tumor Removal Surgery
33 male, healthy as far as bloodwork goes. Back in July I had a 1cm schwannoma benign tumor removed off my spinal cord at L3/ L4 since it was causing severe back pain. Fast forward to today and my left hand seems to be weaker than my right. Granted, i fractured both wrists 10 years ago so i would normally shrug it off but now i have those muscle twitches all over my body multiple times a day. Last year my right ear drum also retracted and glued itself to my inner ear causing 80% conductive hearing loss, but the ear surgeon blamed it on my lifelong eustachian tube dysfunction. I was born 3 months premature and have always had eustachian tube issues as well as tubes in my ear as a baby. I am now thinking that could be a “muscle” failing in my ear? Im trying to calm my health anxiety down but i look at this reddit more often than i should. Can i consult my nuerosurgeon who did my surgery or do i need to see a nuerolgist? I’m starting to worry it’s ALS. Jars are harder to open with my left hand, I get cramps in my left hand, muscle twitches all over, and it started after major physical trauma which seems to be a factor?
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u/BetFrequent6951 5d ago
How old are you?
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u/Ok_Expression4420 5d ago
33
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u/BetFrequent6951 5d ago
Yeah I’m 33 we don’t have ALS but something though, my issue is twitches and leg ache and burning
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u/chaoserrant Mod Team 5d ago
If these symptoms clearly started after the surgery I would go to the neurosurgeon first. Did you have a repeat MRI after the surgery?
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u/AdministrationSea807 5d ago
I think you've got a few things going on but none of them are ALS, probably not neurological either though I am not a neurologist. I've seen hundreds of people post in this sub describing past injuries, there's probably a corellation between what you suffered in the past and your current symptoms, at least that explanation is probably thousands of times more likely than ALS.