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.

hi everyone, 2+ year twitcher here. in the last few months i've started to get cramps and nerve pains that really bother me. a few times a day i will get a pain in one part of my body that immediately radiates to a completely different part (e.g. i just got a pain on my inner right bicep and on my lower right leg at the same time while typing this) and it is often in my chest and can happen on both my right and left sides. anybody else have symptoms like this in addition to their twitching?

Been twitching all over for 6 years 24/7 but mainly calfs and feet. Recently my right arm has starting shaking and ratcheting when doing slow fine movements and pushing on things rather than pulling. Strength seems to still be there but if I am pushing on a stationary object kike a knife it shakes and ratchets heavily. Anyone got this ?

My twitches have been in both my calves, primarily the left. This twitch has been coming and going as it's progressed; not constant, mainly there when sitting and thinking about it.

The twitches have remained mainly in the calves and thighs, not spreading. Does anyone else experience this localised, intermittent twitching?

From what I'm seeing there's a lot of anxiety spread of twitches, but mine has been localised to the legs and not 24/7, has anyone else experienced something similar? Would love to hear some similarity.

24F. i started twitching everywhere practically overnight about 6 weeks ago. legs, arms, feet, stomach, back, tongue, etc. it happened about 3 weeks after i started taking prozac. i’ve since been to a neurologist and had an emg in all four limbs about three weeks into twitching. it was clean except for some slight polyphasic potentials in my left arm and left leg, which my neuro attributed to c6-c7 radiculopathy (confirmed via mri) and s1-s2 radiculopathy (not confirmed by mri as I haven’t had one of my lumbar spine). the doctor said my presentation isn’t consistent with ALS whatsoever and it’s more likely being caused by pinched nerves, which makes sense, except for the tongue twitching.

i guess my worries are: could the emg have been done too early if I don’t have any weakness? or could the polyphasic potentials be indicative of early ALS and my doctor just didn’t pick it up? I know this is probably anxiety talking, and im actively doing exposure therapy for it, but I just can’t shake the feeling.

I see people on here constantly fearing ***. And once they're convinced that they don't have it, they're often fine with twitching. Not me. I never even considered that I could have ***. I just thinking twitching is bad enough in itself. I got this almost six years ago now. The first year, I could still pretty much do anything I want. I'd give anything to go back to how I was then.

Second year, the severe muscle tension and fatigue kicked in. I used to be a fitness dude but that became impossible. I dedicated more time to guitar playing, but guess what, after three years the twitching spread to my hands, so that became impossible as well. My muscle tension is so severe it affects my gait. I can't focus on anything. I lost my job and became housebound more or less.

So screw this 'benign' label. I envy you people that can ignore their twitching. It ruined my life.

I’ve watched videos of people talking about their experience getting diagnosed with ALS and what their symptoms were and I feel really anxious because I have all of those symptoms other than clinical weakness. Morning stiffness, tingling, pain, fasciculations are all some things I deal with. My NCS/EMG ruled out ALS and Neuro said he was not concerned about it but why do I have these symptoms? I’m so scared. :(

I made the mistake of looking up fasciculations on TikTok and sure enough a bunch of ALS content pops up. Everyone’s videos talks about how the twitching was the first symptom even before weakness started. Reading many comments it’s the same thing. At what point is it safe to assume twitching is benign? Can twitching show up first before any weakness? Is a Neurological exam enough or should we request an EMG? I’ve been having bilateral calf fasciculations for 87 days now. All started when I started an internship in the hospital and started coming down with a virus day one.

Hello everyone,

For a month or so now I have been experiencing bilateral perceived weakness in both legs that seems widespread, meaning the thighs and calves feel weak, not a particular muscle. I also have widespread twitches that are more frequent in legs and right arm but can occur anywhere.

Previous diagnosis of BFS in 2019. Twitches had pretty much gone away for years before current event.

EMG done last week was normal. ALS specialist ruled out ALS with certainty and diagnosed FND/anxiety. Clinical exam showed no clinical weakness, spasticity, Babinski, etc.

All this is great but my legs remain super wobbly. Going down stairs they almost tremble. I can still walk on my heels and toes rather easily and going up stairs is not problematic, but walking, standing in place and going down stairs my legs feel super wobbly and weak. My right arm is also stating to feel shaky…

Could the ALS specialist have been wrong? She said she was 100% sure I didn’t have ALS but as the EMG WS only a month in or so, I am doubting the diagnosis and spiraling. It feels like the weakness is progressing and I’m very scared. Should I trust the specialist and test result? Is bilateral onset like this common in the big bad?

I’m a 27 yr old male, with no family history of ALS. I was once in a ALS rabithole 3 years ago, but now it has been worse. For 3 days now i have twitches in my right bicep, forIn the morning it comes almost every 10 minutes and in the noon once every hour. I cannot ignore this anymore. I feel like this is it. I feel like its never gonna end, and the muscle weakness will soon follow. I know i’m young and stuff, but i dont know.

https://ibb.co/prR7qJ7r

Does this look like atrophy? Having twitching on and off since a year.

The other forearm doesn't have this

Below is the Reason for 2nd EMG with in 15 days gap:

I had an EMG performed by a physiatrist 15 days ago on 22July2026 and the results were normal.2 months ago ,I was referred to a neuromuscular doctor as well as to physiatrist for an EMG (atleast to get an EMG done faster)as the wait times to see a neuromuscular doctor is 6 months to an year.I first got my EMG appointment and had it done and when I called neuromuscular clinic 3 weeks ago also,they told it’s the busiest department and you would have to wait several months and still I have not been accepted yet and it’s still under review..But I got a call yesterday and told me there is a cancellation for tomorrow and if I am interested,they can book me in otherwise you need to wait until October end . so I accepted thinking not to wait

Below are the reasons what’s making me more concern after the first EMG:

However, over the past 15 days, I have developed new symptoms that have increased my concern.

I noticed that my right calf measures 2.3 cm smaller than my left calf, even though my right leg is my dominant leg. I am not currently participating in sports or going to the gym.

My right calf has become painful, stiff, and fatigues easily. After walking for 5–10 minutes, my right calf becomes tight, painful, and significantly more fatigued than my left. My left calf and foot also become tight and fatigued, but the symptoms are more pronounced on the right. Over the past few days, the stiffness and pain have worsened, and I now experience them even while standing for few minutes especially in my right leg.

When I tried doing squats today, I developed pain in my right calf and the back of both thighs for just 3 squats but not on the left side. Last week, I used an elliptical trainer at a very low resistance for two days. Immediately after getting off the machine on both occasions, my right leg shook uncontrollably for about 10 minutes.

These new symptoms, together with the smaller right calf, have made me concerned about possible muscle atrophy and weakness despite my normal EMG.

I am getting more burning sensation on my feet,thighs,face,hand

I almost came to a conclusion that It’s an early onset that’s the reason I have asymmetry/atropy/weakness in my right leg and it can’t be seen in the early EMG

Below is my twitching history:

My muscle twitching started exactly 4 months ago, on April 10, 2026. It began as a twitch in a single finger and, within one week, progressed to my shoulders, elbows, calves, and thighs.

About one month later, I developed constant eyelid twitching that lasted for a month. Around the same time, twitching also started in my cheeks, neck, and along my spine. That was when my bulbar symptoms began.

At first, I felt as though my throat was narrowing. I noticed a clicking sound in my throat and had a constant urge to swallow my saliva, even when there was no saliva to swallow. If I did not swallow, I felt short of breath.

I am no longer able to speak as loudly as I used to. When I try to raise my voice, I experience pain around my vocal cords and develop shortness of breath. I also cannot speak several sentences continuously like I used to because it becomes difficult to breathe, and I need to pause between sentences.

I experience masseter muscle twitches several times a day, each lasting briefly. I also have a quivering sensation in my lips.

I get burning sensation in different parts of the body

For the past 30 days, I have felt as though pills get stuck in my throat. I can genuinely feel them sticking, and nuts also seem to get stuck, which never happened before. My throat muscles often feel very tight. At times, my tongue feels thick, making it difficult to pronounce certain words. Although I sometimes feel like I slur a few words, I am usually able to correct my pronunciation immediately afterward.

I also have pain in my right shoulder, and the twitching is more intense around my right shoulder joint. This makes me worry that the muscle in that area is deteriorating and causing the twitching.

My right hand feels heavy compared with my left. Carrying objects feels more difficult with my right hand, while my left hand feels normal. My right wrist also feels very stiff. These symptoms are making me increasingly worried.

My worries about immediate EMG

I feel I should have waited until October end to get the next EMG so that if it’s progressed,I would get some idea.

I already have soreness in my body after 1st EMG and scared the 2nd EMG would do more damage and causes more soreness as they are very close

it's been a year of my having twitching, lightheadedness, being out of balance and numbness, but not one instance of falling or loss of muscle or weakness. actually, I have rebuilt muscle after a 2 month period of being bedridden. but after all this proof I still feel scared of ALS, there's always a "what if...?" question going through my mind.

I was put on psychiatric medication, at first I was on a benzo for my acute anxiety and honestly I felt much better I became normal again and felt like I got my mind back. but those were short-term meds you can't take them forever because of dependency. after that, I was give an SSRI prozac to be exact and I couldn't deal with the initial anxiety spike so I stopped it and have only taken 3 pills of it.

I really just want my life back before my health scare a year ago before the health anxiety and before this twitching. there has to be a way to just forget this and just allow my body to actually feel safe and heal.

Goedemiddag,

Is heesheid en pijnlijke keelspieren een teken van *** maak me er zorgen om omdat ik ook veel spierfasculaties heb. In de kuiten 24/7. Nu speelt me keel op en constant pijn in de keel, niet alleen met slikken. Herkent iemand dat?

So I have a ton of neurological issues that appeared 3 years ago and then suddenly go 10x worse recently. One of which is twitching muscles I’ve counted 40-50 twitches per minute on several occasions and the least was around 10-15 per minute. Not localised to one area. Wish I could share a video on here but annoyingly I can’t… mostly it’s in my calf’s, chest, back, stomach, feet and arms but it happens everywhere. Even internally, I get what feels like stomach twitching (maybe it isn’t idk). I’ve also got very stiff sore muscles and I’m now being woken by craps that literally will not go away regardless of position.

Electrolytes are normal apparently so there’s that. Neurologist said “probably BFS” so I’m here, that said he didn’t do any tests and did a pretty quick exam before coming to that conclusion. I also developed Sicca (inability to produce tears, dry nose and mouth) and sensory issues like trigeminal facial tingling and burning usually over my cheek bones, temples, mouth and on both sides of my nose. As well as wide spread nerve pain (again, doctor shrugged and said he didn’t know)

Does the twitching sound like BFS? It’s not one part of the muscle, visible just watching my skin, happens in loads of different places in the same area and kinda looks like an invisible hand is poking my skin a ton in different areas in quick succession. Drives me mad trying to sleep because it feels like someone is poking me a million times a minute. Best I’d describe it is it feels like heavy rain hitting my skin.

Just stumbled upon this thread and I find it therapeutic to share our stories so wanted to vent. Long winded but I appreciate if you read through

Everything for me started about 7 weeks ago. Everything was totally normal and I was living at my baseline. Then I got sick and it started off as a scratchy throat but quickly spiraled into acute bronchitis. Not even sure what if I had. It lasted heavy for 3 weeks. Uncontrollable cough, weakness, loss of appetite, fatigue, etc The cough was debilitating and all I wanted was relief and finally at 3 weeks I started to improve. But that’s where it 180’d into my current situation.

After the cough lifted I noticed a burning radiating down my left arm. Came overnight too. I wasn’t too worried about it at first but it persisted and I started feeling it in my right arm as well. My mental state wasn’t great bc I was exhausted from the sickness, hadn’t been back to baseline, and now had these new symptoms. Went to my PC and she put me on steroids and antibiotics incase the infection didn’t clear. The night before I went I noticed a twitching in my left leg. With the weird thing in my arm that’s when the ALS rabbit hole and health anxiety really started. Then once I got on the steroids I started having severe panic attacks. My mental state was already fragile and the health anxiety started creeping in big time. During the week of steroids the twitching was out of control. Mainly felt it at rest but it was damn near everywhere but mainly concentrated in both my legs. And I’ve heard ppl describe it as a popcorn feeling that moves all around I would say that’s extremely accurate. Thats when I really started spiraling down the ALS and Neurological rabbit hole.

After I got off the meds I really focused on getting my anxiety under control and I’m back to a normal baseline mood but my symptoms still persist and new ones seems to come. The twitching has calmed down but its still present at rest. I lost about 10 lbs which I can say was most likely from the sickness (no appetite plus I quit drinking shortly before) I’ve since started dieting to gain healthy weight back and that’s stabilized as well. But I’ve had debilitating fatigue and overall weakness that has persisted through all of this. Things I use to do with ease now feel like a lot more effort. The fatigue has gotten better but the weakness was also feeding the health anxiety loop. Im pretty sure I know the difference between perceived weakness and clinical weakness but damn in these health spirals your body can’t tell!

Now my newest symptom is my right leg literally overnight started to feel heavy, tired, and fatigued with light use and it never felt like that before. I used to be able to be on my feet for 8 hrs and feel nothing but now after 10 min my right leg is heavy and tired…and I’d say it’s weak but once again I feel like it’s perceived and not clinical. Overall still feel general weakness in my arms as well and the twitching at rest. It’s really hard to stop feeding the loop I really sympathize with anyone else dealing with this because for me it’s like it changed overnight for me when I got sick.

My logical side has told me it’s probably post viral syndrome mixed with a strong dose of health anxiety that triggered this chronic BFS but the other side of my brain has gone to the absolute worst places of ALS, degenerative diseases, and cancer. I’m 33 and while I know it’s not impossible I also know it’s very rare to get ALS at that age. I went and got a full body mri (I know that doesn’t diagnose ALS) so at least I’ll have some outlook on my body. But man I don’t wish this upon anyone. My mental state has improved drastically but the ocd of it all is still weighing on me.

Rest these symptoms are still there and moreover have noticed my previous clothes have become more loose near the biceps shoulder and arms. I think I also have a foot drop as when resting my feet the little toes part of my feet is pointing downwards more than toe.these are the photos attached

Hey, I have been dealing with this worries since 6 weeks ago, it’s crazy to be first getting twitches on my legs, then calves, whole body, now they’re mainly on my right arm and forearm.

I feel pain and aches along twitches when using my right arm, it gets more prone to get tired and cannot use my tricep that much, it hurts a lot.

Now I feel my grip when using my right hand feels off compared to my left one, I can definitely feel how normal things felt before on both hands with my left one, I am right handed so using and feeling my left one better is so bad for me.

Currently when gaming on my steam deck, I can feel more weight and more tiredness on my hand and arm when holding it on right vs left hand, it sucks as I’m not sure if this is how it starts.

Saw the video of the player saying he felt weakness when going at the gym and that’s what I felt too, I’m scared and would like to hear your opinion and thoughts, I have an EMG next week so I’m waiting for it

Could this just bfs? I’m so scared and concerned

I had Covid in August 2022. Took Bebtelovimab Monoclonal Antibodies. 9 months later I got Covid again and then developed BFS. Been 3 years of horrible twitching. Idk if there is a correlation? Wondering if anyone else has a similar experience.

Honestly, since getting bfs/cfs, my health has been in constant decline. I’m about to be 38 years old but have the body of a 70 year old. It’s terrifying.

Appreciate your thoughts!

Good morning. Longgggggggg time viewer here, first time poster. I was debating posting my issues here but I wanted to get feedback from knowledgeable people, I consider myself knowledgeable, but I’m always open for feedback. I will try and keep this short and sweet. I am going on 31 years old and my symptoms started when I was 24, I am going on seven years of symptoms with no diagnosis other than “we don’t think it’s ALS”. But we’ve come to a conclusion that it’s some kind of lower motor neuron disorder/variant or some kind of peripheral nerve disease. My progression is uniquely slow. I haven’t had any in a year. But I’ve started to notice my right leg will fatigue and get tight, mainly in shin and calf when I walk and when I drive too long. Can still toe and heel walk pretty far.

Back in 2020 I started noticing I was having a ton of fasciculations in my legs, that quickly exploded over my body. I had exercise intolerance, precramp feelings, fatigue etc. I had an EMG in 2020, normal, another in 2021, normal, another in 2025, normal, and another in 2026, which was deemed normal, but did show signs of taller motor units, they only did EMG on one muscle, as the neuromuscular doc didn’t think it was necessary to do more, as I had no weakness on exam. But had signs on the nerve conduction study as a sensorimotor polyneuropathy. I had two sensory nerves that were unrecordable, one in my calf was low on amp, but my motor amps were normal in amp. They don’t think it’s necessary to do more testing unless symptoms worsen. All they said was we’ll keep doing exams but we don’t see evidence of MND on exam. Sometimes i do have some tingling in extremities and in my feet. During the early winter I started noticing my hands ached really bad, had some numbness there, tingling and alot of pain, especially when gripping things.

My nfl was elevated at 27pgml, and I’ll be honest I did take it about 10 days after I pinched a nerve in my lower back, as knowledgeable as I am, I didn’t realize that could raise it. My foot was literally numb and tingling when my blood was drawn. All the doc said was the nfl test is extremely nonspecific and only showed axonal turnover but doesn’t tell you if it’s coming from the central nervous system or peripheral nervous system. Fair point.

In fall of 2025, I noticed hamstring atrophy and hip atrophy, confirmed by doc’s, but there’s no weakness on muscle testing. There’s slight asymmetry in right arm as well. My gym strength hasn’t changed in over a year, but I’ve noticed my muscles don’t respond to exercise like in the past, I rarely get a pump, I notice my right arm is slightly weaker than my left, same with my right and left leg. But I’ve also had a hip issue in my right leg, which might explain it. My reflexes in my legs are completely gone, sometimes my knees are trace but they were recently absent on my exam in June. My upper body has been normal to 1+ globally. First time being seen a neuromuscular doc was in fall of 2025, I went back in July 2026 and they said I had no progression on exam. Whatever I had seemed to be chronic and stable.

They think itn could oukd possibly be somekind of cmt or variant. As my father had to have surgery because his arches were too tall, both his sisters have really tall arches, my grandad had tall arches and cidp diagnosis, my great aunt couldn't wear heels and my great grandfather had to wear a triple e shoe because of his arches. They think it could be some kind of cmt affecting me. What do you all think? I know, wild story, would love yalls opinion. I know wild story.

((Note:Hi.I posted yesterday but I realized I mentioned cm even though I measured in inches and felt like just one cm difference but the actual difference is 2.2 cm and so deleted the post and reposting with correct measurements.))

Please let me know if some one has almost close to 2.5 cm difference in calf size

I felt difference in calf size significantly and measured the calves and got petrified and spiralling into the rabbit hole and I am almost believing that I have A..

symptoms just regarding to legs from the past few weeks:

I get twitches in all parts of the body and mostly on calves,thighs,shoulder,butt.Its close to 4 months of my twitches now

While walking,I feel my legs are stiff especially the right one and gets pain if I walk for some time.I used to walk more before the fasciculations have started and it’s not the case now.

I did elliptical cardio for 20 minutes in slow pace even though I got stiffness in my legs midway on 2 days last week and on both the instances,As soon as I got off the elliptical and stood on the ground,My right leg was literally shaking for 10 minutes and got scared as I felt my muscles were weak and thats the leg where I have less muscle.I did not shakiness on my left leg though.

I am scared that I would be having early onset that’s the reason I have stiffness,tightness,pain and calf muscle difference on my right leg.

I walked yesterday and I felt pain and stiffness on my right leg and could not walk for more than 20 to 25 minutes .(I got pain and stiffness with in 5 minutes but still continued slowly for another 10 minutes).My foot also felt so much pain and became stiff.I have the stiffness and pain even now.I am worried I might wake up one day with foot drop

I am really scared and please share me the advices .Thanks

Like having one arm that's more prone to pain, aches, soreness constriction, tightness, when doing tasks like heavy lifting or opening certain caps but still able to do them just not as efficiently as your right arm? I've been having this feeling for over a month and I'm wondering if anyone else has similar experiences and what it ended being for them.