Hey Erin,

Well I started with symptoms back in September of 2007. It started with breathing and throat symptoms. I felt like someone was choking me and I had to make an extra effort to breathe. I was in and out of the ER all of the time. They eventually stopped taking me serioue because everything appeared fine and they just wanted to shoot me up with ativan. I'll tell you what, I knew this was not anxiety but the ER did not believe me. I didn't have insurance until June of 2008 and the local health dept. too also said it was all anxiety. No blood work was ever given. I then started to notice in the beginning of 2008 slurred speech. This scared the crap out of me and no one seemed to notice so I tried to DX myself. I remember I saw the word ALS and it really scared the crap out of me. Pardon the term. Anyways after June I saw a GI doc because of the throat trouble and I also had some minor swallowing difficulties. He actually dialated my esophagus. That didn't help. Then I went to Neuros in my area and in Miami. I went to the Cleveland Clinic who is supposed to be top of the line and they blew me off and thought it was acid reflux. Time after time I was told it was mostly in my head and that I appeared fine. After 3 more neuros, 2 Ents, and an allergist, I finally found my neuro doc. I remember he asked me what I though I had. I told him that it seemed like ALS or MS and it was only presenting bulbar symptoms. Bam! Doc said lets test him for EVERYTHING. I was tested for MS, Lime, Lupus, tons of things. Thats when the blood test for MG came back positive. He sent me to Mayo clinic where the Single fiber EMG was done. It was negative. Just to be safe I asked to have blood work done at a different lab incase they made a mistake. They didnt. My titer actually increased. As of today I am definitely more stable mentally. I really thought I was dying last year and I was really scared. Plus, I had just moved to Florida when this all happened and my family moved back to New England so the only person I had was my girlfriend and her family who probably thought I was nuts. Anyways, I am okay now, I have never taken medicine for it and my symptoms fluctuate. Some days its hard to talk fluently and other days its not so bad. I am refining my diet and hoping my body can figure a way to control in naturally. The only problems I really have is with my speech, swallowing, and rarely my breathing. Fatigue and endurance are a factor as well but I stay physical and play volleyball for 5 hours on Sundays. I dunno. I know Ive said a lot but I had a lot of post in on ALS forums asking questions a year ago. This sounds awful but Im thankful for what I have sometimes. It makes me appreciate life, and other times it does seem unfair. For whatever reason Im just more thankful it happened to me instead of my younger siblings because I would rather go through it. Thanks you for asking about me. You guys, again, are really great to observe. If you would like to know anything else send me a message. I will try to be more social on here rather than reading all the time. Have a great day!