I was diagnosed with sporadic ALS sometime in October of 1993. As I recall my first sign of the symptoms was weakness in my hands that occurred sometime in 1989, at the age of 23.

I was a guitar player since the age of nine and was in several bands including, “Abomination” (speed metal) which released two full length CDs and toured Europe. The loss of strength was affecting my playing so I became very concerned. I saw a chiropractor to see if he could determine the cause of the problem. A grip strength test was performed and the average for a man 23 and 5'6 was 110-120 lbs. I was only able to squeeze approximately 60 and 65 lbs. After X-rays of my spine and my neck, his diagnosis was that the nerves going down my arms were pinched, causing the weakness. He warned me that if this was not treated that the muscles in my arms would eventually begin to atrophy. He used ultrasound as well as spinal manipulation for treatment. After five months 90% of my strength had returned and I felt great and I discontinued the treatments.
 
In the Spring of 1993 I was working as a sound engineer when the drummer from “Abomination” and I joined “Body Bag” (no love songs here). The feebleness in my hands returned so I found another chiropractor. He thought the problem was similar to the previous diagnosis and began treatments by manipulating my spine and neck. In the meantime my guitar playing ability was diminishing. I would squeeze a racquetball for 30 minutes while riding to band practice, but it still did not seem to help my playing. My fingers were sluggish, weak, playing rhythms was more difficult and my solos were becoming less melodic.

In late August 1993 I was leaving a White Sox game with some friends and while walking down a ramp my legs were very stiff. I was walking slowly and was having a difficult time when my friend asked me, "Why are you  walking so funny?", "I don't know, maybe it's because I'm not stretching out before I exercise on my cross country skier”, I replied. The next few months were very confusing. Running  became difficult, I wanted to sprint but I was limited to some weird demented jog. After riding my mountain bike I could not get my leg over the bar to get off, so I would just fall. The next few weeks I was real jumpy. I would jump at load noises, even if I knew they were coming. I was asking myself, “What the hell is wrong with me?”

My hands were becoming weaker and more symptoms appeared throughout my body. I was unstable walking in confined spaces and started loosing my balance. I fell a couple of times from either tripping over something small and not being able to recover, or just falling to my knees from dragging my left foot. I was trying to figure this one out. Was it the Nordic Track? Around the same time when I would lie in bed ready to go to sleep I could feel my muscles all over my body twitching a little bit. I thought it was weird, but it really did not bother me at first because it did not happen all the time.

I told my chiropractor what has been happening and he referred me to a chiropractic neurologist. I went to see the Doctor and after a physical, x-rays, EMG and two M.R.I.s his diagnosis was ALS. “What's that?" I asked, “Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,"  he replied, explained what it was and that there was no cure. Right then I knew I would have to find a way to beat this thing. He recommended I go see a neurologist at Loyola Medical Hospital. That evening I looked up ALS in our Mayo Clinic encyclopedia. It explains a little bit about the disease, that it is terminal and the average life expectancy after diagnosis was 2-5 years! It's like the story of the guy asking, "Well Doc, how long do I have to live?” The rest of the evening my parents and I were in shock and could not believe the diagnosis.
 
I went to Loyola Medical Hospital with hope and high expectations that the previous Doctors diagnosis was incorrect. The neurologist’s assumption was that it was most likely ALS but wanted to run tests to rule out any other afflictions. He did extensive blood tests, checked me for Aids that came out negative and performed an EMG. I had to wait six weeks for the results of the tests and during this time I was convincing myself that it has to be something curable and that I would be all right. All tests came back negative. He then scheduled me for a muscle and nerve biopsy and explained that if there was a degeneration in the muscle cells that it would be something other than ALS. If there was a degeneration in the nerve cells it would pretty much narrow it down to ALS. Unlike other diseases there is no specific test for ALS, several tests are performed to rule out any or all other afflictions, as I have mentioned before. The results showed a degeneration of the nerve. The last test was a spinal tap which might reveal the presence of bacteria or any other pathogens in the spinal fluid. Again the results were negative. I am now curious if antibodies were found in my spinal fluid since there is evidence ALS may be linked to a virus.

At this point my guitar playing was worse and my hands were so weak I could hardly hold the pick. I had to quit Body Bag and playing was too difficult, frustrating and depressing to continue so I eventually had to give up my instrument. That was over three years ago.