I think part of what make BFS/ BCFS or the "hope" that it's just BFS/ BCFS is that you have to wait for so much time to pass before you can feel you're "in the clear".
I read a neurological study that said for the 7% of ALS patients who presented with only fasciculations as their first symptom, it took, at the longest, 7.2 months before weakness emerged.
Now I have been trying to calm myself down, telling myself OK, I am in the young bracket [25 years old] and female [with ALS having a 3:2 dominance in males [[so so sorry- don't want to seem either ageist or sexist in sharing these facts]]. Of all ALS patients, 10% are <25 years old, and then of that, how many could only appear with fascics first? A very small number, but alas it does happen.
I have calmed down a lot from my full blown panic month when my twitching first became noticeable at the beginning of September. It has now been 2 months! I am trying to look at each day without clinical weakness as a small sort of victory!
However, I do still freak out due to the variable nature of symptoms I experience...
I started with full blown buzzing 24/7 in my left calf as well as some random twitches elsewhere. The buzzing has gone [woohoo] to now be replaced with strong thumper twitches in my rib area, back, shoulder and right thenar muscle. I still, of course, get twitches, mostly in my left leg, but all the right.
The foot and knee pain fluctuates in intensity still, and I was freaked out by my osteopath as the was having me squeeze my thighs against his arms, and ask when I couldn't push harder [my legs are typically very strong] but my left leg [the one with all the twitching] is thinner, from foot to thigh, than my right...so obviously atrophy has been a worry for me.
I feel between buzzing/ twitching, to new locations of huge pulsing twitches, to worrying about atrophy where my body aches is what keeps me on the "ALS fear train". I'm just hoping I can get to April [7 month window] and be confident I'm in the clear.