Loss of finger movement

[lifetime]

About 2 -3 years ago my wife (27 at the time, 30 now) was experiencing weakness in her right pinky. It would give her issues from time to time with weakness and coordination and occasionally cramp up on her and cause her some pain. She’s had no issues with numbness or tingling. She thought it was mainly related to her desk job as she types a lot until it didn’t go away after a few months. She went to a hand doctor and he told her he thought she just needed to do exercises and stretches for her hand and gave her some that she could do to stretch it out that didn’t help much.

Fast forward to the present and now her hand is much worse. She really can’t move her pinky and ring finger much to the point where she can’t fan them out or raise them up when her hand is flat. She’s also having issues doing tasks such as starting her car, putting on necklaces and her hand writing has degraded although some days that is better than others. Her hand will also occasionally lock up into a tight fist and she’ll have to use her other hand to pry it open and has recently had some cramping in the thenar region of her hand. Again, with all of this has really hasn’t been any numbness or tingling. Last night she also mentioned that sometimes when she wakes up in the morning there is a black spot in her eye that she has to blink out occasionally and sometimes in the morning the bottom of her feet tingle when she gets out of bed.

On Monday she went to an Orthopedist who told her she had never seen anything like this and referred her to a Neurologist who we’ll be seeing on Tuesday. I wasn’t with her for this visit (but will be for sure on Tuesday) but she told my wife she did not believe it was carpal tunnel or trigger finger. As you can imagine this scared the daylights out of her and as soon as she got home had a consultation with Dr. Google. Pretty much all that comes up is ALS. She also saw a video of a guy with ALS who was demonstrating some issues with his hand that mimicked hers which made her start crying.

I’m here to get an understanding of what to expect. While I know the diagnosis process is long and everything else must be ruled out before an ALS diagnosis is made but I’m really worried about her progressive lack of motor function in her hand without the presence of pain, numbness or tingling.

I should also note that my wife is 8 months pregnant with our first child which is making this all the more difficult for us to deal with. Since she has been pregnant her hand has gotten worse at a faster pace. I’m praying it’s a pinched nerve that’s been exacerbated by the extra weight she’s been carrying.

Some questions I have are as follows:
Could this be a pinched nerve even without the numbness, tingling, etc?

I would imagine an orthopedist has seen people with ALS at least come in her office that she’s familiar with it. Why would she say she’s never seen something like this before? Could she have just not wanted to scare my wife?

If not ALS what else could be the cause of this? As I’ve said, most of my searching online keeps pointing back to ALS.

When we go to the doctor on Tuesday what should we expect? The orthopedist mentioned an EMG which I’ve looked into a bit and I’m anticipating her getting one as the appointment is going to be for an hour. Is this something we can expect some results from immediately after? If we won’t get official results until later will the person running the test have some preliminary findings they can share?

Would the orthopedist have recognized radial or ulnar neuropathy?

What would we look for in the EMG while she’s taking it that would indicate it’s not ALS?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, I feel so helpless from all of this.

 

[skipper66]

Why don't you try looking up arthritis perhaps? There is tons of things that it could be before ALS. There is definitely something going on with your wife. But, I think you are really jumping to conclusions that it's ALS. Stay off Dr. Google because it will drive you insane with worry. Get your real answers from a qualified doctor not the computer. Hope you get your answers soon. Kim

 

[ottawa girl]

I'm thinking it's not ALS. Here's why: the symptoms appeared 3 years ago. Most PALS would typically have more obvious signs such as atrophy, fasciculations, falls etc. by now. I've never heard of the eye spot (floater?) thing as an ALS symptom either.

It's good that she's being checked out by a neurologist. It's not good that she's thinking fatal disease.

Please, if your wife does have an EMG, don't try to read anything into it. Let the experts interpret and provide results. Your job is to hold her hand! ( and rub her belly).

 

[HelenL]

First off, congratulations on your baby! I had lots of things happen or get worse while pregnant, so it may be possible that its related... having said that, has your wife ever been tested for Lyme disease? I understand that the hand cramping is not uncommon. I would skip the ELISA test and have the doc do the Western Blot test, as its much more accurate.

The neurologist will most likely not do an EMG at your 1st appt., but do muscle tests for weakness, and their response to his hammer.He'll also be looking for muscle damage from the bloodwork.

Remember that ALS is rare, and its a disease that's diagnosed when everything else is ruled out. Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[JustTrying]

Defiantly don't stress. Stress is no good for a pregnant mama. I would try and get ALS out of her mind so she doesn't stress too much. Gotta keep that baby healthy!