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christyloo

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Sorry I posted in wrong place initially but I'm moving my post here now. :)

My husband is 41 and in good health other than his arms. He fell at work a few months ago and after his arm bothered him for a few months finally saw an orthopedic. The doctor was horrified when he saw my husbands hands and arms. The muscles are severely atrophied on both sides. We hadn't noticed because he recently lost 100 lbs after gastric bypass so just thought his smaller arms and loss of strength were a result of weight loss.

His EMG showed nerve damage in both arms and he is in surgery now for the first arm to release the three places the nerves are blocked. The orthopedic is very worried that a disease is behind this and wants us to see a neurologist after the second surgery. He says this is the most unusual case he's ever seen.

My question is - does this sound like what any of you have experienced with ALS? Should we go to a neurologist who specializes in this type of thing or should we wait and see what our local neuro sees? We are about 2 1/2 hrs from Vanderbilt where there is an ALS clinic.

Thanks for any input.

Christy
 
How could you say he is healthy when he had obesity?

Glad to hear he is under a doc's care.
 
Christy,

First off - kudos to him for weight loss. That's a brave thing he's done.

When you say he's in surgery now - do you mean he's having it now, about to have it or has had it? Has the neuro who did the EMG offered an opinion? If not and if your husband is otherwise ok, have you considered seeing a neuro before even the first surgery? If it's indeed a disease which is causing the nerve issues & muscle wasting , why put him through surgery for nothing?

I can only tell you, for my own self, I'd avoid surgery ( especially if still obese) until I know, with some certainty, what's causing my arm weakness & atrophy.

Good luck to you.
 
I'd go to a general neuro first. If you need to go to a particular sub-specialist, he'll give you good advice, and you'll receive a better reception from that sub-specialist generally. One of my neuros, great guy, called himself a "witchdoctor", becuase he spent half his time telling me which doctor to go to for this or that.
 
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