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yaumno

New member
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
5
Diagnosis
03/2013
Country
US
State
Georgia
City
Atlanta
Hello everyone,

My name is Spencer. About 10 months ago I suffered an electrical shock from a damp light switch in my apartment (110v, 15 amps). Since then I have been experiencing alarming neurological symptoms that I think may be the beginning of MND or an ALS-like syndrome.

I apologize in advance for the length of this message but if you could take the time to read and respond then I would be very grateful indeed.

Immediately after the shock I had decreased pinprick sensation and some numbness/tingling in my right forearm and hand. I also had a great deal of pain running along the nerves in both of my arms, particularly underneath the bicep and along my forearm. The numbness and tingling in my right forearm and hand resolved within a day or two. The pain remained for 3-4 months but is now minimal.

Within a week of the shock I developed an extremely enhanced physiological tremor that makes all of my muscles shake and jiggle when they are used. It's very hard to live with this as it affects all of my actions and the movements are not smooth. This symptom is common to people on the aboutbfs.com website (benign fasciculation syndrome) which makes me think that it could be related to anxiety. My fingers and arms are also quite shaky when held in a fixed position as if the normal fine tremors that everyone experiences have become exaggerated.

These symptoms have remained consistent since the shock but within the last few months I have developed new and very worrisome symptoms.

Over the last few months I have been having increasingly powerful and frequent fasciculations. These started a few months after the electrical shock but they have been getting worse and worse since then. What disturbs me the most is that they are especially frequent and intense in my right arm - the one that sustained the shock. This association between the location of the shock and the location of the most intense/frequent fasciculations makes me really worried that the twitching is a direct result of the electrical accident.

Further, about 4 months after the shock I began to feel that my right hand was "different," "stiff," or "heavy." This stayed mild for a while but in the last few months and weeks it has gotten more and more pronounced. Right now it is pretty bad - my right hand feels clumsy and weak all of the time. I don't see any visible muscle wasting and I don't have any true objective loss of strength but something is definitely very wrong. When I use my fingers they feel as if they will fail under the pressure I apply to them. However I can still push on the end of my fingertips and hold them up against a lot of force.

I am also having very noticeable tingling in my right forearm and my right calf. It is very stable and doesn't come and go under different circumstances. However, I don't have any loss of skin sensation or numbness.

Within the last two weeks I have been having really bad muscle cramping in my right calf and right hand and forearm. It occurs pretty consistently and is quite painful. If I stretch of massage the muscle I can get it to go away but it returns quickly. The muscle cramping is especially frightening because it is a new development.

I had an EMG test performed 45 days and 6 months after my electric shock and they returned normal results. I also had a cervical spine MRI, an SEP, and EEG test - all of which returned normal results. I just can't shake the feeling that my condition is deteriorating and that these symptoms seem an awful lot like the beginnings of MND - something that is documented to have happened following electric shocks.

If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, or questions then please let me know. It's very hard to deal with this while not having a diagnosis or even any evidence of dysfunction. If this is the beginning of a degenerative process then I would like to attempt some treatment to halt the progression if possible.

Sincerely,
Spencer
 
Bump :/

Anyone have any input?
 
Hello everyone,

My name is Spencer. About 10 months ago I suffered an electrical shock from a damp light switch in my apartment (110v, 15 amps). Since then I have been experiencing alarming neurological symptoms that I think may be the beginning of MND or an ALS-like syndrome.

I apologize in advance for the length of this message but if you could take the time to read and respond then I would be very grateful indeed.

Immediately after the shock I had decreased pinprick sensation and some numbness/tingling in my right forearm and hand. I also had a great deal of pain running along the nerves in both of my arms, particularly underneath the bicep and along my forearm. The numbness and tingling in my right forearm and hand resolved within a day or two. The pain remained for 3-4 months but is now minimal.

Within a week of the shock I developed an extremely enhanced physiological tremor that makes all of my muscles shake and jiggle when they are used. It's very hard to live with this as it affects all of my actions and the movements are not smooth. This symptom is common to people on the aboutbfs.com website (benign fasciculation syndrome) which makes me think that it could be related to anxiety. My fingers and arms are also quite shaky when held in a fixed position as if the normal fine tremors that everyone experiences have become exaggerated.

These symptoms have remained consistent since the shock but within the last few months I have developed new and very worrisome symptoms.

Over the last few months I have been having increasingly powerful and frequent fasciculations. These started a few months after the electrical shock but they have been getting worse and worse since then. What disturbs me the most is that they are especially frequent and intense in my right arm - the one that sustained the shock. This association between the location of the shock and the location of the most intense/frequent fasciculations makes me really worried that the twitching is a direct result of the electrical accident.

Further, about 4 months after the shock I began to feel that my right hand was "different," "stiff," or "heavy." This stayed mild for a while but in the last few months and weeks it has gotten more and more pronounced. Right now it is pretty bad - my right hand feels clumsy and weak all of the time. I don't see any visible muscle wasting and I don't have any true objective loss of strength but something is definitely very wrong. When I use my fingers they feel as if they will fail under the pressure I apply to them. However I can still push on the end of my fingertips and hold them up against a lot of force.

I am also having very noticeable tingling in my right forearm and my right calf. It is very stable and doesn't come and go under different circumstances. However, I don't have any loss of skin sensation or numbness.

Within the last two weeks I have been having really bad muscle cramping in my right calf and right hand and forearm. It occurs pretty consistently and is quite painful. If I stretch of massage the muscle I can get it to go away but it returns quickly. The muscle cramping is especially frightening because it is a new development.

I had an EMG test performed 45 days and 6 months after my electric shock and they returned normal results. I also had a cervical spine MRI, an SEP, and EEG test - all of which returned normal results. I just can't shake the feeling that my condition is deteriorating and that these symptoms seem an awful lot like the beginnings of MND - something that is documented to have happened following electric shocks.

If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, or questions then please let me know. It's very hard to deal with this while not having a diagnosis or even any evidence of dysfunction. If this is the beginning of a degenerative process then I would like to attempt some treatment to halt the progression if possible.

Sincerely,
Spencer

Hi Spencer. I see that you are showing a ton of different symptoms and all of them could be related to so many things other than ALS. If you are not content with your current EMG results, then maybe you should get retested.

A neurologist will look for specific things in the EMG to see if further testing is needed.

ALS diagnosis are made by process of elimination. If your symptoms are at their height, then the neurologist should be able to tell if further testing is needed.

I can tell by your post that you are having some anxiety (which I am as well since my father was recently diagnosed with SALS). Anxiety can wreak havoc on your mind and your body as well.

I'd say a trip back to the doctor is in order because I'm not sure anyone is going to be able to answer your questions specifically over the internet. At least go back for peace of mind to see if it calms your anxiety.

You literally have two choices. Stay at home and worry or go to the doctors and see if they are any more concerned than they were a couple months ago.

Most people here are not doctors but are dealing with someone with ALS or have ALS themselves. The people here are full of helpful information on this disease but diagnosing is something that none of us can do.

I'm sorry you aren't probably getting the "yes or no" answer you are seeking.

Just to let you know some of my current issues. My father was diagnosed with SALS (sporadic ALS). Which means that his neurologists believe that with no medical history of ALS in my family, that my fathers ALS is not considered genetic. Which 90% - 95% of all cases are considered sporadic. There is a sliver lining with the obvious being that it's not considered genetic. The problem however is that neurologists know less about sporadic ALS than then do about hereditary ALS (familial ALS).

So of course I'm sitting here panicking that my father has passed his ALS to me, my brothers, and so on to my children through me. Which is causing me a ton of anxiety and worry. I have no reason to worry about ALS currently. I saw what it started doing to my father before we even had a diagnosis. The anxiety I'm dealing with is becoming a really big issue for me. I'm learning how to try and deal with it head on. It's a struggle. My anxiety is so potent at times that I can actually sit still and feel every little movement on my body, even my pulse. It's pretty common for people dealing with medical anxiety as we focus on our bodies WAY too much. And yes, your anxiety can cause cramps and muscle twitches.

You aren't alone but if you aren't happy with your current diagnosis, go see a different neurologist. And maybe start looking into some anti anxiety mediation or therapy. I'm in that process right now as I need to get my head straight so I can help deal with my father as his disease progresses.
 
Thanks for the encouragement Cris R. I can hardly imagine what you are your family are going through. Last year my mother and I spent 6 months caring for my aunt as she was dying from multiple forms of cancer. It was honestly one of the most gut wrenching things that I have gone through and I know for a fact that ALS is worse in many ways than cancer. If you ever need to vent then feel free to PM me.

Also, you might want to check out "anxietycentre.com" It's not the most scientific of websites, but the tips that I learned there for controlling anxiety have helped me stay calm during some really tough times recently.


In other news, I wanted to let you guys know that I just got back the results from my MEP (motor evoked potentials) test. There was an abnormality present but the doctors are not quite sure what to make of it. They are pretty sure that I have an upper motor neuron lesion of some sort (affecting the motor neurons in the brain, not the spinal cord), but there is no way to determine the possible prognosis of such a lesion. Basically I just have to wait, keep myself healthy, and hope that the problem is non-progressive or eventually resolves.

The actual verbiage from the report is as follows: "The MEP study shows 1) prolonged central conduction time between the left cortex and the right C7 region 2) minimal prolongation of central conduction time between the left cortex and right L5 region. These findings are not incompatible with a lesion above the lower cervical cord region."

My symptoms from the shock are on the right side of my body which corresponds to the problems in conduction with the left cortex (because the left brain controls the ride side of the body and vice versa).

Let me know what you guys think or if you have any information that you think might be relevant to trauma induced upper motor neuron lesions.
 
FWIW, I think a good neurologist will refer you to an ALS clinic where they have a team to review most/all relevant symptoms in the context of ALS. Mine took three days; however Dr. Appels diagnosed me at noon on the first day :-(.

Good luck and realize the odds are with you!

Max
 
No offense meant to anyone who is commenting here but we are patients, not doctors, yaumno. Our two cents are only worth a pence as any one PALS has a variation to the story. GO SEE A DOC who specializes in ALS and don't leave until you hear all they have to say.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

I've seen multiple neurologists, many of whom specialize in neuromuscular diseases, but they haven't been able to tell me much.

I'm currently living in Taiwan so their version of a neurology clinic is a little different than what you might get in the U.S. The doctors speak English very well but they don't really bother to do an exhaustive search for answers.

I'm returning to the U.S. soon and I will visit a neurologist when I get back.
 
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