fionae
Distinguished member
- Joined
- May 30, 2015
- Messages
- 240
- Reason
- PALS
- Diagnosis
- 08/2015
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
- City
- San Diego
Hello. I'm new here. I'm grateful for this forum. This is my first post; I'm not sure how this all works.
I'm a female, in my early 60's. I started having speech problems in October 2014. In November 2014 the problems started to always be there; they never got better, only worse, & have continued to get worse on up to today. For the last few months, even my friends & family have difficulty understanding me. I've seen different doctors & specialists along the way; as it stands now, I'm seeing my Neurologist.
My Neurologist has done 5 blood tests, done an EMG (with small shocks, as well as the needles) on my right arm & leg, and he had a more sophisticated MRI, with & w/out contrast, done on my brain. (I'd had a traditional brain MRI a few months before).
He is not sure what is wrong with me. He says my presentation is very rare, difficult to diagnose, & could be a number of different things. The question I have has to do with when he did the one & only EMG in April 2015: he said it showed "no evidence" of ALS. I was, and am, so very grateful.
The question I had: I wanted to ask if anyone here knew anything about this kind of circumstance: all my symptoms are bulbar (speaking, chewing, swallowing, choking...), which I believe are Lower Neuron related; but he tested my arm & leg, which I believe are Upper Neuron related.
Do any of you know if with the EMG having been done as it was, if it would truly seem to be a meaningful result as to "no evidence" of ALS, since my situation is bulbar?
I want to thank you so much for your selflessness, your being there, and your listening. Thank you.
I'm a female, in my early 60's. I started having speech problems in October 2014. In November 2014 the problems started to always be there; they never got better, only worse, & have continued to get worse on up to today. For the last few months, even my friends & family have difficulty understanding me. I've seen different doctors & specialists along the way; as it stands now, I'm seeing my Neurologist.
My Neurologist has done 5 blood tests, done an EMG (with small shocks, as well as the needles) on my right arm & leg, and he had a more sophisticated MRI, with & w/out contrast, done on my brain. (I'd had a traditional brain MRI a few months before).
He is not sure what is wrong with me. He says my presentation is very rare, difficult to diagnose, & could be a number of different things. The question I have has to do with when he did the one & only EMG in April 2015: he said it showed "no evidence" of ALS. I was, and am, so very grateful.
The question I had: I wanted to ask if anyone here knew anything about this kind of circumstance: all my symptoms are bulbar (speaking, chewing, swallowing, choking...), which I believe are Lower Neuron related; but he tested my arm & leg, which I believe are Upper Neuron related.
Do any of you know if with the EMG having been done as it was, if it would truly seem to be a meaningful result as to "no evidence" of ALS, since my situation is bulbar?
I want to thank you so much for your selflessness, your being there, and your listening. Thank you.