Bilateral Hand Weakness

[Zeeyore_]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your time and responses. I am 33 year old Male and I'll start from the onset:

Early-November 2022- Noticed a finger acted clumsy when typing and hands felt sleepy, tired, colder. GP theorized Carpal or arthritis because I work on a computer all day and workout/weight train.

Saw Ortho who said they didn’t believe it to be carpal tunnel or arthritis, said to stop working out for a couple of weeks in case it was an injury.

Felt weird sensations in my feet as well.

After meals my hands were rejuvenated until right before bed where they felt heavy.

This was mild for a couple of months. I actually thought it disappeared. Until—

December 17 2022: I experienced extreme fatigue and dizziness over the weekend. Couldn’t do anything because I eventually recovered during the work week. But then it came back the weekend after and it took 4 days to recover. I saw my GP again about this and she theorized blood sugar and I’m kind of have orthostatic hypotension (lightheaded from getting up too fast) So she suggest more complex carbs and stuff. I did do this until it happened again on

Dec 23rd where I ended up in the ER because I was about to pass out and they did the Blood tests, CT scans, chest scan. All good. Thyroid, blood counts, etc. No infections, no covid, no autoimmune, nothing.

Progressive weakness: And throughout the Holiday break, this is where the Bilateral Hand Weakness started to really take over. I noticed my grip strength decreasing rapidly.

January 2023: as my hands got weaker, I took MRI on brain, cervical, blood tests again, even for lyme and zika. All came back negative. I did an EMG in early January by a tech and it was apparently normal.

Tingling when moving fingers: But my hands only got weaker. I used to be able to flutter my fingers in my right hand as sort of a test. But in Jan 18 I experienced tingling whenever I would flutter in my index finger. Then tingling in the rest of the fingertips except the pinky. Almost feels like they were given magnetic weights(if that makes any sense). I can still move them all normally but can’t flutter them anymore.

Muscle Jerks: I occasionally get these quick finger jerks in my right hand. Mostly when I’m typing or holding my phone

Possible Atrophy: I believe there’s slight atrophy in the wrist through the forearm, which is why they strain now when I’m holding stuff. There’s clear dents in my adductor. Although I can still pinch, just weak.

February 9- 2nd EMG: I ended up getting a 2nd EMG by the neuro Doctor at UM who did it himself and more thoroughly. And there were abnormal findings in both my arms and legs. I’ve attached it with the necessary info blacked out.

Basically he said it was Carpal Tunnel and that it WASN’T ALS. “But come back if feet start tingling.” My anxiety had dropped considerably after this, despite the fact, I originally went to an ortho about this. He did notice my right thumb was easier to pushed down than the left. And had some numbness.

Now, I would have stopped right here. And not even post here at all. But, I immediately saw an orthopedic…

2/13: However, I recently saw a wrist specialist who still doubted the diagnosis because carpal tunnel would take years for the those symptoms to become problematic. Believed my issue seemed systematic, but wasn’t sure, he wanted me to came back with all the other test results in 3 months. I started to wear cubital and carpal braces now.

Now: But I find myself discouraged again as my right hand is continuing to tingle when I move my fingers and my index finger gets slower. My left hand is starting to tingle when I move all my fingertips now. My palms feel more hollow.

And the scary part right now is, which is why I’m posting here, that my feet now feel like my hands first did in the beginning, although no clumsiness, just strange, (I’ll admit, perceived weakness), a burning sensation a couple of times.

Anomaly came back: I never actually had a proven Viral Infection. I noticed the Neuro plotted that in the report. However, It’s worth noting that the dizziness has come back. (I did go back to the gym to see if it would help. Went six times in past couple of weeks). And through this journey, when the fatigue and dizziness started, my body felt strange, like I had this inflammation that would slide down to my feet when I put them down or be in the back of my head when I lay down, like now. But I wasn’t confirmed for anything like that through the mountains of bloodwork. I only noticed because the dizziness has been back only while lying down and turning head, reflexes sensitive again, hands are clumsy again. This could be connected to my feet feeling weaker, more on the left.

I know this was long, I apologize, but I’m not getting much anywhere else. And I’m still worried I might have ALS.

 

[lgelb]

I don't see any reason to think of ALS from your report, and these notes. But, from your account, I would think about moving on from your GP and finding an internist who can do a systemic workup and maybe refer you to a balance specialist or ENT who can check out your ears.

For the common neuropathies that the evidence suggests, I would ask the orthopod about a PT referral so you can get started with a home exercise regimen and maybe hand therapy.

Sometimes, more than one thing is wrong and the combination produces some scary results. You need docs who can go step by step with you. I would think there are some in Florida.

Best,
Laurie

 

[Zeeyore_]

Thank you for the reply, Laurie. I haven't thought about an Internist, I will do that. I also made an app for PT scheduled in a couple of weeks.

In just the last few days my feet have felt sleepy and weak, tingling toe. Now I'm getting muscle twitches on my right leg and jerks on left foot. My legs in general feel weaker. I am taking a bunch of OTC for nerve healing, but it's all happening so fast now.