Brachial Plexus Mri questions

[Gsilver1988]

Thank you for anyone taking the time to read and answer my questions. I am a 34 year old male.Back in January I had a bit of a compression neck injury but never thought anything of it as I never really noticed any residual pain from it.

Shortly after I began to notice some issues with my left fingers as it felt as if the muscles or tendons were becoming slightly loose and they would cascade quite a bit when making a closed fist. Started to have some neurological issues such as agitation, apathy, insomnia and mild short term memory issues.

Didnt think to much of it but in the beginning of February I began to develope full body muscle fasculations. Persistently in my right calf but sporadic and more infrequent on both sides of my back, shoulders, butt, thighs, calf, and feet. I started to develope forearm and wrist pain and that was when I made an app to see my neurologist. After a brain mri, he noticed mild frontal lobe damage but didn't elaborate and said I'd be fine in a few months. He believed the pain in my arm and wrist was tendonitis.

Shortly after the visit, I began noticing atrophy on both sides of my left hand and issues with the nerves in my forearm. The wrist and forearm pain had subsided at this point so I was not in any pain. I had also noticed my left foos big toe turning inward and my pinky turning outward. I decided to see a chiropractor at the time thinking I may have had pinched nerves. Over the course or 2 weeks of adjustments and working out my symptoms progressed pretty rapidly. I pretty much woke up one morning and the front left side of my shoulder, my left deltoid, my left lat muscle, and area around my ribs seemed to atrophy what seemed like over night. (Mind you all of this has been happening without any pain/sensory issues.

More recently, my left foot has pretty much thinned out much to what my left hand looks and feels like. (Very sensitive when walking as the padding has thinned out) i have ankle instability and am noticing my left butt muscle beginning to lose mass. That area is beginning to branch out into my thigh. The muscle around my knee and around my shinbone are beginning to change as well. Although I am experiencing this atrophy, I have not experienced any clinical weakness (as of yet). About a week ago I developed pain in the back left side of my neck when I put my head back. I met with my neurologist and explained to him everything I was experiencing and he ordered me a cervical spine/shoulder mri.

Results of neck showed quite a bit of osteoarthritis pretty much from c3-c6. Possible impingement on c4 and flattening of spinal chord without any abnormal signal. My shoulder Mri showed an increase in STIR signal and nerve root enlargement possibly from c5-c8 with preservation of fat around neurovascular bundle without compression. They said it could be the result of a traction injury based on my history but is this a common finding for the beginning stage of ALS? Is it common to experience both upper and lower plexus issues simultaneously? Even if it happened to be Brachial Neuritis, can that be caused by ALS?

Again, I find it bizarre that I haven't experienced severe pain at all, only mild to moderate pain when I tilt my head back. I am more concerned about my lower left side as that seems to be changing pretty quickly and have no answers for that yet. I am going in for an emg tomorrow so hopefully I will get some answers. I was just curious if anyone has experienced an onset like this before? Thanks in advance

 

[affected]

No that is not caused by ALS, I'm sorry you are going through this.

 

[lgelb]

It sounds like the injury earlier this year has caused some spine damage, and so encourage you to work with your neuro on a treatment plan once testing is complete, and, quite honestly, I would put a hold on chiro, which could cause further damage, while this process is happening. I would expect the EMG to be reassuring as regards ALS.

 

[Gsilver1988]

Thank you both for your response. I apologize for the delay. I had my emg test completed on Tuesday and am waiting for results. She did tell me tentatively that there were areas of nerve damage. I just had a complete spinal mri completed with no findings of anything that would cause all the muscle wasting from my left bum down to my foot. Many of the things I was hoping to be wrong were pretty much ruled out with the MRI I just had completed. Hoping to find out more once I receive my emg results. Trying to be strong, but I am not liking the direction things are heading in:/

 

[lgelb]

The fact that the MRI did not show a clear cause of any muscle wasting (and literally "overnight" atrophy does not happen in ALS) does not mean ALS is the only possibility left. You already indicated there were signs of cord impingement, and abnormal signal can be a wax/wane proposition. "Areas of nerve damage" could mean anything. Post the results when you have them.