Hello All,
Interested in getting opinions of others in this board. About 6 months ago (June) I started having extreme pain in my left elbow. I ignored the pain until shortly after when my left hand started cramping when lifting items or putting my hand in certain positions. Around that same time I started having fasciculations in my left hand and this rapidly spread to my feat, calves, temple, etc. I went to a Neuro in August who performed and EMG on my arms and neck and said I have Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel in my left arm. He said the fascicuclations could be ignored. He recommended a local surgeon to perform the surgery (which was done in Sept). The fasciculation’s have become more prominent and I have since met with two other Neurologists, one who specializes in ALS . I had a second EMG performed on my legs in Sept and they found no issues
So far all 3 Neurologists have said that they do not believe I have ALS, and yes, I recognize that they are the experts. The concern I have is that after surgery my hand cramps have become much more pronounced and now includes finger twitching and palm fasciculations. I can usually reproduce the cramps in my left hand by bending the wrist down or forming a karate chop, also by making a tight fist. After doing this a few times, though, the cramp will disappte and cannot be reporduceed. I also have the occasional twitch in my right hand. Fasciculation in my legs, hips, knees etc persist daily but it isn’t constant. I have cramping in ankles and calves at times, but again this is not constant. I do have a mild tremor in my left hand
I definitely have dexterity issues in my left hand along with mild atrophy, but this could be attributed to cubital and carpal tunnel. My middle and index finger moves slower than the same fingers on my right hand. My grip is weaker in my left hand but not sure how much of that is because I am right handed. I am heading in for another EMG on Dec 9th because my current Neuro doesn’t understand the finger twitching and loss of dexterity. She still doesn’t think it is ALS, but she says there is no harm in at least checking to see if the cubital tunnel surgery was successful.
On occasion I do have some trouble forming words but this be unrelated. Also, I was having leg and ankle/pain weakness for a while but not to the level of having dropped foot. This improved somewhat in the past few weeks. Last week I took two .5Mb of Clonazapam and for the entire day I had no cramps of fasciculations and my leg felt perfect.
Again, I recognize that this sounds like a combination of BCFS and failed cubital/carpal tunnel surgery and that I should listen to the Neuro’s. The puzzler is how the fasciculations started at the same time, and why the fingers in my left hand twitch. It does make me nervous and worry that if the symptoms are worse after the surgery then maybe something more significant was overlooked.
Has anyone heard of symptoms such as what I have described?
Interested in getting opinions of others in this board. About 6 months ago (June) I started having extreme pain in my left elbow. I ignored the pain until shortly after when my left hand started cramping when lifting items or putting my hand in certain positions. Around that same time I started having fasciculations in my left hand and this rapidly spread to my feat, calves, temple, etc. I went to a Neuro in August who performed and EMG on my arms and neck and said I have Carpal Tunnel and Cubital Tunnel in my left arm. He said the fascicuclations could be ignored. He recommended a local surgeon to perform the surgery (which was done in Sept). The fasciculation’s have become more prominent and I have since met with two other Neurologists, one who specializes in ALS . I had a second EMG performed on my legs in Sept and they found no issues
So far all 3 Neurologists have said that they do not believe I have ALS, and yes, I recognize that they are the experts. The concern I have is that after surgery my hand cramps have become much more pronounced and now includes finger twitching and palm fasciculations. I can usually reproduce the cramps in my left hand by bending the wrist down or forming a karate chop, also by making a tight fist. After doing this a few times, though, the cramp will disappte and cannot be reporduceed. I also have the occasional twitch in my right hand. Fasciculation in my legs, hips, knees etc persist daily but it isn’t constant. I have cramping in ankles and calves at times, but again this is not constant. I do have a mild tremor in my left hand
I definitely have dexterity issues in my left hand along with mild atrophy, but this could be attributed to cubital and carpal tunnel. My middle and index finger moves slower than the same fingers on my right hand. My grip is weaker in my left hand but not sure how much of that is because I am right handed. I am heading in for another EMG on Dec 9th because my current Neuro doesn’t understand the finger twitching and loss of dexterity. She still doesn’t think it is ALS, but she says there is no harm in at least checking to see if the cubital tunnel surgery was successful.
On occasion I do have some trouble forming words but this be unrelated. Also, I was having leg and ankle/pain weakness for a while but not to the level of having dropped foot. This improved somewhat in the past few weeks. Last week I took two .5Mb of Clonazapam and for the entire day I had no cramps of fasciculations and my leg felt perfect.
Again, I recognize that this sounds like a combination of BCFS and failed cubital/carpal tunnel surgery and that I should listen to the Neuro’s. The puzzler is how the fasciculations started at the same time, and why the fingers in my left hand twitch. It does make me nervous and worry that if the symptoms are worse after the surgery then maybe something more significant was overlooked.
Has anyone heard of symptoms such as what I have described?
