I met my neurologist today. The anticonvulsants had no effect, which concerned him. I asked him if he still thought it was benign, and he started speaking how he had thought it was benign...but he kept speaking in the past tense. I tried to pin him down a little and asked him if, after the blood test and the drugs, what his opinion was NOW. He kind of frowned, closed his eyes for a few seconds, and said that he still thought it was most likely benign, but that he was concerned.
He mentioned the reasons he thought it was benign: fasciculations usually occur after atrophy, and my limbs show no signs of atrophy. He mentioned that since he began seeing me, I'd shown no signs of atrophy. But I've only been seeing him for two weeks since I first noticed the fasciculations! Does atrophy begin to show that quickly, in a manner of a couple of weeks? Does anyone know?
He then gave me a letter of referral to another hospital which has a larger neurological center. I'm going there next Tuesday, and he said they might schedule an EMG for me, or some other type of test. After that, I will go back to my original doctor to discuss the results.
The expression on his face when I asked him if he still thought it was benign scared me a little...it was like he was trying to think of the most noncommittal response. I get the vibe that he just doesn't have a clue at this point, and he expected the muscle relaxant or anti-convulsant to do the trick.
My question is, to those who know about this: would atrophy begin to show two weeks after the start of fasciculations? Does a motor neuron disorder progress that quickly? It just seems awfully fast, especially considering I've read on this forum about people waiting months and months and months to find out whether they had MND or something else.