Hand weakness/atrophy question

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Hypercapniccc

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Learn about ALS
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TU
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Izmir
Hey I'm 31 m from Turkey, i've been experiencing some neurological symptoms for the last 4 months, twitching, muscle pain and weakness, numbness and tingling are the symptoms and they come and go time to time. I've been to neurologist 2 times, she mostly thinks that i have anxiety, cant find any clinical weakness on hands and refuses to perform an EMG. But after my 2. neuro visit my left hand started to hurt, felt stiff and weak all in just one day and my ALS anxiety kicked in again and i started to compare my hands.
My left thenar seems smaller compared to right one as if it doesnt have bulky muscle at all, it looks flat and feels softer when i do the ok sign and touch it, so my question is can you get weakness and atrophy in just a week or lets say 10 days? also i realise when i pinch something with my left hand, sometimes my thumb mcp joint collapses. Does this happen in ALS?
Just wanna learn about how fast you can get weakness and atrophy if hands are affected :)
 
ALS does not cause weakness/atrophy in 7-10 days.

If you had no clinical weakness from ALS a week or two ago, you don't have all these issues from it now. From what you describe, in all likelihood you are keyboarding, texting, sitting on your hands, leaning on your elbows, or doing something else that leads to hand issues.

But no one's hands are completely equal in muscle bulk, tone, and shape. For one thing, most people have a dominant hand. For another, we use them differently past that. I mouse with my non-dominant hand, but I carry shopping bags with my dominant hand. For you, it might be the reverse.

Start with playing detective. You can even film your sleep to see if you are rolling over on your arms or hands. If you can't figure it out, the neuro or your PCP can refer you to a hand therapist for an evaluation. But there is no reason to think of ALS.

Best,
Laurie
 
Thank you for your reply, and i assume you wouldnt cut your right hand fingernails with your left hand, if left hand affected right? Is burning or pain feeling present in early/beginning stage ALS?
 
Hey over the last few days, my left shoulder became stiff and painful, I kinda have limited range of motion, shoulder hurts when i try to raise my left arm above my head, can ALS affect your shoulder without paralyzing your hand completely or you get clinical weakness in your hand and then it moves to your shoulder? Can you still have normal function in your hand while your shoulder affected? Im not sure what it is but i feel like my left shoulder twitching all the time
 
See a doctor, rather than posting here. I'm sorry but we can't help further than this post which you should have read when you joined.
 
First of all, this is my second post, but im not here to ask symptoms or progression etc, neuro doc done an emg today, first 15 mins were about i guess nerve conduction study, where she put some electrodes and gave me electric shock, second part takes 10 15 mins as well she inserted needle in my left hand and shoulders, she said you are fine, dont come here anymore you are just wasting money.
So i have a few questions about emg, i've seen a couple of emg results on this forum and they all had velocity and amplitude part, are these values come from NCS or needle emg ? Like after they insert needle they give you electric shock to measure it? In my case she just inserted a needle no electrick shock she just said resist my strength thats all
My second question if you have some kinda motor neuron damage or loss like in als, would it show up in ncs? Like low amp low velocity something like that
 
Velocity and amplitude are terms used in the ncs report. Ncs is shocks yes and abnormalities there point away from ALS

on the emg ( needle portion) report there may be mention of amplitude too though it refers to a different finding and no you do not get shocks at the same time as the needle. Ncs and emg are two different tests though often done at the same visit
 
My emg needle report dont have any velocity and amplitude part but when she puts needle in my thenar muscle as i stand still i see very steady horizontal graph on the screen when i moved my hand it flactuated and when i resisted her strength it peaked, now my test doesnt have amp and velocity values can she still understand that my muscles are fine without those values, i read somewhere in als even if your hand is pefectly still you still get an abnormal graph like you are moving your hand is that true? Also i added emg result can you look at it please
 

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Your emg is normal. amp column in emg report has n for normal in each muscle. As state velocity is a ncs thing not emg. Yes it sounds like your emg was done correctly. You have a normal test report. Congratulations. Please refer any further questions or concerns to your doctors
 
Truly, you were told stop wasting money.
Now we need to say, stop wasting your life on this.
You can choose to move on from this.
Whatever you choose, please don't continue to post here, we wish you the very best in life.
 
From an extremely educated, very skilled and highly trained (which you have
indicated you're not) Neurologist...

*"she said you are fine, don't come here anymore you are just wasting money."
( I wish more Neurologists here in the States would be that straight forward).

*That would also apply here too.
 
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