euroland
New member
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2022
- Messages
- 2
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- US
- State
- NY
Hi all,
I am a 24 YO male, living in Switzerland.
My symptoms started 3 months ago. I had a severe neck pain along with left shoulder/arm perceived weakness, and thought probably it was because of a herniated disc. I got a brain/spinal cord MRI and it came back clean. This made me a bit worried, because I am a molecular biology researcher and I already knew about the physiopathology of ALS. So therefore my worrying days started. Around these days my twitches also started, mostly in my left arm. I first got an EMG of my left arm muscles 2,5 months ago, and it came back clean. However, my worries remained because the symptoms stayed with me. But I was always trying to relieve myself by the fact that there was no problem with my hands (Because I was thinking that ALS starts distally in upper extremity.). But unfortunately I was searching almost everything about the early indicators of the disease online, and eventually I came across to the split hand phenomenon. Then I looked at my hands, and got terrified. Because my left thenar was much smaller than my right one (there is almost a 3-fold difference, in terms of muscle mass, see attached pictures.). This made me sure that I have it. Around these days I also realized that I was leaning mostly on my left leg, and also noticed that there was a strength difference in my legs too, not clinically but perceived. I got my second EMG 1,5 month ago, and the same neuromuscular specialist performed the test. He actually didn't want to do the test because my clinical exam was normal (he was also not very concerned about the atrophy, although it is quite noticeable), and my first EMG was performed just one month before. But since I was in a big anxiety, he did the test on my left arm muscles , but it came back normal again (even when he inserted the needle to my thenar muscle, there was no pathologic activity.). He told me I should move on, and I wanted to do it too, but unfortunately my left thenar continued to decline, but still I have no function loss. I have body wide fasciculations too.
Now actually I don't know what to do, because even if I get another EMG and if it comes back normal, I know I will not be relaxed, because the dramatic difference in my thenars still will be there. And on the other hand, if I get an answer from EMG, I will not be happy either since positive test will be the indicator of the disease. I would be happy if someone could give me any advice given my situation. And also for the photos, do you think if it really reflects the thenar atrophy (for me it's obvious unfortunately)?
I am a 24 YO male, living in Switzerland.
My symptoms started 3 months ago. I had a severe neck pain along with left shoulder/arm perceived weakness, and thought probably it was because of a herniated disc. I got a brain/spinal cord MRI and it came back clean. This made me a bit worried, because I am a molecular biology researcher and I already knew about the physiopathology of ALS. So therefore my worrying days started. Around these days my twitches also started, mostly in my left arm. I first got an EMG of my left arm muscles 2,5 months ago, and it came back clean. However, my worries remained because the symptoms stayed with me. But I was always trying to relieve myself by the fact that there was no problem with my hands (Because I was thinking that ALS starts distally in upper extremity.). But unfortunately I was searching almost everything about the early indicators of the disease online, and eventually I came across to the split hand phenomenon. Then I looked at my hands, and got terrified. Because my left thenar was much smaller than my right one (there is almost a 3-fold difference, in terms of muscle mass, see attached pictures.). This made me sure that I have it. Around these days I also realized that I was leaning mostly on my left leg, and also noticed that there was a strength difference in my legs too, not clinically but perceived. I got my second EMG 1,5 month ago, and the same neuromuscular specialist performed the test. He actually didn't want to do the test because my clinical exam was normal (he was also not very concerned about the atrophy, although it is quite noticeable), and my first EMG was performed just one month before. But since I was in a big anxiety, he did the test on my left arm muscles , but it came back normal again (even when he inserted the needle to my thenar muscle, there was no pathologic activity.). He told me I should move on, and I wanted to do it too, but unfortunately my left thenar continued to decline, but still I have no function loss. I have body wide fasciculations too.
Now actually I don't know what to do, because even if I get another EMG and if it comes back normal, I know I will not be relaxed, because the dramatic difference in my thenars still will be there. And on the other hand, if I get an answer from EMG, I will not be happy either since positive test will be the indicator of the disease. I would be happy if someone could give me any advice given my situation. And also for the photos, do you think if it really reflects the thenar atrophy (for me it's obvious unfortunately)?