PedroB
New member
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2021
- Messages
- 2
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 00/0000
- Country
- BR
- State
- SP
- City
- São Paulo
My 54 year-old mother started feeling Weakness in her right side about 1 year ago, which she immediately found strange since she's right-handed and had been an athlete her whole life. She then started to go to every doctor she possibly could: Rheumatologist, Orthopedist, Physiotherapist you name it.
After 1 year she still didn't have a clear diagnosis. Finally she decided last week to go see a Neurologist specialized in MND.
Clinical exams show weakness in her legs (Strength with resistance to passive force but can be overcome, 4th value in Medical Research Council scale) and atrophy (her right leg has now 1.5 cm less in circumference, something unusual since her light leg was usually her strongest/most built AND she went through a tough surgery on her left leg about 2 years ago).
She also presented bilateral Hoffman's sign reflex, which could be an UMN symptom, along with Snout reflex, which may or may not be another UMN sign (those are her only UMN signs though).
Her situation is quite strange though, because she shows no fasiculations, and her progression seems pretty slow (at least we think), along with only minor UMN deterioration signs (I read some doctors don't even consider bilateral Hoffman sign as a UMN indication, although I'm probably way too deep into wishful thinking). She also feels pain, mostly in her lumbosacral region, although this may not be significant since she does have sacroiliitis which could explain the pain.
She scheduled an EMG along with a Cervical MRI (only MRI she still hasn't gotten at this point) on the 20th. We're all extremely anxious here, but we're still hopeful that it's not ALS. The fact she has had a lot of exams and still no diagnosis is a real concern though. If anyone has any experience with dubious cases like this, I would love to hear it.
After 1 year she still didn't have a clear diagnosis. Finally she decided last week to go see a Neurologist specialized in MND.
Clinical exams show weakness in her legs (Strength with resistance to passive force but can be overcome, 4th value in Medical Research Council scale) and atrophy (her right leg has now 1.5 cm less in circumference, something unusual since her light leg was usually her strongest/most built AND she went through a tough surgery on her left leg about 2 years ago).
She also presented bilateral Hoffman's sign reflex, which could be an UMN symptom, along with Snout reflex, which may or may not be another UMN sign (those are her only UMN signs though).
Her situation is quite strange though, because she shows no fasiculations, and her progression seems pretty slow (at least we think), along with only minor UMN deterioration signs (I read some doctors don't even consider bilateral Hoffman sign as a UMN indication, although I'm probably way too deep into wishful thinking). She also feels pain, mostly in her lumbosacral region, although this may not be significant since she does have sacroiliitis which could explain the pain.
She scheduled an EMG along with a Cervical MRI (only MRI she still hasn't gotten at this point) on the 20th. We're all extremely anxious here, but we're still hopeful that it's not ALS. The fact she has had a lot of exams and still no diagnosis is a real concern though. If anyone has any experience with dubious cases like this, I would love to hear it.