hardy42
Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2008
- Messages
- 25
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Country
- US
- State
- in
- City
- elkhart
Hello everyone. I have been on here for some time and just joined today with a few questions. I hope someone can relieve my fears.
I'm a 42 year old male. In very good health. About 3 months ago I had some weakness in my right arm (no pain, just some mild weakness).
This concerned me so I went to my GP and he ordered blood work (all clean) and an MRI (that was fine too).
He sent me to a neurologist (this was two weeks later) and he did an EMG on just my right arm (it was clean). He thought it was some nerve damage from a virus or something and told me that I was going to be fine.
Shortly after that I noticed my muscles shrinking in my arm (again, I had no pain). I measured them as this was happening. I have a friend who is a neurologist in another town, so I called him and went to see him after this happened. He pointed out that my shoulder muscle was smaller (deltoid is what he called it), my bicep muscle and another one in my forearm that I can't spell (brackioradius or something like that). All I knew was that my arm was shrinking and shrinking fast. I lost nearly 3/4 inch off my upper arm, about 3/4 inch off of my forearm and I have no idea how much I lost off of my deltoid (I don't know how to measure it). They just melted away in front of my eyes. This all happened in about six weeks.
He wanted to wait another month or so to do an EMG (so about 2 months after I noticed the shrinking muscles). This EMG was in 3 of my limbs (right arm, left arm and right leg) and took about 2 hours. All he found was acute denervation in my right deltoid. He said this was good news for a few reasons.
One: the muscle shrinking happened too fast and in too many muscles at the same time to be ALS.
Two: there would have been chronic denveration and acute denervation in a shrinking muscle if it was ALS.
Three: nothing has changed in the last two months. The muscles shrank and then stopped shrinking.
Four: all of my reflexes are normal.
He thinks that it was some virus or autoimmune problem that ate my nerves and caused my muscles to shrink and sometimes they only eat motor nerves.
What my fear is, is that he wants to do another EMG in a few months just to make sure there are no other problems. That is what concerns me. If he is so sure it isn't ALS, why would he want to do another EMG? He is my friend and I'm thinking he doesn't want to worry me.
I know there are a lot of smart people on here. Is what he told me consistent in what everyone has heard. Did the shrinking happen too fast and in too muscles to be ALS? And is the only way you are going to get muscle shrinking with ALS, through chronic and acute denervation?
Thank you everyone for taking the time to help me.
I'm a 42 year old male. In very good health. About 3 months ago I had some weakness in my right arm (no pain, just some mild weakness).
This concerned me so I went to my GP and he ordered blood work (all clean) and an MRI (that was fine too).
He sent me to a neurologist (this was two weeks later) and he did an EMG on just my right arm (it was clean). He thought it was some nerve damage from a virus or something and told me that I was going to be fine.
Shortly after that I noticed my muscles shrinking in my arm (again, I had no pain). I measured them as this was happening. I have a friend who is a neurologist in another town, so I called him and went to see him after this happened. He pointed out that my shoulder muscle was smaller (deltoid is what he called it), my bicep muscle and another one in my forearm that I can't spell (brackioradius or something like that). All I knew was that my arm was shrinking and shrinking fast. I lost nearly 3/4 inch off my upper arm, about 3/4 inch off of my forearm and I have no idea how much I lost off of my deltoid (I don't know how to measure it). They just melted away in front of my eyes. This all happened in about six weeks.
He wanted to wait another month or so to do an EMG (so about 2 months after I noticed the shrinking muscles). This EMG was in 3 of my limbs (right arm, left arm and right leg) and took about 2 hours. All he found was acute denervation in my right deltoid. He said this was good news for a few reasons.
One: the muscle shrinking happened too fast and in too many muscles at the same time to be ALS.
Two: there would have been chronic denveration and acute denervation in a shrinking muscle if it was ALS.
Three: nothing has changed in the last two months. The muscles shrank and then stopped shrinking.
Four: all of my reflexes are normal.
He thinks that it was some virus or autoimmune problem that ate my nerves and caused my muscles to shrink and sometimes they only eat motor nerves.
What my fear is, is that he wants to do another EMG in a few months just to make sure there are no other problems. That is what concerns me. If he is so sure it isn't ALS, why would he want to do another EMG? He is my friend and I'm thinking he doesn't want to worry me.
I know there are a lot of smart people on here. Is what he told me consistent in what everyone has heard. Did the shrinking happen too fast and in too muscles to be ALS? And is the only way you are going to get muscle shrinking with ALS, through chronic and acute denervation?
Thank you everyone for taking the time to help me.