opinions on symptoms

[mattymat04]

I have some ?'s

First on hand curling I seem to have the opposite problem the fingers are actually hard to curl tight. Has anyone had this problem? My hands just ache and I know are weaker just not in grip but I cannot do Spock or west side signs without difficulty.

I was also wondering has anyone had facilations in the ankle? I didn't even know there were muscles there. My right ankle the left side of the Achilles tendon has been twitching for 2 days.

I was also wondering facilations that seem to come on by moving a certain way is that worse then spontaneous? I often get them after coughing or moving a certain way. I noticed the nero taps places trying to get them to go but that never works.

I am going for an EMG on thursday im emagining I want everything to come back neg for that is there anything I should look out for ect?

I hope everyone has a happy new year and everyone feels better in 2008!

 

[CindyM]

same to you, Matt. Hope you get great news at the Neuro's.

 

[AHands]

i have not noticed fasciculations in the ankle, but definately get them in places where there was no muscle i could move voluntarily if you held a gun to my head. e.g. how do you make a muscle jump on the side of your ribs? this perplexes me with respect to the muscle atrophy. supposedly the atrophy is a resul of deinnervation and disuse, but i never stopped using my hands--i'm on the computer EVERY day--yet my hands are the site of the most atrophy. why hasnt that muscle on the side of my rib cage atrophied? i never use that muscle. or the side of my nose...

emg--your first? it hurts--needles and electricity, and they tell you to "relax". makes you feel real sorry for torture victims, at least we know they're trying to help us. from my experience, don't expect anything real definitive from the emg. they don't seem to be as clear-cut as, say, blood tests.

the last emg/ncs i had they mentioned doing the tongue, i think. that sounded unbelievably and shockingly tortous to me, but i just saw my fifth neurologist and he mentioned the tounge thing--said its actually done through the underside of the chin and is surprisingly painless. he said he used to do them on himself.

it seems to me that als is the diagnosed for when everything else comes back negative, so i usually hope for a positive.

 

[keith]

Matt, there is a great amount of things that could be wrong, so until the tests are done try to stay positive{ I know, it is not easy}. The twitching in the ankles and the loss of the ability to make a fist sounds like a myopathy, but then again until the emg and other testing is done it is just a wait and see game. The emg and nvt tests are uncomfortable but not horrendous. Good luck and best wishes.

 

[mattymat04]

ug thought I was having a EMG today but I had a NCS. What does that tell me? From what I gather ncs is a nerve speed test? and EMG is obviously muscles. If im having wide spread muscle weakness and occasional twitches does a NCS even tell me anything besides ruling out a nerve related problem? Im confused.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[AHands]

are you sure that you only had ncs? i believe emg and ncs are usually done together. i'll defer to someone more knowledgable as to what one tells vs the other, but i think they are both important--you did not waste your time by getting the ncs. neither will tell you "yes, it is als" but they might tell you "no, it doesn't look like als at this stage".

i THINK when the nerve is damaged by demylination, for example, that would mean NOT als. but even with als, the myelin will eventually be damaged. its all pretty complicated. they do a lot with comparing the study today with subsequent studies too.

 

[mattymat04]

Yes im sure it was no needles just the electrodes and shocks.
Thanks again

 

[Lorie]

Matt

EMG a must. For example Tim and I both Neuropathy. The NCS picks that up. Until a certain point you can't get a specific DX for ALS. Unless its someone that progresses fast or they are not at the point for the test to show up the problem. Tim had Cramps and Twitching for 7 years before DX 3 years ago. (if know people are getting tired of me posting that) but the new members are not familiar with Tim's journey.


Hope all goes well for you!


Lorie