well, wanted to close the loop. Had my EMG Thursday and the headline is the neuro said everything was "100% fine". he started with the nerve conduction and then moved to EMG and tested five muscles; left and right calves, left and right quadriceps, and left shoulder. I am relieved to have been given the opportunity to have this test, and i'm going to try to move on from this concern. I know that's been difficult for others in the past, and i think i'ts mainly because the same symptoms persist even after the test. but i truly hope i won't have a relapse to being concerned about ALS.
To that end, i do have a couple of questions for folks here. Main reason i'm asking is because my neuro didn't have the best bedside manner
and didn't seem to really be open to questions. My guess is he just saw the EMG results and felt like, "you're fine, get out". If anyone has any feedback would love to hear it:
1) Felt like he was pretty sure he wasn't going to find anything, so the test was only about 20 minutes. I will say he definitely checked the areas i was concerned about (legs) and even checked the left shoulder as a bonus. Should i be concerned at all that the test was done too quickly and a little more "effort" might have found a problem? I assume reading the results of an EMG is binary (you either see a problem or you don't; you either see healthy nerves or you don't). But in the back of my mind i was expecting it to be a little more in depth.
2) i assume not all neurologist are equal. This was a general neurologist, not an ALS/MND specialist. But i'm sure he's done hundreds of these EMGs in the past and would at minimum be able to pick up an area of concern if he saw it. My assumption is i don't need an ALS specialist to have done this exam to know what they are looking for; a general neuro is sufficient?
3) what things are they looking for between the NCS portion and the EMG portion? what's the difference? are they both looking for motor neuron issues, or the NCS just to stimulate the nerve and get them ready for the EMG? i wanted to ask him that question, but like i said, he didn't seem real open to taking questions.
4) i still have no clinical muscle weakness, even though my legs are very much subjectively weak and fatigued. i plan to follow up with my GP on this now that the neuro cleared me. But no shot in my situation that the test was done to early? like i said, i have fasciculations nearly 24/7 in my left calf, and fairly persistent in my right calf and thigh. so if those are ALS related, i'm guessing no matter where he stuck the needle, even a quick EMG like i had would have picked up ALS if that was the driver. My thought is it would be completely obvious at this point, but again, i have no real clinical weakness.
i also want to thank everyone who took the time to respond. I know everyone here is likely being pulled in a lot of different directions. The fact that you take the time to answer questions in this forum and help people work through their stress over concerning symptoms we are having is much appreciated.
Would appreciate anyone's input to my questions. but feel free to then close the thread as i'm going to try to move on to other potential causes of my symptoms. just wanted to close the loop and give the results of my emg, and get a final take from this forum to see if any of my thoughts above should be of concern.
Thank you all!