CK levels?

[Ronja]

Hi I was wondering what role ck levels have with als. My family Doctor pointed out that mine were high (1300). I am still learning about my diagnose so I didn,t ask about this. Sorry if this has been covered i forgot to use search for this(i forget lots of things)
Thanks Ron

 

[Vincent]

Ck levels Relate to muscle wasting. Normal levels are about 300. I had mine go up to 6000 after a pulmonary embolism. That high and you get a week in hospital hooked to IV fluids. 1300 is high but not dangerous. Hope that helps.
Vincent

 

[Ronja]

Thanks vincent the search function doesn,t work on my phone so if it isn,t in the stickies then i will just ask besides it helps when i interacted with others here on the forums

 

[lgelb]

It is not unusual for CK to be elevated in ALS, since it points to muscle damage. The nerves that control them die and the muscles atrophy.

 

[aralvi]

In the beginning one of the pointers for ALS as opposed to a muscle disease such as polymiositis is that Muscle weakness is NOT accompanied by high CK levels. In my wifes case they never got above 280 prior to diagnosis of ALS.

 

[lgelb]

Sorry, I should have said a comparatively mild elevation compared to what it is seen in some other dz states, e.g. 10x normal in DMD. Some elevation, as shown in the table linked, is not uncommon in ALS, though it does not always manifest.

 

[affected]

Clinical weakness is an important part of diagnosis, but if the disease is early stage there may not be a lot of actual wastage of muscles and so the CK levels may not be showing as very high.

The clinical weakness is there because the neurones are dying and not giving proper signals needed for the muscles to work. Clinical weakness and atrophy are two different things, even though PALS will experience both. Often early symptoms are the sudden inability to do something because of this weakness, but there may be no sign of atrophy yet.

Hope that helps.