rangerbob
Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2010
- Messages
- 24
- Reason
- Learn about ALS
- Diagnosis
- 01/2011
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
- City
- Mountain View
i have been checking out this forum for sometime now and was wondering if you could help me -- has anyone experience something similiar...here is my spouse's (31 y/o female) story.
1. started having trouble lifting objects in March 2009 after giving birth to our second child
2. starting in late 2009, she started suffering from extreme, extreme fatigue
3. about 6 months ago she started to feel weakness in both arms -- couldnt lift right arm any higher than her shoulder blade...the other armcould but took a lot of work to do so.
4. in may, went to PCP and told him about it and he ran some tests:
-AST was high at 134
-ALT was high at 221
-CReactive Protein was high at 5.7
-Low Vitamin D
he put her on vitamin D supplement...within a few weeks we found out she was pregnant.
5. went to see my OBGYN and she ran a few more tests
-tested a Positive ANA Profile @ 1:160 speckled and homogenuous
-high C3C and C4C
6. docs recommended i visit a rheumy doc to follow up on ANA profile. rheumy then did the following:
-AST, ALT were almost identical
-Creatine Kinase 208
-Aldolase slightly high at 16.8
she ruled out Lupus and most other rheumy conditions...thought maybe it was polymyocitis and wanted me to see a nueromuscular doctor.
7. we went to see neuromuscular doc at a top national hospital and he initially believed it was polymyocitis but needed more tests. the fatigue, weakness, stiffness in muscles were consistent polymyocitis, etc .
8. in the meantime, not only did her arms get weaker (no longer able to drive to turn steering wheel) but she also has seen significant weakness in her legs. she fell down at work a couple of times and thus filed for short term disability.
9. the neuro doc wanted to run muscle biopsy, EMG. we took the EMG last week and here are the findings:
"Need EMG exam of selected upper and lower extremity muscles showed evidence of abundant fibrillations and positive sharp waves. Few polyphasic motor units were seen in all muscles, along with decreased recruitment. Motor units were of increased amplitude and duration. Some of the motor units in the RUE were up to 4-5 mV in amplitude. This study revealed electrophysiologic evidence of an axonal motor neurogenic process with both activeand chronic denervation with reinnervation. There is no evidence of myopathy."
10. Doc has us coming back for spinal tap exam and some addl blood work. she feels like she is getting worse and worse as weeks progress all while being almost 4 months preg.
*********************
I was wondering if you could help me here....did any of you all experience like symptoms? are they at all consistent with ALS/MND?
can someone tell me in plain english what the EMG is saying?
my wife and I are trying our best to educate ourselves on this so we can ask intelligent questions of our doctor and his staff.
thanks so much in advance and any help would be greatly appreciated!
-RB
1. started having trouble lifting objects in March 2009 after giving birth to our second child
2. starting in late 2009, she started suffering from extreme, extreme fatigue
3. about 6 months ago she started to feel weakness in both arms -- couldnt lift right arm any higher than her shoulder blade...the other armcould but took a lot of work to do so.
4. in may, went to PCP and told him about it and he ran some tests:
-AST was high at 134
-ALT was high at 221
-CReactive Protein was high at 5.7
-Low Vitamin D
he put her on vitamin D supplement...within a few weeks we found out she was pregnant.
5. went to see my OBGYN and she ran a few more tests
-tested a Positive ANA Profile @ 1:160 speckled and homogenuous
-high C3C and C4C
6. docs recommended i visit a rheumy doc to follow up on ANA profile. rheumy then did the following:
-AST, ALT were almost identical
-Creatine Kinase 208
-Aldolase slightly high at 16.8
she ruled out Lupus and most other rheumy conditions...thought maybe it was polymyocitis and wanted me to see a nueromuscular doctor.
7. we went to see neuromuscular doc at a top national hospital and he initially believed it was polymyocitis but needed more tests. the fatigue, weakness, stiffness in muscles were consistent polymyocitis, etc .
8. in the meantime, not only did her arms get weaker (no longer able to drive to turn steering wheel) but she also has seen significant weakness in her legs. she fell down at work a couple of times and thus filed for short term disability.
9. the neuro doc wanted to run muscle biopsy, EMG. we took the EMG last week and here are the findings:
"Need EMG exam of selected upper and lower extremity muscles showed evidence of abundant fibrillations and positive sharp waves. Few polyphasic motor units were seen in all muscles, along with decreased recruitment. Motor units were of increased amplitude and duration. Some of the motor units in the RUE were up to 4-5 mV in amplitude. This study revealed electrophysiologic evidence of an axonal motor neurogenic process with both activeand chronic denervation with reinnervation. There is no evidence of myopathy."
10. Doc has us coming back for spinal tap exam and some addl blood work. she feels like she is getting worse and worse as weeks progress all while being almost 4 months preg.
*********************
I was wondering if you could help me here....did any of you all experience like symptoms? are they at all consistent with ALS/MND?
can someone tell me in plain english what the EMG is saying?
my wife and I are trying our best to educate ourselves on this so we can ask intelligent questions of our doctor and his staff.
thanks so much in advance and any help would be greatly appreciated!
-RB