Atrophy: Not Benign, Could be ALS

Atrophy is not benign no matter which way you look at it, only a malignant condition can do this.

If this is the result of my Carpal Tunnel then my carpal tunnel was a whole lot more severe than I had considered it to be, but the scary thing is that this kind of "thenar atrophy" is a surer sign of ALS than any tongue twitching, and the ALS boards have people who started with a dx of Carpal Tunnel.

The only consolation is perhaps that this has maybe been creeping up on me for many years, except I simply did not know what to look for before.

Over the coming months I am going to be watching to see if it gets any worse. It just takes a bit to come to terms with it when the consultant said that no matter what I do it will never get any better. To be fair he had said to me when I first saw him that if I did not have the operations he recommended that I would eventually lose the use of my hands and I thought "no way that just won't happen" so maybe he was just thinking today "some you win some you lose"

All that can be done is to watch this space, It would be a total shame for this board if I were to go an ruin the statistics wouldn't it?

"Time will tell what is to come
Only if we dwell on what will be told.
What will occur as we grow old
Weary of waiting, anticipating another age
When all will be well, well only time will tell"

It is hard not to say something wrong, but may I ask how that "athropy" was found? Just by looking at your arm or was it somehow measured? Do you have a raised CK in the blood? Over what time did that "loss" happen? And finally: Can you still move this muscle(s)?

No matter what is a "sign" for whatever. Athropy is still the last step in ALS.

Still it is the thing with the "internet-symptoms"; There's allways a descripton of the single symptom only. No description how it happens, why it happens, when it happens (that's the stuff medical students have to learn at university for years!). Free space for everyone's phantasies. Symptom: Strong headache. Cause: Brain tumor.

If BFS is 1 and ALS is the 10 on the scale, there are a lot of other diseases that fill the space in between!

That "10%-strength-rule" sounds strange to me. Did you ever see the arms of tennis-players or so?

Go to a new neuro. Make them check you in detail. Also demand some AD's from them or a psychiatric.

Finally: Good luck!

I HAVE ATROPHY IN MY BOTH HANDS ALL MY LIFE! BENIGN DEFINITELY.

Well today I have phoned the hospital up again about the paper chase with my notes, and was speaking to the complaints manager which is the only way I seem to get any sense out of anybody.

Apparantly my test results were sent to the neurologist, belatedly last week, but didn't stay there as they were needed by the orthopaedist for my consultation yesterday.

So presumably when the Orthopaedic guy saw me he had those notes, but whether he read them and what he made of them I have no idea.

I would hope that he had the full picture. That there is permanent nerve damage is not in doubt, and that it has been enough to cause some atrophy is not in doubt, the question for me is, whether this is the end of the process or not.

Logically I can see that you don't have to invoke ALS to account for it, but all it takes is a problem higher up in the spine that is unresolved to continue to give me problems down the arm and beyond.

I need to see the neuro again, but I don't want to get back in the infernal waiting process where it takes months and months, during which time the information they have gets out of date.

Well at least I am still in the system for now with a physio referall, the Orthopedic guy must think there is some point in that.

One thing is for sure, I have a lot more going on than just BFS and not even sure any longer whether I belong here.

I watched my mum gradually succumb to rheumatoid arthritis and I can remember at the beginning before she had come to terms how she felt that she was no longer able to do things that other people of her age could, and the thing is I am begining to know exactly how she felt because the reality of disability is beginning to hit me, its not just my hand, that's just a facet, it's my back, my need for a cane. I had my second swimming lesson today, and I am the only one who needs a cane to walk to the pool, I can only do things in short bursts because of the pain in my back and frankly it is depressing.

Oh well I will see what tomorrow brings.