39yo Male: Frequent Fasciculations

[Trololo]

I am a 39 year old male and about three months ago I began having the dreaded fasciculations for the first time ever. At first, I could not feel them, but now they are to the point that they drive me batty. I don't seem to have any weakness, but my legs do get cramps somewhat and feel "tired" at times. When the fascis started I was under an great deal of stress. I have them the worst in my calves and feet and now sometimes I get them in my thighs and buttocks. My GP wrote it off as stress, but I decided to go to a neuro/muscular specialist on my own. About two weeks ago I had the neuro/muscular exam and that was completely normal, no weakness. On Friday I had an EMG and a nerve conductivity test (I think that is what it is called). The tests showed fasciculations in both legs from the knees down to the feet. And one fibrillation or fibrillation potential (not sure what the difference is) showed up in one spot on one leg. At first the doctor seemed concerned, but then when he didn't find any others he said he felt the fibrillation was the result of injury since I am a runner. My upper body (above the knees) was completely clean, no fasciculations even. He said that *** was extremely unlikely, but that he couldn't rule it out for certain. He said the fact that I have no weakness and no atrophy the likelyhood of this being an early stage of *** was unlikely and that it would be a very unusual presentation. My problem is I wanted to walk out of there with a completely clean EMG and I feel like it wasn't. The doctor wants to do a MRI of my lower spine to rule out a slipped disc or the possibility of a tumor near the spine. My question is can one isolated fibrillation be caused by a previous injury? I trust the specialist, he interned at the Mayo Clinic and seems very knowledgeable. Thank you for reading my rather long post, by the way I am a first timer here. CK

 

[edirish73]

Hi Combray,Welcome aboard my friend,Dont worry, your case sounds like classic BFS + classic Jerk Neuro, If you have a Clean EMG + Normal NVC and no weakness or atrophy you're pretty much on the other side.Why? Let me tell you.On our beloved forum BFS.com the vast majority of us came exactly like you, fearing a disease that we simply dont have, sometimes this fear is feeded by complete SOB neuros, that put under unnecessary stress some people. If your neuro cant rule out 100% ALS , I can , and you my friend dont have ALS. I suggest you to read BFS IN A NUTSHELL and WHY DONT YOU HAVE ALS PARTS 1 AND 2, where its explained thoroughly why , cases such as yours are BFS and not ALS.Sadly, Neuros are trained to diagnose but not to treat patients properly, often they extend their patients struggle way too much, and for me that type of behavior sometimes could be borderline with sadism.But the good news is, you're on BFS.com, the place where no one has ever , ever been Dx with anything nasty. Obviously, you're not the exception and its time to relax and chill.Good Luck,Eduardo

 

[Trololo]

Thank for your response. I keep trying to reassure myself, but the constant twitching is such a nuisance reminder! Oh well, I think this evening I will take a long walk and see if at least I can decrease my stress a bit for the time being. Thank you again for replying to my post.ck