7 Month Neurological Symptoms

[NamespaceID45]

Hi, I've been having some strange neurological symptoms for about 7 months. It started last October with some pins and needles sensation in one of my hands. With a few weeks, I noticed it in my other hand. A few weeks after that, I noticed it in my feet. In late November, I started to get a few twitches. It started with my eyelids (upper and lower). Since that time, both the pins and needles sensations and the twitching have become more consistent. The twitches are all over, but predominantly in my calves. I have not noted any decrease in strength, muscle wasting, etc. The twitching and strange sensations do not seem to be concentrated in one side of my body, it seems to be about 50/50. The twitches are not obvious, they are very fine movements. No one has noticed my twitching (not even my wife).

I visited with a Neurologist a few weeks ago. She did a physical exam with various neurological tests which were all negative. She also did an EMG and said it was clean. She has scheduled an MRI and spinal tap. She mentioned Guillian Barre and MS as possible causes. Of course, I'm hoping for some benign condition.

Have any of you had a similar experience? Could it be BFS with a clean EMG? What does a clean EMG rule out?

Thanks for your time.

Joe

 

[furballfury]

Wow - I'm shocked she's suspecting GB and/or anything else. Your symptoms fall into a classic physical/somatic response to stress/anxiety. The way you described it was almost textbook (especially twitches starting in the eyelids, which is NEVER **S), and the complete neuro exam with clean EMG's would almost certainly rule out something sinister.

Is there a disabling pain, fatigue and/or weakness setting in with you? If not, I would venture to say that this neuro is shooting birds with a howitzer cannon -- welcome to the club, my diagnosis would certainly be BFS with a side of some underlying stress/anxiety.

JG

 

[LisaQ.]

It sounds like bfs and anxiety to me as well.

Your neuro is just being prudent and covering her behind. Some physicians go this route because of the overabundance of malpratice lawsuits in our country. Other doctors feel less threatened and so they tend to be more conservative in the testing they order. Listening to your symptoms, I would not have ordered an mri, if I were a physician (I am a nurse,) but I don't blame her for being thorough.

A spinal tap, on the other hand seems totally overkill to me. You might want to ask her if you really need that, or can you wait and see what the mri shows first.

The clean emg rules out **S and the mri will rule out *S, though you don't have a classic presentation of *S by a long-shot. *S symptoms remit and exacerbate completely, and your symptoms have never gone away-in fact you are indicating that they have worsened.

I'm surprised she even mentioned GBS, considering it most often presents with ascending paralysis (which would start in your feet, not your hands, and move upward...)

Anyway, let us know how your further testing goes.

Blessings,
Sue