Doctor Visit - Twitching, Pain, Symptoms

[MistyK]

Went to the doctor yesterday. Talked about the twitching, pain, numbness/tingling, headaches, dizziness, ringing in the ear. Even brought up that I noticed one arm bicep/tricep is bigger than the other and about the muscles in my left hand looking smaller. He just glanced at my hands and carried on with conversation. (I assume that means he's not worried.) He said if I am right handed, it's not unusual for that arm to be bigger. He checked all reflexes. My left leg is slightly brisker than the right, but he was not concerned. He said with hyperflexia the left flies up and he would be able to feel the muscle (where he put his hand) quiver and twitch for a while after the reflex was hit. Most of my problems (twitching/pain) are on my left arm...the reflex there was normal. He said if any neuro problem was causing the symptoms, the reflex would be affected. Checked my strength quite a bit...never went through that much before. I felt my muscles shake when we were doing it, but he said nothing was abnormal. No clinical weakness. Told me about the EMG...offered it. I declined because there is no clinical weakness. He said they are only really indicated when clinical weakness is present on exam. At the beginning of the exam looking at my labs/diagnostics he said, "Well we have pretty much ruled out everything serious." I asked, just for reassurance, that after almost 2 years of these symptoms, if it was MND/ALS, there would be obvious weakness by now and he said "Most definitely something would show up to indicate what is causing this." I did not press the issue of BFS diagnosis or even bring up BFS. He thinks anxiety is the big culprit here. So I'm on 2 medications to help; however the last few days I have been concerned about somethings that I wanted to ask. I read that having asymmetrical brisk reflexes is a bad thing??? Is this true? I noticed when we were practicing in nursing school in October that the left leg was more brisk but never thought about it...doctor said no weakness in the legs when he was doing strength testing. Also, I notice the past several several months I have been waking up with headaches...at first I thought it was related to sinus problems, but right now I don't have any sinus issues and it is still occurring. They seem to to go away after being awake for a while, but sometimes that is not the case and they last all day. I was also told by my family that I don't snore as loud or often as I used to...this has me concerned as I feel it is caused by weakness and that's why I am not snoring. Last few days have been awful...afraid to sleep...afraid to be awake because I'll dwell on things. Is it at all possible that after almost 2 years of twitching, I would suddenly develop respiratory weakness and this is the onset of MND that I have?

 

[Shawn87]

If you are going to worry after the exam why would you refuse the EMG? The man told you that you are ok...so why not believe him?

 

[Gracer]

If you have slightly different reflexes on both parts of the body, it does not mean you have MND. Moreover, you have that difference at least since October last year (for over 6 month) and probably had it before and stil have no other UMN signs, neither LMN, as it may be seen from the clinical exam. usually, as far as I know, in case of MND difference is a) rather profound; b) other clinical signs join prety soon (in fact, in 6 month of MND development you may be already diagnosed, at least with supposed or possible MND, while it is not your case).The fact you stopped snoring and the fact you do not claim for sinus infection any more fits each other well. Snoring is a sign of either swelling or other thightening of the airways (trauma, foreign objects etc.) or signs of extra tissue growth (intranazal glands), or it happens in case of paresis of the soft palate or other non-fatal causes which lower soft palate when person is sleeping/So if you STOP snoring at night, it means you are fine, well, better than you were. Also people who do not snore, have more oxigen supply to the brain and their sleep is much better.Hope you would sleep better now and forget about 'respiratory onset'.