Establishing in El Paso Texas

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eyennyGlimmer

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Thanks guys. No nothing changed except the sensations on my upperbody maybe have been a little stronger and that is what always has me concerned, especially with the ratchety muscle movement that you can planly see. My husband and I had to move to El Paso Texas for 9 months because he is in the military and before his promotion he had to go to the academy here, so I went to get established with my Dr. on post and they thought I should see a neuro, so I went. I have never had a + hoffman so this alarmed me, then what the Dr. was saying really drove me over the edge. I guess now he wants to do a cervical spine CT scan and one on my brain but I cannot have the dye so I think it is useless, but will see. I am also wondering if I have neuropathy along with something wrong with the spine or brain. I just dont get why he said that to me if he is not thinking I have this. Although I looked up MND diseases and have to say I do not have any of them because I have no weakness, but then this little thing in the back of my head says, hmmm wonder if it is not showing yet, your's might be a slow progression...Ok I just typed that and thought, what the hell am I saying..lol..Anyway thanks for listening and letting me vent. I guess I just have to let the Lord take over and get this out of my head again. Thanks...Jenn
 
I dont know, the Dr. took my hand and braced it and he flicked my middle finger or one of the fingers, with his finger, he didnt tap it but flicked it (I didnt watch, to scared.lol) I dont know what he was looking at. I do know that most of my twitches are in my index fingers and thumb. My thumb and index finger move when there is a twitch and if I hold my hand in certain position. I am trying to do what he did and I dont see anything as far as my thumb moving or any of the other fingers. I probably am not doing it right. I dont even know what to look for though....Jenn
 
Jeenhaz,,

I am so sorry you are going thru this. Listen to Kit she is, as always, 100% right.

Where did your neuro go to school! He is a @#$%%#$ for saying that. He obviously has no clue, so he is throwing things around hoping something comes up. NEVER go back to him again. At my last visit my fingers were so shaky that I was not able to give alot of resistence when he pushed my fingers down on my left hand, he said Hmmmm and that freaked me OUT. However he did it again and it was OK. BTW I tried it 400 times at home and it seems fine. :rolleyes:

I am praying for you.

DD
 
Thanks Double D, but I just had my husband do a hoffman reflex on me and I failed, both hands. I did it on him and his is fine. When I flick my middle finger my index finger flexes, my thumb doesnt but index finger does and if there is a problem that is what is suppose to happen, the index or thumb move. I dont think there is anyone on this board that has had a positive hoffman. All of my reflexes were hyper on upperbody, every one, arms, elbows, hand, shoulder, pecs..with this and the twitches and sensations this is a strong possiblilty that something is wrong. The Dr. even said to me, do you have fem....whatever it is called something ALS in family, I said what is that kind of ALS and he said heridetary, I said no, he says, well you know that only 10% of ALS is heridetary anyway..I was like oookkk..I told him that I do not believe I have ALS, so then he talked about lesions and other upper motor neuron...I am just really scared right now because I just had my husband check my reflexes and not that he wanted to, but made him..lol..anyway I am just really down again....Jenn
 
Jenn,

Please stop torturing yourself by checking and rechecking. As Kit said, those findings in the absence of weakness, atrophy means nothing sinister.

My thoughts are get another doctor.

Terri
 
Jenn: Kit said "No more self-testing"...and stop asking your husband to test you too!!! Nothing about your presentation sounds like ALS. You said yourself that you are not concerned about this. While you may have "something" it is more likely as Kit said...along the lines of peripheral neuropathy or something more benign. After all the tests, it is possible you'll have NO diagnosis even. Please allow peace to be your first response to this situation. Have hope and do for yourself what you have done for so many others right here on this forum.
 
Jenn, your hubby is not a neurologist, I suggest you ignore his diagnosis. I understand your concern HOWEVER (yes I am going to kick you in your ass, same as you did to me) after all this time really, it is extremely unlikely there is some sort of serious issue. Try to relax honey and QUIT TRYING TO DIAGNOSE YOURSELF.
 
Jenn, just so you know, a positive Hoffman's sign is not when the index finger moves. Okay? It's the thumb. Just don't think you have a Hoffman's sign because your index finger is moving. You are going to be fine, you really are.
 
Jen,

I saw your post and see that you are going through the roof with anxiety, even after 2.5 years. I've been dealing with the whole BFS thing for over 4 years now and can still get freaked out by the ever changing symptoms. I will try an give you some facts from a study I found on 16 patients in which all had the "Hoffmans reflex" Here goes:

16 patients without cervical pain or radiculopathy and a positive Hoffmann’s reflex were prospectively studied
with cervical radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging;
- all 16 patients were asymptomatic;
- 14 patients (87.5%) demonstrated spondylosis on cervical radiographs;
- MRI showed pathologic findings in all 16 patients;
- 15 patients (94%) had cervical involvement with cord compression from a herniated nucleus pulposus;
- remaining patient had a T5-T6 thoracic disc with resultant compression;


BOTTOM LINE - YOU MOST LIKELY HAVE A DISK PROBLEM!

You have had BFS for 2.5 years....you know what would happen if you had ALS for 2.5 years.....

You are walking talking and moving and grooving.....so chill....go see a doctor and have that MRI....But if I were a betting man I would bet a years salary that you are going to be ok.

Take Care,

Paul
 
Thanks guys...I looked up on the hoffman test and it is not just the thumb it is any finger that moves. There was only one website that I found and it only gave definition of hoffman and it said the thumb moves. Neuro exam websites say the thumb and index finger, or any, but mainly look for the index and thumb. It does say that it is a sign of MS also, so of course a little freaked out. I did ask my Dr. about MS and I did say I did not think I have it because my symptoms do not get worse when I have a flare up and he said that doesnt have to happen. He said, usually you have symptoms for more then 24 hrs and then they go away. I said I dont have that, except once a month my internal tremors stay for a few days and then go away, he said well could be progressive type..I was like,,huhhhh, so I dont know. I am going by what he says and seeing I have a +hoffman and when I look up disesaes for that it says, cervical spondolyisis(spelling), MS, upper motor neuron, and that is all I see. I will see what my CT Scan shows but do not think it will show anything as I cannot have the dye, then next step is to have my EMG and then go from there...Thanks again everyone, you do give me comfort..Jenn
 
I have my regular GP appt. tomorrow and she has to refer me to a cardio Dr. (because I just moved to El Paso so do not have one yet) to have him set up a time that I can have my EMG with someone from cardio there so they can turn my heart defib implant off so I can have the shocking part of the EMG. So as of now I do not know, so I will not know anything for awhile which is killing me. My CT scan is this coming Wed....Jenn
 

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