Neuro Appt: 7 Months Later

[Valentine2]

I had a second neuro apt a few days ago which, like my first, seemed ridiculously brief despite my going over at least 10 symptoms since the start of this- 6.5 months ago- in thorough detail with the neuro. The neuro said 'you do not have ***, I can see it walking in the door' Anyways, I felt happy believing what she said. But now ONE week later (and the health care system/wait times in Canada are notoriously bad) I have the whole whack of 'nerve conduction studies' set up for me. Of course to me the briefness of the time between my apt and this emg apt bothers me considerably..as if the neuro just didn't want to deal with my very poor mental state at the apt..

But what bothers me more is the dillemma of whether to go at all. It
was a nightmare just waiting and going through with the clinical and based
on new readings I now understand that one does not only need to fear *** related to nerve conduction studies but I have also been enlightened to this whole new area of paraneoplastic disease like the thymoma and lung cancer and I have been a social smoker for 15 years (now 34-of course I've really bumped that up from stress since this all started)..
plus I already have hypo-thyroid issues.

MY MAIN QUESTION..I also have a rheumie apt to look into Fibromyalgia and some kind of arthritis...NO problems there. And the neuro 'said' I didn't have *** so a big part of me just wants to go with that. But why all these tests then. I thought if the clinical went well they didn't bother with NC studies?!! Anyways, to further my argument not to go..were the NC studies to indicate something bad- all of that is pretty much fatal to one degree or another anyways. The past week I've had my life back and I can still function like not falling or dropping things so if things were to take a bad turn I guess I kind of feel like I'd rather just find out naturally and have more time to boot enjoying my life again- not fully but at least 80% more than before the neuro apt.

I know no-one can answer the question for me. I'm just curious who did and didn't go ahead with NC studies. I suppose my only consolation is that 'supposedly' and yes I am sufferring from extreme paranoia in case that's not evident, just as no-one from the board has gone on to develop the bad disease, it 'appears' that no-one has been diagnosed either with a carcinogenic paraneoplastic disease (unless those posts get removed..)

 

[Diego4Life]

Val, I think your neuro has ordered the nerve conduction studies BECAUSE she can see how worried you are. My neuro said he will do them if someone is really worried and he feels that is the only way to convince a patient they are OK. I strongly suspect your neuro is doing this for the same reasons.

Whether to have it done or not? Very difficult. I hate waiting and worrying and would do anything to avoid it. What about arranging the test privately? Would that speed things up? Your main worry is *** and your neuro has said that you don't have it. If she had the slightest doubt she would not have said that. That probably would be enough for me. the other stuff you are talking about is even more rare than ***. How many folks on here have reported anything like this?

Kind regards,

Diego4Life

 

[BandersnatchF]

This topic has been discussed before—the reason your neuro ordered EMG and NCV is that there are many neurological conditions that you could have, nearly all of them treatable and non-fatal. In my case, the EMG was to check for carpal / ulnar tunnel issues; these conditions are quite common, particularly in computer scientists like me. They don't spread to other limbs, and they don't kill you. Many other things can cause nerve damage, and your neuro wants to be sure you don't have them.

For example, a colleague of mine (in his 40's) lost the ability to move one of his feet. It was a problem in his lower spine. He has since recovered somewhat, but ALS was never considered in his case. I wouldn't be surprised if a neuro did an EMG / NCV, though, because it would be useful to see if there's nerve damage.

Your neuro has ruled out ALS. You don't have it. That doesn't mean you don't have a less serious condition—you've already mentioned fibro, for example. The neuro is being thorough and trying to figure out what you do have (if anything) now that s/he's figured out what you don't have.