Twitching and Cramping: Help Needed

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KrackerjacksyBeel

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I'll give a little background first and then explain what I found out today. I am extreamly worried and need some help and possible answers.

I began to notice my twitching around 9 months ago. It was primarily located in my calfs but has since spread to other areas. I saw Neuoligist at around 3 1/2 months of twitching and a little cramping. He gave me the full exam and said he felt quite sure that it was BFS. I have since continued to work out and have not noticed any decline in my overall strength, in fact I have gained some in both upper and lower body. I have however continued to twitch and have some cramping. The other symptom that I have is waking up in the middle of the night and having both of my hands numb in the outer portion of my hand.


I went back to my Internist because of continuing problems and he scheduled an EMG which I had today.

The MD first did a nerve conduction test....I have no idea how those turned out.

The EMG started on my left leg which has the most twitching. The MD said everything looked ok there.

The next part of the EMG was located on my back in the upper thoracic area. I was having a hard time relaxing but the Dr. finally got her reading. Apparently it was abnormal. She wouldn't go into too much detail but said she was VERY concerned with the reading. I asked her if it could be anything else other than ALS and she said maybe but it didn't look good. Needless to say I'm quite freaked out. She coulnd't do any more testing today because of other patients so I am reschuled to go back in next Monday for testing of the other limbs.

What I need from any one here is what else could this be other than ALS? I can I hang my hat on any other hope?

Thanks so much everyone, I know I can get some answers from you all.


Paul
 
Hi Homer,

I'm sorry to hear about your EMG. I know that increased tension within the muscles can cause false positive readings on EMG. It is key to get the person relaxed for the exam. Another thing I would like to know is how much experience the physician has doing the EMG. I would of course want someone with alot of experience with ALS. If you do get back a bad report (and I hope to God that you don't), I would immediately obtain a consult with an ALS clinic or a referal center if possible. Best of Luck to you!
 
Homer,
Did you say you got the OK with the neurologist and then went back to the internist who did the EMG? I'm assuming the EMG was NOTdone by the neurologist.
First, for a doctor to alarm you like that, put you off a week, and expect you to function is unreal. Second, I would ONLY let a neurologist, or a specialist with NMD ever do a test like that....sorry to all the regular docs.
Doctors are so specialized now, and unless a physican does a lot of EMG's, interprets them on a regular basis, it may be likely they aren't so sure themselves.
I would certainly go back to the neurologist with your results and see what he/she says. Again, to have you come back to do more limbs and to tell you the EMG looks bad is BS in my book.
That's just my opinion. Hang in there!!!! Keep us posted,
Sue
 
Thanks to you both!

I went back to the internist because I was still twitching, cramping, and had some joint pain after 9 months. I was going the Lyme route and out of the blue the Internist said let go ahead and get a EMG as well. The Lyme so far has been negative.

The MD that did the EMG said that that was all she did, nerve conduction and EMG testing. I would hope she would know what she is talking about. What really made me mad was the fact she wasn't willing to do another limb right there...I even asked her too but she had to move on to the next patient.

I asked her if it could be any other type of abnormal result other than for ALS and she said that it could be (I can't remember the condition) but it would be unusual for it to be in the thoracic area of the spine. I belive it was some sort of spine or vertibrae problem but by this time I was freaking so much I couldn't remember. She said to get another appointment and turned around and walked away!


Well I will go up and work out like crazy tonight......hopefully stay sane, and give my wife and 2 children as much attention as I can tonight.

Thanks again,


Paul
 
Paul,

How old are you? If before 45 your chances for ALS are extremely small. If over 45 your chances are still small.

I understand that the doc who did your emg was not a neurologist trained in emg. If not you shouldn't be afraid because emg is an exam when reading results from the screen is very difficult and when somebody is not experienced enough mistakes often happen.

There is a lot of reasons of abnormal emg findings. Even disc problems can be a reason and often are.

So, try to find out what kind of abnormalities has been found and repeat emg but IT MUST BE DONE BY TRAINED SPECIALIST not by internist !!!!!!!

Marcin
 
Homer...I agree with what the others have said here. Get another EMG by a neurologist who specializes in ALS diagnosis. Not just anyone can give EMGs and certainly not just anyone can consider ALS from an EMG. In fact, my local neurologist doesn't even bother giving his own EMG if ALS is suspected. As far as he's concerned, it's better left to the true specialists.

Aside from that, your story just doesn't have an ALS sound to it. It was all too quick and simple. I strongly suspect your EMG reader either got a bad reading or didn't know what she was reading.

Furthermore, I have never heard of anyone ending up with ALS when their only complaint was twitching and cramping. Most of us here have twitching and cramping, and out of 600+ in this forum, none yet have developed ALS.
 
Pole...Nothing I said in that post is inconsistent with anything I've posted previously. No weakness = no ALS. The likelihood of one bad EMG reading on someone's back is probably greater than the likelihood of ALS in a twitcher.
 
First of all I want to thank everyone here for their advice and common sense (something I've lacked over the last 24 hours).

I was able to get through to my Neuro's nurse yesterday and she promised she would get the results from the EMG and have my Neuro review them.

She did as promised....Here is what the Drs. review said:
"The test showed nerve irritability in one group of muscles upon needle examination. This is of uncertain diagnostic significance and is compatible with BFS." He also recommended that I get a full EMG and he will review it as well.

So....I am quite a bit relieved but still wary. I can guarantee that I will sleep quite a bit better tonight. I will keep you all posted as to the results.


Warm Regards,

Paul
 
That does sound encouraging Homer8 and based on what your Neuro told you, it seems pretty irresponsible of the MD that did your EMG to say what she did! Good Luck and keep us informed.

Joe
 
Hi Homer8

I too have exactly the same symptoms as you-I am male 31 y.o. twitching all over and I wake up nearly every mornings with numbness on the outer portion of both my hands( and even the last 2 digits of my hands- pinky & other digit next to it). The fasc. have been going on for about 4 months now and showing no signs of going away, the numbness for about 1 month now.

I have been to 3 neuro's with one being an als specialist, 3 physical examinations later and one emg and ncs at the two month mark showed everything was o.k. (my fasc. did register on my emg +1 1/2, but nothing else). The fellow who performed my emg was a very experienced neuro-physiologist and he told me it was BFS gauranteed. So did all the other neuro's.

Hang in there, everything will be o.k., youll see.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention, the numbness in my hands goes away after I straighten out my arms or give them a good shake. i have no weakness and am still as strong as an ox.(eat like one also :D)) One thing I have noticed though is that every since having this B.F.S when using my muscles say my trapezius muscles and lifting my shoulders up and down I am not really getting a smooth motion on the eccentic part of the movement (lowering my shoulders after I have lifted them towards my ears ie. doing a shrug movement in weights), same thing goes when I am doing a biceps curl- the positive part of the movement i.e lifting the arm up is o.k, but when lowering the arm the movement seems somewhat staggered and jerky. Oh and I seem to get a muscle burn in my muscles way too quickly when doing anything really stregneous. Anyone else have these symptoms?
 
ALL clean EMG's = no ALS... BUT, NOT all abnormal EMG's mean ALS either.

Some people have herniated disks and many other "non disease" problems that can cause an EMG to read "abnormal", but it certainly doesn't mean that because you had a slightly abnormal EMG that you are in for ALS, what so ever, and if your doctors were THAT concerned, you would have been hastily moved to another clinic, or to see other neuro's because most doc's want a true / accurate diagnosis before they say anything to you when you actually have "it". And what you described, certainly wasn't that way.

By the way, I have the same "jerky" or "incrimental" muscle movenemts, and have had them for 4 years, which is exactly when my BFS started.
 

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