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Neurology (Expert Forum)
fasciculations benign or als?
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fasciculations benign or als?
by snighdog, Mar 03, 2005 12:00AM
Hi, I am a 40 year old female. I posted before. I had surgery last May for high calcium and since then everything has been out of whack. In August I started with tingling in my face, hands and feet and then spread all over my body. I now have fasciculations that came on within a week or two after the tingling stopped. I will get these all over my body some are quick and others will stay in the same area for a longer period. I have not muscle wasting or atrophy and was examined by a leading ALS specialist at the University of Colorado heath science center and he has assured me that I do not have als. I have had an MRI of both the spine and brain, and EMG on the right side only. My question is do you think I need further EMG testing? Is it OK for benign fasciculations to occur when a muscle is not at rest. (I can pull back my feet and the big muscle up by the ankle will quiver with fasciculations.) I have tried Quinine to make these go away and it has helped lessen the intensity but won't make them completely stop. Do you think this may be viral or an after effect of too low calcium after surgery that irritated my nerves. Please help. Thank you.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW, Mar 03, 2005 12:00AM
An EMG of an extremity that has no symptoms or has pain only is unlikely to reveal anything (one exclusion is carpal tunnel syndrome which can be picked up on EMG before becoming symptomatic)
Conceivably early ALS can involve one limb, so if you had another symptomatic extremity other than on the right, then you could get this tested by EMG also. In any case, if your symptoms were on the right, then an EMG would have shown that it was consistent with ALS.
Fasciculation can occur at rest and can be increased or exacerbated by movement or touch.
I assume you hada parathyoidectomy? calcium can become too low after such surgery which could produce your symptoms - you should have this checked out by an endocrinologist
Good luck
Conceivably early ALS can involve one limb, so if you had another symptomatic extremity other than on the right, then you could get this tested by EMG also. In any case, if your symptoms were on the right, then an EMG would have shown that it was consistent with ALS.
Fasciculation can occur at rest and can be increased or exacerbated by movement or touch.
I assume you hada parathyoidectomy? calcium can become too low after such surgery which could produce your symptoms - you should have this checked out by an endocrinologist
Good luck