Atrophy In Left Hand

[Viru]

Hi guys, I am a fit 20 year old lad, except for this one ailment i have, which the doctors have been unable to diagnose with confidence.

When i turned 18 i developed atrophy in my left hand and over a 6 month period it worsened, and has been the same since. I did not get any tingling or other sensation probelems. No pain either. A compressed nerve has been ruled out as i have atrophy in the thumb pad and near the ring finger which implies that both ulnar and median nerve are affected. It is really frustrating as my left hand grip is obviously weaker and the certain movements have less power.

MRI came back normal. Nerve conduction tests simply showed that there is a problem with the Upper Brachial Plexus-well anyone can figure that out lol. And all they could say is that "something attacked the roots of my upper brachial plexus and has now gone."  

I long for the power in my left hand to return but i wonder what options i have now. 2nd opinion? Is there any research success into these type of nerve disorders. Thanks

[4t1074]

The good thing here is that your nerve conduction test was "bad".  I know this sounds crazy, but what this really does is eliminate the "bad" thing, which is ALS, as ALS does not have nerve conduction problems.  You need to go to the MDA website and look up the musclur diseases and it may guide you in the right directioin, but don't read into all of them too much.  You likely have somehting that is congenital or very slow progressing or something very treatable that shows up in the 20's.  Remeber what i said, this is a good thing, read the post on this website and you'll see.  I've done a tremendous amout of research, probably too much.  Be happy its only your left hand, but look into it.  YOu need to find a qualified neruologist and possibly an internist to help you look into this.  What you have will likely show up on bloodwork.  Also, get yourself an MRI of the brain and C spine, to rule out MS.

[Viru]

Hey man, thanks for the advice! Thing is i have seen some excellent neurologists here in birmingham (UK) and that is what they say.I have had countless bloodtests done, they say nothing congenital can be confirmed. They even checked for Spinal Muscle Atrophy gene.

They reckon it will not get worse and will stay the same. How can they say that when they don't know what is the cause. But they said we all have thousands of genes, so it could be congenital, it is all guesswork. Everything comes back negative.

No one in my family has had this for generations known to us, i also show no other symptoms. It is very localised to my left hand. Yes thank god it is my left hand. Btw they gave me immunoglobulins in the hope it would work, but it didn't. They have tried very hard!

[Viru]

btw they said i do not have ms. They go this is something rare and unknown, but won't get worse at all, maybe a little over my life.

[jimblob]

I had a fat deposit in my left palm which was compressing the nerves that caused atrpohy. I was operated on to free up the nerves and the atrophy stopped. Just need to exercise my grip to get the muscle back.

Hope this helps

Jimblob

[Dr Rajgopal]

Hi,
The most common causes of muscle atrophy are -Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease), Guillain-Barre syndrome, Injury, Long-term corticosteroid therapy, Long-term immobilization, Motor neuropathy (such as diabetic neuropathy)
Muscular dystrophy, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Spinal cord injury
Starvation or Stroke.  Please go for an MRI of spine and arm and consult a neurologist for the examination and management plan. The weakness and disability may be reduced with the help of physiotherapy. Please discuss the possibility with the neurologist. Hope this helps you. Take care and regards!