Muscle Atrophy - the original shrinking violet!

Hi I am in your same situation right now!! I have a bit more strange and scary things going on, but I am in your same situation and I can't believe this is happening!!! I was a ballerina at this time last year and now this!!! How are you doing right now and did you find a doctor to help you?

Hi gabyla, Unfortunately, I'm quite sick right now - seeing several doctors but no diagnosis.  Seems unless they have a 'reason' to clunk your organs out on the surgeon table - it's pretty hard to get answers.  Lots of fatigue. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is ovarian cancer but can't do very much atm.

A ballerina! Wow! Are you experiencing muscle shrinking or stiffness?  Numbness?   Are the 'strange and scary things' something that has been going on for a while or just started cropping up?

We ladies really have to be our best health advocates, but honestly - it's like smashing your head against a brick wall to get the medical field to take us seriously.  I hope you have a good doctor to talk to, I had to switch several doctors before I got one to agree to put me through 'testing'.

Have you any diagnostic tests yet?  Any results?

Hi I'm so sorry. I can't believe they didn't want to test you!! I hate the medical field. I agree with you on the whole organ thing. It's like what are they waiting for??? I am pretty much black balled at kaiser and keep getting sent back psych.. I'm in a freaking wheel chair for god sakes!!!! There is no reason I should be in one!!! You see I started having problems after rx drugs. I don't know if it was drug neuro toxicity that I got, or if it is strictly muscle related.. Either way, I am not in a good place and it has progressed rather quickly. I do have lots of muscle shrinkage. My neck is sooo tiny now.. If you give me your email I will show you before and now pictures. Right after the drugs, I had body jerking, muscle twitches, spasms, tingling, and a burning feeling that was worse at night. I had an emg and it came back negative. I was mad because the idiot neuro who did the emg tried to stop my leg that was at rest (it was twitching). I said I am resting it. He wrote the test off as normal.. The test was sooo not normal if my leg is moving at rest!!!! And now because the test was "normal", they did not want to do a muscle biopsy!! That was in November. Since then I have gotten worse (in wheel chair), and they do not want to look further!! They have seen me get worse before them and they are telling me NO BIOPSY FOR YOU. I am so mad!! The neuro told me that my neck and face looking skinny is probably because I have lost baby fat!!!! I am freaking 27 years old!!!! Ahhh!! Anyway I am trying to find if EMGs can pick up on dead nerves or how they can check for nerve damage. I found some stuff on wikipedia. Going for a second EMG, and I have a second opinion at stanford on Monday. The scary parts are that now I have indentations around my knees and feet from the muscle loss, and I have hyper extended knees. I am having a hard time sitting up now... I know I am going to lose the ability to breathe if I don't get a diagnosis and a treatment plan. I started looking into growth hormones to help me.. I know they can be dangerous in some way, but it is a new avenue since I don't have a treatment plan and I need something to survive. What are you feeling besides fatigue?? What tests have you had? I know you don't have a treatment plan for now, but to help you a bit try some CO Q10. The body produces it for cells. You get energy. It is totally safe and cancer patients take it too. I hope you do not have cancer btw. What led you to believe that it is ovarian cancer? My friend's mother had that. I will ask her for you about her symptoms and how she got diagnosed etc. I hope it will help you in some way. ((hugs))

There is a blood test that is very good at diagnosing ovarian cancer.  Demand one

Yes, I've had the CA125 (twice in fact) - but unfortunately, it's only 55% accurate.  I'm going through more detailed blood work at the moment.  Thanks for commenting.