Thank you so much! I appreciate your help.
Hi!
I can understand your concerns about this family member. However, they need to take a decision and test further for ALS. You are right, nerve conduction studies are not conclusive. To confirm that a doctor has to find signs of both upper (muscle weakness, decreased motor control, inability to perform fine movements, increased spinal reflexes, and positive Babinski sign—great toe going up) and lower motor (muscle weakness, abnormal EMG etc) neuron signs in one limb. Symptoms of many of these diseases do mimic ALS. ALS like symptoms can be due to fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, severe anemia, spinal nerve compression high up in the cervical spine, ankylosing spondylitis, osteoarthritic changes of the vertebrae, calcium deficiency, low Vit D, electrolyte disturbance, peripheral neuropathy due to diabetes or hypothyroidism or due to bad posture. Lyme and lupus are the other possibilities.
Electromyography (EMG), nerve conduction velocity (NCV), muscle biopsy, etc are done to confirm diagnosis or rule out ALS. Do discuss this with your family member. Take care!
The medical advice given should not be considered a substitute for medical care provided by a doctor who can examine you. The advice may not be completely correct for you as the doctor cannot examine you and does not know your complete medical history. Hence this reply to your post should only be considered as a guiding line and you must consult your doctor at the earliest for your medical problem.