Hyperreflexia & Babinski Reflex -- Disorder?

[thester6474]

Just a hypothetic question here -- well slightly hypothetically. Say a patient came in complaining of some of these symptoms:  tingling in my entire body, burning pain, weakness & fatigue in the muscles, stiffness, depression, headaches, major muscle cramps and spasms, a decreased ability to feel pain & heal from it, malaise, frustration, difficulty with memory, concentration & thinking.  This patient also exhibits an abnormal babinski reflex (one sided), hyperreflexia, hyporeflexia. On parts of the body this patient has no feeling either. What would you first consider? What tests should be ran?  What type of specialist should be sought.

[sllowe]

Q - Looks like this is an Jan-08 post from Thester.  I wonder how thester is?

Welcome to you 'dijmart.'

Please, if you can, post on the main page "post a question" so we can all give you a proper welcome!

-Shelly

[Quixotic1]

Hey, Welcome back.  It's been a long time.  If a GP had a patient with these complaints (s)he should do a thorough physical exam to see what stood out.  A GP is quite capable of doing a brief neuro exam which would include testing of the cranial nerves, pin pr ick testing of the skin, and the reflexes.

Basic lab work should include a CBC, Chem Panel, ESR, Thryoid screen and maybe some vitamin deficiencies.  The next step would be referral to a neurologist.  This is my opinion and experience.  Since some of the symptoms involve the entire body a thorough search for systemic problems (things that can affect the whole body equally) like deficiencies, infections (Lyme, Syphillis, HIV) should definitely be run.

Minimal initial testing from the neurologist would be MRI of the brain and the entire spinal cord, plus the blood work for mimics.

That is the start of what you should have.

Quix

[dijmart]

Consider dx. of Multiple Sclerosis and seek a neurologist for MRI of the brain and spinal cord.