About a year ago my wife who was 45 at the time complained when she got up in the morning that her hands felt like they were numb and sometimes it involved her arms as well. She went to the Dr. but he told her that she may just have bad circulation. Now a year later she has weakness in both arm and hands, although she has never complained of her muscled twitching, she tells me that they are very sore as though she has overworked her arms all day. We went to the Dr. again and she was sent in for a MRI of the neck to possibly see if she had a pinched nerve, plus blood work. The blood work came back fine and so did the MRI. Now she has to go back for a MRI of her brain. From what I have been reading ALS is very hard to diagnose, it sounds like more of elimination of test that narrows it down. I feel totally helpless, and it seems like the days in between the test are like months. Can anyone give me any input? I would appreciate hearing from someone. Thanks, Mike

It could be anything or nothing. Try not to diagnose your wife. Let the doctor do it even if it takes time. You might be better off staying away from reading this website, it will just get you scared and maybe for no reason. Let the doctors do their job. You will learn soon enough. Meanwhile enjoy what you have.

i agree with icsue. don't get yourself over worried. als is kind of a last diagnosis--they rule out everthing else before they diagnosis you with it. I know how you feel though about the worrying and wanting to know now what is going on. we delt with this for about 7 months before my husband was diagnosed. With als though, the muscles are constantly "rolling" not neccessarily twitching. they're called fasicullations.
Keep in mind--your wifes symptoms can be from several things (ms, stress, fibromalgia, lymes disease, etc just to name a few) so dont worry yourself sick thinking it's als right now. lots of luck to you and your wife

Thanks for the replies, We go for the MRI of the brain today and then later in the week I have to take her for an EMG. Once again, Thanks for the replies. Mike

Mike,

Just to let you know, it is more than likely if your wife had symptoms starting a year ago and the severity and loss of function isn't significantly worse by now- then she probably doesn't have ALS. ALS is very progressively and if she had problems with her arms then- by now she would probably have lost most function in at least one arm (not being able to hold things and very limited if any movement).
Occasionally there is a person here or there that will have a much less progressive form of the disease (but this is rare).
Hang in there- and don't worry too much about ALS.

Tip.. you mentioned your wife is 45...has she looked into Peri menopause. I would still keep up with the doctors..but you describe what I and many woman have entering peri and she is at the ideal age...Do some reading on the menopause board...you may be very surprised. I too have very tight muscles in my arm (even visually) and have a deep ache in them. I have twitching all over as do many many of the woman. Just a thought...L

Mike2969,

About 3 years ago I had a serious ALS scare. Mine was due to extensive twitching. I did the terrible thing and checked the web for symptoms, self diagnosed myself and dove into a hell of self doubting, symptom checking and anxieaty attacks. I am an engineer with a very inquisitive side and that helped me to research the topic in depth. From what I've learned and my 3-4 Neurologist visits (one was a top ALS specialist here in Chicago) I DO NOT THINK your wife has ALS.

First and foremost, after 1 year of symptom onset there should be serious loss of motor control of muscles. Second, numbness is usually not associated with ALS. As a matter of fact sensory symptoms are seldom in ALS prognosis.
My situation was either BFS (Benign Fasciculation syndrome) or ALS by the way it presented itself. The only way one would be sure was to wait for a year and see if there is any muscle power loss or atrophy. 2 years makes it nearly 100%. 1 year is about 99%. Thanks and praise to God, I'm OK after 3 years. Still twitching but not caring anymore...

3-4 months into my twitches I took the EMG (Electro Myogram) test and it was negative. You may mention this test to your doctor to have a better idea. It is not 100% but after a year a negative result would nearly rule everything out.

As my humble opinion goes your wife may have Fibromyalgia... Or most probably just plain nothing.

Let me know if you have more questions...

Manylander

Once again, Thank You to all the wonderful people that have taken the time to give me some input. We got back the report from the MRI of the Brain, here is what it indicates.

After injection of Magnevist, there are a couple of tiny areas of slightly increased signal in white matter of both parietal lobes. These are slightly unchanged in size and number compared to the last MRI in 2002. I feel that these are tiny areas of ischemia, even though it is unusual for the patients age. Similiar findings can also be seen in patients with migraines. These are unlikely to be plaques of demyelination ( multiple sclerosis ) however that possibility cannot be totally rulled out at this time. No other intracranial abnormality noted.

She is going for an EMG on the 17th so I will keep everyone posted on the results of that test as well. The reason she had an MRI back in 2002 was because of severe dizzy spells that she was getting but went away. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks Again Everyone. Mike

hi mike

be sure to go to a lyme expert to be properly evaluated. lyme tests are dangerously unreliable. please visit the lyme threads!

jon

Hi Mike2969. Your wife is lucky to have you helping her.

Thyroid disorders can cause the numbness you describe and they are fairly common with women. I suggest that you have her thryoid tested. Ask the doctor to include the Free T3, Free T4 (besides the T3 and T4) and thyroid antibody tests. These are not usually run but are necessary to get a comprehensive view of the thyroid.

Check out the thyroid board at this site--it is great. When you get her results, post them there and the people can help you interpret them. Realize that even if results are normal, they may not be optimal for her.

Keep us posted okay?