Antieli

Hi,

Sorry this is kind of long.

For the past year I've experienced a lot of atrophy in my left quad muscle. There's a 10 cm difference between my right and left quad muscles. My calf muscles only have a 1 cm difference (relatively normal). I can't fully extend my left leg, and there's a very weak patellar reflex. There's no numbness. I do walk with a slight gait. I thought it may have been from a culmination of injuring that knee over time, but the severe atrophy and weak reflex makes me think otherwise.

The strange thing is, I've still been able to run, bike, and play sports, with the major issue being the inability to extend my leg fully which lead to weakend quad muscles. There's no pain, unless I overexert myself.

I saw a doctor, and he requested x-rays for my leg, knee, hip, and lumbar spine. He thinks there is definately nerve damage because of the weakened patellar reflex, but not sure how and where.

My mom has type I diabetes and high cholesterol. My previous blood tests and urine tests has thus far been normal, but I'm having new blood work done since my symptoms seem to resemble peripheral neuropathy possibly related to diabetes (I guess it would be Type II).

Has anyone out there experienced this much muscle atrophy and have recovered? If it is neuropathy, possibly from diabetes (due to family history), when treatment is started can the atrophy be reversed through physical therapy? I'm very scared of the prognosis because I'm only 23, healthy weight, good diet and very active in sports (which makes the diabetes prediction strange).

Thank you.