Myotonia Congenita
 

I just thought I'd toss this out there because it's a rare disorder and someone who can't figure out what the heck is wrong with them might look here.

Myotonia congenita is a neuromuscular disorder of the skeletal muscle chloride ion channel, which results in a delayed relaxation of the muscles after voluntary contraction.

So if your muscles get "stuck" for a few seconds after you contract them, you might want to consider the disorder.

Another interesting trait of the disorder is the "warm up" effect. The more the individual moves, the easier it is to move, until the individual rests again. This means the individual can have difficulty moving one minute, and be fine the next.

"Fainting goats" have this disorder.

Similar symptom in MMN
 

"delayed relaxation of the muscles after voluntary contraction"

Funny, I get this sometimes (I've been diagnosed with MMN, multifocal motor neuropathy.) If I clench a fist, sometimes I have to forcibly unpeel my fingers.

Interesting. I'm not familiar with that disorder. Did they do an EMG? True myotonia is fairly easy to distinguish from other things using an EMG.

Mmn
 

Oh yeah, I spent a week at the Mayo getting poked and prodded. I can attest that a 4-hour EMG is a thrill a minute.

Wow!
 

A four hour EMG?? What did they do for four hours?! I went thru 1 1/2 hours, and I thought my EMG would never end! How long did it take to get your appt at Mayo?

thompson's disease
 

I was diagnosed with this disease in September 2010 anyone else out there with this disease? It has just recently caused me to stop working. Any one that has Thompsons I would love to chat.

I was diagnosed a couple of years ago and continued to work full time. Next week i'll be working part-time to take care of this...there has to be another way to treat this besides mexiletine. I just don't feel comfortable taking it with the side effects and such since there wasn't a dramatic difference. Trying to do research on the net for this is like running in circles. I want to find a doctor that is willing to experiment...what do you have to lose when your in pain every second of the day, right? I'm tired of reading that this is not a painful disease when that is absolutely 100 % false.

What they did? They stuck needles in me and zapped me. All over. This being my third EMG of the year, I thought I was tough, but this time I cried.

Every neuro who has done an EMG on me ended up spending at least an extra hour. They get fascinated, or something. MMN is pretty unusual, so it must be like a butterfly collector coming across an extremely rare specimen.

It must be due to this rarity that when I called the Mayo they immediately accepted me and made an appt for the next month without even a referral. My Univ of Utah neuro was amazed; he said he's got another patient he's been trying for months to get into the Mayo. Apparently that person does not have MMN (I'm the only MMN patient he's ever seen.)

drumbeater
 

i was diagnosed in 2000 after a carpal tunnel test (emg). the doctor said quote you're not here to see me about this but do you hear how loud you're muscles are on the monitor ? i explained that i had never had the test and i would not know whether my muscles were loud or not. he said i am gonna write the term down and you may want to research it. he asked was i stiff alot , and my reply was yes and my brother complains with the same problem. he informed me that it was genetic and inherited and that if i had children i may want to read up on it. he stated it was not life theatening but could have some bad symptoms. i came home and read the case studies on the net and my whole world opened up. i finally had a reason for all my symptoms since i was in my early teens. i am 54 and suffer from stiffness in my joints and pain daily. it does not matter if i walk and play golf , work or sit still , i still am stiff and ache. i work in a hospital and have a rapport with many physicians and most are unaware of the term or the diagnosis. i finally have decided to seek help from a nerologist and try to determine if there are any safe and effective treatments.

:( sorry to hear that it made you to stop working. i read all the information i can get my hands on about MC and most of them say that its at its worst during your adolescent years. i strongly disagree with the reports. im in my 30s and in so much pain. ive always done my best to hide what i have. this is not easy to do. my legs are huge, i trip over things that arnt there, when getting up from sitting or laying down one of two things happen. i either stand and walk like frankenstein. or i stand up all wobbly and do my best not to fall over. and stairs...man i hate stairs. so many serious close calls. i try to hide it because im tired of trying to explain myself, and im just so tired of not being able to sleep more then 2 hours at a time. some nights are just worse then others. see this is why i dont talk about it. it turns into me doing nothing but complaining. its just so frustrating. i hope you dont mind me asking, but ive never heard of someone having to stop working because of MC. i can say that ive missed alot of work due to myotonia congenita that has resulted in me being fired and i work to slow sometimes which the uneducated assumes it because im lazzy. big sigh what can you do:( o ya i to have thompsons

or that as you get older it gets better...lol ya right. i feel your pain and i also would be willing to be some ones test subject. im beyond frustration with this. and i would do anything to make it a litle bit better for my kids

Hi guys, I'm new to this and looking for help.
 

My name is Jason Henning and I am reaching out to anyone after much research online and many unanswered questions. I was hoping you can take a few minutes, read my message, and point me in the right direction. Any help would be greatly appreciated as my heart hurts watching my son go through these issues.
My 15 year old son, Jason II has been having issues with is hands for about a year now. I first nofticed when I told him to grab my arm one day and his grip was non-existent. After some probing, he told me that he could barely take notes in school anymore and that his hands freeze up and hurt (not sure why he didn't tell me when it started but he is 15..)*

Symptoms & diagnosis:

Once he closes his hands, it takes 3-5 seconds for them to re-open. The pain seems to be along the muscles that go from the middle of the hand to the web of his fingers. When he repetitively opens and closes his hand as quickly as he can he said it tightens & feels very weird all the way up his arm. So far he hasn't noticed issues with other parts of his body except his legs while taking stairs. He has a lot of pain when writing, playing drums, video games etc. so it's all been limited but unlike a muscle strain, it doesn't get better after prolonged resting. The pain has gotten worse over time which is our biggest concern. He is an amazing kid, an excelling 9th grade Honors student and an aspiring artist & musician. He is a drummer and draws/paints very well & very often so his hands are obviously important.*They have already ruled out arthritis and similar issues after x-rays, blood work etc.

They believed it to be Paramyotonia Congenita & this made some sense because as I said it gets worse with repeated use. The SCN4a genetic test results were ok though from what I can see after receiving his DNA testing. Tests were inconclusive due to an unknown variant in the CLCN1 gene. The unknown is 680t to 227a. It does show a known myotonia congenita defect CLCN1 variant 1453a to 485g. Forgive me if I wrote this incorrectly but I am new to this. I find it odd that he doesn't have the warm up effect but I assume it's due to the unknown variant?? Our neurologist didn't know what to make of this and said we will need to see the geneticist. We have an appointment but it isn't until July unfortunately. Being a real estate agent, this is like another language to me but I'm doing my best to research as much as I can.


I have also had general muscle pain/aches & tightness & hand problems for over 10 years but thought it was my thyroid or fibromyalgia. My hands cramp very easily/badly between my thumb and first finger, limiting simple tasks such as cooking and home repairs (part of my job) and the muscle there is twice the size as most I compare it to. My Mother and I have gotten genetic testing also to determine if it comes from us because we have many relating symptoms. My Mother has always had general muscle pain also and we both present myotonic reactions when we clench our mouths, slow/difficult to open, etc. Results should be back soon.

Treatment-

He was prescribed Acetazolamide which he will not take unless completely necessary down the road. We do not want unnecessary side effects at such a young age & hope it's something we can control naturally. I've done some research and wonder if natural d-alpha vitamin E 200 mg, selenium and magnesium daily would help at all? He is currently taking magnesium though we're not sure if it's helping. !!!!Pplease comment on any supplements that have helped!!!

We truly appreciate any information you can pass on to help our son. This has been extremely difficult on me & my wife but we push for answers. Jason doesn't complain, is a great kid & student and we want to see him as pain free as possible & at his best. I can forward any labs, bloodwork & genetic results that you may be willing to review. Thank you in advance and again thank you for your efforts.

Emg?
 

Has he had an EMG?

Yes. he's had 2. The first neurologist jumped the gun without any genetic testing and said she thought he had myotonic dystrophy but that was ruled out in the genetic tests.

Jason's Dad:
*moderator edit*I'm not sure how to read the mutation codes you posted. On the report, if it found a CLCN1 mutation, it should read something like...

CLCN1 Variant 1: Transversion T > G
Nucleotide Position: 1238
Codon Position: 413
Amino Acid Change: Phenylalanine > Cysteine
etc

The mutation code for this one would be F413C (a prevalent recessive Myotonia Conenita causing mutation)
F is the abbreviation for Phenylalanine
C is the abbreviation for Cystine
413 is the codon position.

So at codon position 413 a phenylalanine molecule was changed to a cysteine molecule.

The warm up effect is where it becomes easier to move with each successive movement. There might be some instances where this is diminished though even in people with chloride channel myotonias. These disorders have a high degree of variability.