EMG... on the face??
 

I've had an EMG on my right side arm, leg, and hand. Now I'm seeing a new MG specialist who wants to do one on my face.

Even he said "It's a little painful because it takes about an hour".

When a dr admits in advance it is painful, it makes me wonder.

Have any of you had this facial EMG? I'm thinking of calling and asking if I can take tylenol or something ahead of time to help with the pain during the procedure.

I didn't even feel the SFEMG they did on my forehead, now the one in my shoulder that hurt a lot.

SFEMG on face
 

I recall discomfort but not pain when the doc did the SFEMG around my right eye.

Don't be afraid of it. I had two SFEMGs on my arms and legs, and then a third on the face. I found the one on the face hurt less than the arms and legs ones. Also, the one on my face was conclusive, whereas the first two (arms and legs) were borderline. I thought this was weird, because I was having a lot of trouble with muscles in my arms and legs, but no trouble with muscles around the eyes. Maybe the face SFEMG is easier to read or something.

Abby

My 13 yr old had it done on her face Tuesday. Both near the eyes and on her nose. She said it was uncomfortable but did not really hurt.

Hello Restorativepose :)

Just a quick visit through here and saw your post and remembered something that a neurophysiologist said to me during a consultation.

He said that when I got back to my own country I should have an SFEMG on the frontalis muscle because that is the most sensetive.
Don´t know which facial muscle you´ll have though...

Will check by someday see how it went :Good-Luck:

A.

Thanks everyone. It's interesting... You are all using the term SFEMG (single fiber, I know), but the doc said he hasn't yet decided if he's going to do the SFEMG or not. Perhaps I'm confused and he decided to do it after all, and this is it.

Seems pretty telling to me how much improvement I am seeing after starting on Mestonin this week.

On an unrelated note, check out this video of the new doc. He is an accomplished musician in the world of Indian music. My dr is the one on the right. Pretty cool, his level of medical + musical mastery.

(go to about 2:20, after he's done talking)

http://youtu.be/UfoMoMwQDG8

My daughters Did not have a single fiber emg. She had an external one on her face.

I am so glad the medicine seems to be working for you!

Emg
 

Yes, I had this done to me and the Dr. didi warn me as well that it is painful!!!! He just asked me my pain level! I said ZERO!!!!! This was the final test that determined I had MG only in my eyes though. It did start generalizing into my body! I started taking Mestinon for my eyes, now i'm on Pred & IVIG treatments!! Just ask your Dr. if you could take some kind of pain reliever. Good Luck!!!! Good Luck!! Oobadooba

An hour? The frontalis, levator?
 

I finally had an EMG on my face this year, but this thread is making me question the results.

1. It's supposed to take an hour? My total EMG with arms and legs and face took less than half an hour, and he only spent maybe 5 minutes on my face. He said he was checking for both myasthenia and myotonia.

2. He did not do anything directly on my eyelid, the equipment was placed at the facial nerve behind the ear and on the portion of the orbicularis muscle directly to the left of my left eye. Should there have been direct stimulation to the eyelid or the forehead?

I was told my results were normal. Based on anything above, should I be doubtful?

Tatia

Tatia, the SFEMG tests the activity of muscle fibers. There are no muscles in the eyelid itself, right? So there would be no reason to insert the needle into the eyelid itself (thank goodness).

Half an hour seems about right to me, from my three EMGs.

Abby

I had an EMG. It was not bad on the legs and arms. It did hurt a lot on the face. In my case, it didn't reveal anything. As far as I can tell, it was a waste of time and pain. It might be very valuable for some people.

There are muscles in the eyelid. I know for certain, the pretarsal portion of the orbicularis oculi goes right up to the eyelashes. For ten years, I got Botox injections directly into the eyelids to treat muscle spasms. There are definitely muscles in the eyelids, and needles into the eyelids is not as big a deal as it sounds.

I'm not certain, but I think the levator palpebrae superioris muscle is also in the eyelid, because when administering Botox injections for blepharospasm, the center of the eyelid must be avoided because of the levator muscle. When that muscle becomes weakened by Botox, the result is ptosis.

So if the EMG equipment never touched my eyelids, is it possible my levator is affected, but wouldn't have shown up on the EMG? Is it a different muscle than the levator that causes ptosis in myasthenia gravis?

Yes, they test the orbicularis occuli, which is responsible for closing the eyes not keep them open. The assumption is that if the levator is effected the orbicularis occuli will also be effected.
The other assumption is that if you have occular myasthenia, your SFEMG (testing your eye muscles) may be normal, but if you have generalized myasthenia it has to be abnormal.

I have to admit that I never understood the logic behind those assumptions, but guess I am not smart enough. At some point I just stopped trying.

I suspect that the assumptions are wrong.
I also suspect that you are smart. :)

I had it on the face. It was very uncomfortable, and the length of the procedure is probably what makes it so bad, rather than actual shocks. I wouldn't say its painful, per se, though. I'd check with the doctor before taking something as you don't want to screw up the test and have to go through it again.