Nerve conduction testing
 

I just completed a two part nerve conduction test on my PD affected side this morning. I know they have found a problem with a nerve in my leg. Anyone have experience with this to share?

paula

yup, I Do!!
 

back in the 80's when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with me, my neuro at the time, did some nerve conductivity studies that supposedly found an impingment in my ellbow.
I had surgery on it, an ulner translocation, that was an absolute waste of my time, as it did not help the bradykinesia in my right arm at all!!!!

My suggestion to you is this, get a second opinion before any surgery!

Personally I think conductivity studies are suspect at best.

sorry to hear of your difficulties. :hug:

your friend,

Charlie

After two years of increasing burning pain in my right hand, mynuero did a a nerve conduction test on both arms. I had sugery on both wrists this past April and have no pain anymore. The surgeon felt that all the yars with tremor had cause the carpal tunnel to collapse.

nerve test
 

yes - before i was dx with PD, i had problems walking and my left foot didn't lift - after ruling out pressure on the nerve from a disk with an MRI, they did this test - actually two different docs did it - one thinking i had ALS and the other thinking maybe some other thing (he never did buy the pd dx)- it was abnormal but wasn't bad enough to be ALS, thank gioodness, so I was sent over to the Parkinson's guy who watched me walk to the end of the hall, pronounced his dx, handed me a booklet, told me to be grateful it wasn't something worse, and left. that was 4 years ago. i had had noticeable symptoms for a year, i think/

sorry about the typing - tryed to ride a bike and broke my arm - anyone have any ecperience with a tricycle///////?

Thanks
 

2 out of 3 in surgery.....yikes......thanks for responding. Sasha, sorry to hear about your arm! I haven't been on a tricycle since I was a little kid. Be careful - helmut? lol

paula

Paula,

I'm sorry to hear about your difficulties.

I had a few of the NCVTs with the EMGs performed. Very painful tests as far a I was concerned. These were used to rule out other problems that could cause my symptoms. The first one was to test for muscle weakness because I had very high (300% above normal) CPK levels after taking Lipitor. The other two were by two different neuros to rule out other things before diagnosis.

The good news is the muscle weakness went away, and the other two confirmed that the nerves were normal.

Sasha,

I hope your bike riding accident wasn't my fault. I started riding myself and I mentioned how good it felt, and gave you the riding bug.

John

thanks john and paula
 

probablt all yiur fault, john! actually my cousin - nwho has pd and poor balance can bike for hours - no prob - also a bad, bad influence!

thanks for the concern,

sasha

Hey, Paula,

I had EMG testing. Most of it wasn't so bad because it was quick. However, the EMG on my hands was a nightmare, and went on forever, like a cortisone injection there. It diagnosed carpal tunnel in both wrists. The rest was normal. I didn't have surgery because recovery takes too long, and I need to work. Catch 22. I probably got it from working. I wear splints at night and take gabapentin.

I also had Evoked Potentials testing done. Visual was fine. But the somatosensory tests were painful, and it went on and on for three hours. All was normal.

What testing did you have done?

ZF - i had to go twice but not for 3 hours! first time electronic zap; second needles. the electricity was worse for me, although it was closely followed by the needles in between the fingers. I get results tomorrow.

i wear braces when they are clean.....lol

thanks,
paula

omg
 

how strange that this should come up. I just had nerve conduction study done on right leg. The docs trying to find out which nerve in my back is in trouble. Anyway, my right leg is so mangled from car accident that they couldn't find the nerve. They kept zapping and zapping. This was followed by the needles inserted into muscles to see how nerves affected them. He said I had nerve damage on L4 and L5. I believe that was already known from cat scan, so not sure how this study helped.
This was followed the next day with an injection between l4 and l5. Doc must have hit nerve and I could feel it firing all down my leg!. There has got to be an easier way. After this series of shots are done (just want to follow thru on them) I am going to see an acupuncturist. Has anyone had any luck with them for pain?

Well the both of us are to blame then. lol. I went out riding yesterday for quite a ride, and had no problems with balance until I climbed out of the bathtub. I had to grab the towel rack because I lost my balance in the shower. Thank god for the rack otherwise I would have clobbered my head!


Anyway back on topic, I think the electric shock treatment was the worsed part of the ordeal. They seemed to go on forever and my muscles were twitching like crazy during them. You could hear the fasciculations on the needle part of the test, but the tech didn't make any note about them. That's one mean test and I agree there's got to be a better way of doing this. This is like the old frog and the battery experiment from the early nineteenth century!

John

libra,

i had 3 epidural shots a year ago and the pain is still gone. it's not fun getting them, but well worth it for my situation, which was chronic back pain. See it through and good luck!

paula

pinched nerve and EMG'S
 

hi from Cape Cod. So,on this subject: in 1998, a year before my PD diagnosis confirmed what I'd suspected for a while, my internist ordered an EMG to see why my right hand was no longer working. I was thrilled to get a report that I had a pinched nerve, thinking, "Great, it's not PD!" Oddly, I've never had any of the expected symptoms that correlate with pinched nerve, where I should have numbness, etc. But it makes me wonder as I read , whether there is a correlation with PD and pinched nerves due to our styles of walking changing as we begin to drag one foot, and limp, and one side takes over more functioning? Just a thought...Be well, all.
I'm trying to enjoy my vacation, which is in my favorite place, but I have had such a staggeringly steep and progressive decline in my functioning, and such a rise in my "freezing" frequency, that I am actually fairly scared at what lies ahead. And yet, I can still, at odd intervals, walk around completely normally!!! And then, just like that, my med's stop working for 2 or three doses in a row, and with no typically predictable triggers whatsoever, and I'm helpless as an upside-down centipede, so go figure.
At these moments, I seem to be an incredible Scrabble player lately. And by way, what's funnier than 3 people with PD playing Scrabble and being obsessively unable to decide which tiles to use? A great paradigm for a clinical trial, to observe exective functioning in its high's and low's with us!

Sigh. What a mind-game this disease plays with us.
Leonore

Hi Leonore, from Haverhill MA where I live all the time. :)

You bring up a good point, and I've wondered that myself. For years I've suffered from various pinched nerves in my neck, back, and other jointed places. I think this has to do with the twisting that our body is doing with the bouts of dystonia and the overall stiffness that PD is putting our bodies into.

The mind games are swell aren't they? I was doing quite well until a couple of weeks ago with my medication increase. I spoke with my neuro on Wednesday about some BPV and told her about some dystonia in my arms, hands and feet that was occurring more and more frequent along with more and more stiffness overall.

What seems to work for a while then doesn't work is the most frustrating thing because we begin to feel "normal" again only to have the PD evil gods take that little bit away from us once again. It's as though they know when we're back to normal again and want to keep us under their thumbs.

The Scrabble games must be fun. I haven't played that in years. They're good for the mind as they make us think harder to keep the cells in order and in shape. I can't imagine what the games are like. The one thing that is bothering with the PD thing is the loss of written vocabulary. I seem to be losing my words more and more as I write so that sometimes I come across as a complete twit. It's a good thing there are online dictionaries available because they help me with my spelling and word use. So keeping the brain juices flowing with the Scrabble games is a good thing.

John

I knew for 10+ yrs that I was gradually losing use of left side but it was so slight that doctors didn't register it. My GP who is bril & long-suffering asked if I'd volunteer for a clinical trial on nerve conductivity (maybe to shut me up). The result of the test was that nerve conductivity was OK. When I went to hear the result everything happened very quickly. The neuro looked at my arms & could see some atrophy in the muscles of my left arm. He did the walking thing & gave me a thorough medical examination leading to a diagnosis of PD.
Angela.

Chi conductivity?
 

More and more I have to think that it is blocked meridians - and interrupted Chi flow - that is the underlying (literally!) culprit in PD. Over time, w/ ever decreasing 'life force' to an area, the nerves and muscles fail to thrive, eventually suffering pathological changes to the tissues.
This is what seems to be happening in my body over this past pd decade.
Anybody out there know what I am trying to say, experiencing something simillar??
For me the big question remains...how to remove the blocks and restore proper chi flow.

Anyone out there w/ acupuncture experience for this?

ibby

ibby, i get my results today so i will attempt to ask him about blockages.

paula

Paula!
 

look at tena's thread on essential oils - following this thread! i haven't read the entire article yet, but I think it's quite relevant to the topic of emo/physio trauma blocks. maybe we can sniff our way towards wellness...:D

looking forward to your report...wondering if the doc acknowledges the invisible chi!

ibby

oh dear
 

Sorry, let's just say that this busy neurologist, hadn't heard of GDNF. He thought Chi was an acronym. He doesn't follow research until it's out of clinical trials - too busy. Oh well. My Florida neuro is more updated. I'll try him when I get back.
Nerve conduction, bloodwork all fine. I was convinced I had a vitamin deficiency - turns out I have PD. He recommended nicoret gum since i don't want a DBS yet.

:confused:
paula

Chi whizz!
 

sadly,another par for this lousy course we're on. think i will try aroma therapy when i can.

ibby

ibby
 

Hahaha...I needed that...lol! your title!
paula