Biopsies
 

Dear Friends,

It's biopsy week here! Next week, I'm scheduled for a muscle biopsy. Have any of you had one? Did it go okay? I hope it won't be too difficult.

Tomorrow, I'm also having a temporal artery biopsy. This is not related to myasthenia gravis. It seems I may have temporal arteritis, and we need to test for it. Just on the off-chance that anyone here might have had this, have you had the procedure? I hope it will all go okay.

Best wishes to everyone out there,
Erin

Erin,
I have not had either, but sure hope you get good results. Keep us all posted.
Later
FREDH

I've had a muscle biopsy. Do you know which muscle they are doing it in? Mine was the deltoid (side).

They can only numb the skin, not the muscle. It was bearable yet fairly painful. I was lying down during it and still felt a bit faint from the pain at times. Bring along some water and a snack.

Take some acetaminophen or other OTC pain reliever before the biopsy. Make sure that Mestinon is fully at work. You will likely be tensing your other muscles and may feel really worn out afterward due to that.

They stitch up the area, usually about two inches long. You have to do "wound care" for a couple of weeks before the stitches come out. A PCP can remove them.

If you have any sign of infection or a fever, see a doctor right away.

Mine healed up with no issues, other than having an ugly scar. :cool:

I have not had a temporal artery biopsy. It sounds fairly benign.

Giant cell arteritis Tests and diagnosis - Mayo Clinic

Rest a lot before and after both procedures. Both require numbing agents and those can make MG worse.

I hope you don't have Giant cell temporal arteritis. Or polymyalgia rheumatica, which can (though not always) accompany it.

I wish you the best while having both tests. Having a relaxed attitude helps, too. That's not always possible while someone is slicing open your skin and cutting muscle tissue out, however! :eek:

:grouphug:
Annie

I had a deltoid muscle biopsy a few months ago. I couldn't feel anything except the pulling. It is a gross feeling though. My stitches dissolved on their own,just couldn't bathe for a day, I think. It was pretty painful for the first day or so. I felt Like I could have used some prescription pain meds, but not offered. I think I had so much pain because they told me to go exercise it that day, which I think was a big mistake! The scar is uglier than I expected. They sent me home as soon as procedure was over, which surprised me.

Dear Annie,

Thanks so much for your response. The muscle biopsy is supposed to be in the deltoid muscle for me also. It doesn't sound like much fun, but I'm sure I'll get through it, and today's temporal artery biopsy also. Yes, I do my best to stay as relaxed as I can! I think today they are using some sort of anesthesia, either conscious sedation or general anesthesia. I won't know until next week what they will do for anesthesia for the muscle biopsy, whether it is just local or something else.

I hope I don't have temporal arteritis, too! I don't need another problem to add to the mix.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly, and the recovery won't be too difficult. I'll do my best with it. :-)

Thank you so much,
Erin :grouphug:

Dear mimc,

Thanks for your response, and for sharing about your muscle biopsy. I do imagine it's an odd feeling! I'm sorry it was painful for you after the procedure, and they didn't offer you pain medication. I hope you were able to take over-the-counter pain medication, and that helped at least somewhat. That's odd to get the recommendation to exercise after the procedure, one would think. I hope you are feeling better by now, and the area has healed.

Take care,
Erin