I had 3 EMGs over a year and a half by 3 different Dr.s
2 showed no problem but right after the 2nd. one I had surgery on my right wrist only to find the radial nerve completely severed. 10 months after the 1st. nerve surgery I went to another hand Dr.s complaining about burning pain in my hand and that I could not be in any A/C buildings or vehicles. This is when I had the 3rd. EMG along with a ultra-sound. The EMG gave a false positived reading saying the nerve was in tact, the ultra-sound confirmed the radial nerve never grew and was still severed.

Well I had my appointment today, and well, the EMG test was nothing short of absolute, unadulterated, pure torture. The test began simple enough, with the doctor (not the pain doctor, another specialist that travels from office to office) placing electrodes on my leg and shocking my leg. After the second shock, everything he did was total h-e double hockey sticks...my entire leg felt like it was on fire, every muscle was cramping, and every joint was aching tremendously. That wasn't even the bad part. He then stuck this needle in my shin that burned just like a syringe, and began telling me to move my toes...but I couldn't! They were locked up for some reason, so he flexed them upwards by hand. He then progressed to place these needles in my calf, above and behind my knee, and in my lower back. By the time he was doing my back, I was punching the wall above my head, and when I finally sat up I saw a puddle where my face was...didn't even realize I was shedding so many tears during the test! I guess the point of all this is it was awful, and while it's true that it wasn't worse than some of the other stuff I've suffered through since my injury, like Coumadin therapy, it's certainly something I never want to do again.

So there I am, sitting on the table, writhing in pain from this test, thinking that now I'm going to see my pain doctor...nope! I was there only for the test...but I only had three days of my medicine left, and I needed to talk to him about the hydrocodone not working. I was about to freak out.

Well, what happened next made all the other bad stuff I went through a little better. After explaining my med. situation to the receptionist, she called my doctor (I guess he wasn't there) and told him what I told her, and he switched me from 7.5/500 lortab 3x/day to 7.5/325 oxycodone 4x/day...without even seeing me! I'm guessing from that gesture that 1)he's a compassionate human being, and 2) he trusts me. I can't begin to describe how much better I feel about my relationship with him. At least I have one doctor whom I feel really understands me and what I'm going through.

Oh, he didn't see any nerve issues or entrapments...oh boy...

I wish a pain-free day to you all!

Tim

Hi Tim -

As others have mentioned, you can't rely on the results of the EMG's to determine whether or not you have nerve issues. I had an EMG which the doctor said was negative in the early phases of my RSD, but I very definitely have RSD. I wish the EMG had been right, and that there was nothing wrong with my nerves. IMHO, EMG's are pretty much useless as far as RSD is concerned.

If you have to go through another one, you may want to ask for some chill meds in advance.

So sorry for your pain, and I hope you get the treatment you need ASAP. The RSDSA is an excellent resource - see RSDSA.org.

XOXOX Sandy

thanks Sandy!