hshbmom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9478
posted
My daughter's pain specialist asked if she had a conduction test to diagnose neuropathy.
Are nerve conduction tests reliable?
He mentioned 2 types of testing, a very painful procedure with needles vs procedure with a cuff & electric shock.
Is one test more reliable?
How bad do these tests hurt?
Posts: 1672 | From AL/WV/OH | Registered: Jun 2006
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troutscout
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 3121
posted
Spend your time and money on something of use....and something that won't torcher (sp) you.
If he wants nerve conduction..tell him PET or SPECT scan.
They are useless tests for Lymies.
Trout
-------------------- Now is the time in your life to find the "tiger" within. Let the claws be bared, and Lyme BEWARE!!! www.iowalymedisease.com [/URL] Posts: 5262 | From North East Iowa | Registered: Sep 2002
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trueblue
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7348
posted
I think trout is more knowledgable on the subject so will tell you my experience...
I had an EMG and nerve conduction tests done. One hurt way more than the other. (The exact opposite of which one they told me would hurt!)
Sending the shock up the problem nerve in my leg... bad, bad idea. My left arm jumped up and almost hit the tech in the face. She insisted I did it on purpose. I wish it had made contact. Ha!
I, actually, asked for the tests because of long time problems with, I think, my Femoral nerve on the left. It had resolved with treatment but had been back with a vengence for quite a few years. I was sure the damage would show. My whole left side was constant nerve pain.
The results... mild carpal tunnel in my non-dominant wrist/hand.
It was a waste of time, money and energy. The neurologist did nothing different afterwards.
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I have had these procedures done a few times. There are two types of tests usually just called an "EMG" but really it is 2 tests.
First is the NCS which is the nerve conduction study. This is the one that you mentioned as the electrical shock. The second one is the EMG which is where they do put needles into some of the muscles.
As far as being painful, each person has their own experience but I would say that neither are that bad...and the "pain" only lasts for a few moments. They usually do one test right after the other one. The nerve conduction takes awhile but the EMG part usually doesnt take more than a few minutes.
As for being very reliable, I can't say for sure but I think they can be somewhat useful for diagnosing peripheral neuropathy which can be caused by lyme. What kinds of symptoms is your daughter experiencing?
Good luck!
-David
-------------------- Same nightmare, different day! Posts: 401 | From East Coast | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I had both tests when I was at the Neurologist before my Lyme diagnsos. My EMG study told them nothing. They both were uncomfortable and for painful, but I have a low pain tolerance level and I have a fear of needles.
I can see how they'd be useful for others, but my doctor was just stabbing at anything for a diagnosis. I felt like a human pin cushion.
Posts: 18 | From NC | Registered: May 2007
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
What are her symptoms?
I had painful, aching forearms.
I also had multiple brain lesions, the largest in the centrum semiovale region.
The neurologist, in an effort to prove I actually had MS, did evoked potentials testing. The somatosensory testing involved shocks in your arms. Uncomfortable and weird, but not painful. They demonstrated "absent cortical response" in both arms.
This is related to the brain lesions and their location.
It is part of the clinical spectrum of neuroborreliosis, not that my neurologist would know that.
They have not resolved after 2 years of treatment for lyme and babesia WA1.
It's my understanding that people rarely have abnormal results on these tests. Just pointing out that it's possible. If she was having persistent pain that seemed like nerve pain, I would do it. Medications might help depending on whether it is determined to be nerve pain or muscle pain.
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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Jill E.
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9121
posted
I've had the Nerve Conduction and EMG tests, too.
Burning neuropathy throughout my entire body has been one of my most painful Lyme/coinfection symptoms and it has only slightly improved in the three years of antibiotics.
My nerve conduction test was normal. My LLMD said it's because the Lyme/coinfection neuropathy is small-fiber neuropathy, which nerve conduction tests usually do not pick up.
We had a discussion about this recently, I think in the peripheral neuropathy thread. There were others who posted too about the small-fiber versus large-fiber neuropathy.
Jill
-------------------- If laughter is the best medicine, why hasn't stand-up comedy cured me? Posts: 1773 | From San Diego | Registered: Apr 2006
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butchieboo
Unregistered
posted
anyone who tells you that an emg test is not painful must have such bad nerve dammage that they could'nt feel anything.
I have had both and they both hurt like crazy!
They were also useless in determining neurapathy because the neurapathy lyme patients get is not caused by the normal reasons...
the lyme neuropathy is just another one of the symptoms caused by neuro/CNS lyme infection...
and tests will probably show negative for neuropathy....the nerves are haywire not destroyed....
hshbmom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9478
posted
My daughter's primary problem is pain; her entire body hurts. It would be easier to list where she doesn't hurt.
All of her muscles, bones, and joints hurt. Her eyes hurt at times. She has stabbing pain, burning pain, achey pain, etc...
It's weird to me...you'd think that someone in this much pain would move slowly & cautiously, but she doesn't do that. She's graceful and normal-looking in how she moves, but she says this pain is 2-3 times more painful than a broken hip. She always rates her pain as 8 to 10.
She has true pain, confirmed by a pain specialist. The LLMD said she has one of the most cases of severe neuropathy he's ever seen in a patient with chronic Lyme disease.
She does not look sick, but you know she's in pain because she doesn't do any of the fun things she did last year.
Everyone here thinks she's a lazy liar, but I know better. Her LLMD and her pain specialist also know that's not true.
She'd have to tell you exactly how she feels. I can't get her to write here. I think it would do her some good.
My daughter also has a seizure like movement disorder. She developed this problem about 2 months after the tick bite & rash, and 2 weeks after surgery for her hip. All tests have come back normal...EEG, CT, MRI, and SPECT scan.
The LLMD says the non-epileptiform seizures are sub-cortical, so the problem doesn't show up on a standard EEG. No physician has seen her have one of these episodes, so they are just "reported" episodes.
The nature & duration of these things change. Sometimes she doesn't have them at all for a while, then she'll have several of them in one week. They only happen after she's been sitting...then gets up and starts walking. They are movement-induced. Her arms draw up, she can't talk, her head pulls to the side, and she walks stiffly. She's fully conscious, but her tongue & mouth are involved, making it very difficult to understand her speech. They don't last more than 30 seconds.
Thanks for the info about short-fiber stuff...I'll find that thread. I think I read it, but need to read it again.
Posts: 1672 | From AL/WV/OH | Registered: Jun 2006
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I wish it had made contact. Ha!
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