NFL question

[j100f]

(prev threads: here and here)

Hi everyone,

I’ve been dealing with symptoms of muscle weakness, fatigue, tremors and a slight loss of muscle bulk in my arms and legs for a year and a half now, my last emg showed decreased recruitment of large duration motor unit potentials right tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius. I saw my neurologist yesterday and she said she noticed I'm weaker than I was on our last visit, she wants to do a single fiber emg in July to see what's going on. I had an NFL blood test last August and it was 1.49, she ran another NFL 2 weeks ago and it was 1.17, my question is with symptoms of muscle weakness, fatigue, tremors, slight muscle bulk loss and my NFL numbers remain in the normal range after a year and a half of symptoms, could it still wind up being ALS? or at this point my NFL numbers should really be higher and we can consider some other muscle issue. Thank you for you input.

 

[j100f]

I just had an EMG last week , the neurologist said its slightly abnormal, I am still dealing with muscle weakness and tremors , she wants to do a single fiber emg next month. Do these results indicate a concern for ALS?

 

[Nikki J]

No and a single fiber emg would be looking mostly for myasthenia gravis so she is looking away from als

 

[j100f]

The neurologist characterizes my weakness as extreme muscle fatigue, she acknowledges something is not right but still isn’t sure what it is. My last NFL blood test in march was 1.17 and my last ck was in April was 95, she said if it were ALS one of those bloods should be at least slightly elevated by now. I’ve been dealing with this since Aug of 2023, my arms and legs have gotten thinner since then so I’m hoping to get an answer soon. Thank you for your response.

 

[Nikki J]

That is characteristic of neuromuscular junction disorders which mg is and als is not so her plan makes sense