One-sided weakness

Did you mean EMG instead of EEG? Because EEG (electroencephalogram) does not involve putting current in.

I may have had a nerve conduction test in the past, it was a bit uncomfortable but no needles involved. i also had a muscle biopsy which tends to give very sharp cramping, and walking was just about impossible but i had to drag myself from the operating room to my car, and i was driving. (Thankful it was one on my left thigh, so driving was still possible)

i have no idea what the EMG involves (if it is what it is) but could ‘laughing gas’ be considered instead of sedation?

Best wishes and glad you have slight improvements and no more falls.

 

I had the sweat pressor test, an autonomic test; that just feels like prickles. It's uncomfortable but not painful: the current is low.

An EMG (you're right, EEG is something else!) they zap you with higher and higher voltage to get you 'used' to the sensation. The way Mayo does it, there are five levels of intensity.

The first zap made me scream.

The tech tutted at me and acted like I was making a huge fuss over nothing. She tried to proceed forward without my consent, thinking if she did it fast enough it'd work out, but nope. I reiterated that she needed to stop.

Now I'm told different people have different tolerances for that kind of pain, yadda yadda. But when the word most frequently used to describe a diagnostic test is "barbaric" it's probably pretty crappy for everyone. Some people submit and scream through it, apparently. Techs in autonomic said there was screaming coming from there all the time.

 

I had an EMG with and without electricity. I found it painful, the one with electricity very painful. I had severe muscle soreness directly after it.

I will never again allow ENG, EMG or anything with electricity. It only triggered pain that stayed for good. I think a nerve/muscle MRI and muscle biopsy would be illuminating, too.

During the EMG I had to actively tighten my muscle for the measurement (which was a horror with a needle in it).

Edit: Obviously doctors like to say it's not painful for most, and that one is making a fuss about it. But my impression is many people find it painful. For me, an ENG is barbaric. All this electricity stuff is.

 

@JaimeS Here is a test from Quest and one from Mayo that includes AChR/ACh antibody testing if that helps. perhaps your PCP can order one of them for you if you haven't had them done. I'm no expert, just quoting what I've read other people have had - there may be better tests............

Neurological autoimmune antibody test panel from Quest.
https://www.questdiagnostics.com/testcenter/TestDetail.action?ntc=93888&searchString=93888

This is the DYS1 Mayo test
https://neurology.testcatalog.org/show/DYS1

 

I'd just like to say that it means a lot that there are four pages of people supporting me through this. Thanks, everyone.

 

lookup hypokalemic periodic paralysis, as mentioned by Greg Crowhurst on Stonebird