Return to Website

Myotonia Congenita Forum

 

This forum has been closed for comments.  You can still search archived messages.

 

Visit  the Non-Dystrophic Myotonias  Facebook Group

Myotonia Congenita Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: Social Security disability

Hi, and thanks for your input. I've been careful not to say all of my symptoms because they don't all match everyone else. I'm realizing more every day that there's got to be underlying factors that are missing.
My symptoms are just like yours where my walking is getting harder and harder to hide. I have a lot of muscle spasming and terrible pain whenever I over move or over do it. I've checked CPK and THYROID LEVELS and they're fine. It's difficult to see myself falling apart after running a successful remodeling business for 25 plus years. This past 15 months I can only compare to what a muscle builder who lifts every day for many years, feels like if they stop abruptly.

Re: Social Security disability

David, a little mosquito was my undoing :-( I had no idea West Nile Virus could be so devastating and it took a year for the doctors to finally get the diagnosis right even though I knew when I'd been bitten and exactly when the symptoms started. My legs felt like concrete and I was in so much pain I couldn't sit down to watch a TV program. I slept for 20 hours a day for the first year.

When your health changes dramatically fairly quickly you can be sure it's not MC unless you started taking a contraindicated drug like statins for cholesterol.

Keep looking till you find doctor who will give you a differential diagnosis. We can get other neuromuscular diseases just like anyone else...having MC doesn't make us immune to MS, ALS, lupus, etc. but the doctors tend to lump it all together. Since you already had a thyroid disease you could have other autoimmune issues, too. It might be good to see a rheumatologist to get some bloodwork.

Jan

Re: Re: Social Security disability

Thanks Jan! As usual, more good advice.
I know I have something going on with Adrenals. I'm a mess when I become anxious.My whole body and being is effected

Re: Re: Re: Social Security disability

Hi
I haven't been on in awhile but I too suffer with the same symptoms as you describe and have for many years. They have been studying tests and I was sent an article that talks about our disease and what they are finding out from the studies. It appears that quite a few people are having these symptoms who have MC. I don't know what it all means but it is very comforting to know others are feeling the same as I do. I hope they find out the correlation soon between MC and pain. Here is the article:

Health status in non-dystrophic myotonias: close relation with pain and fatigue.
Trip J, de Vries J, Drost G, Ginjaar HB, van Engelen BG, Faber CG.

Department of Neurology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 5800, 6202 AZ, Maastricht, The Netherlands, J.Trip@neurologie.azm.nl.

To determine self-reported health status in non-dystrophic myotonias (NDM) and its relationship to painful myotonia and fatigue. In a cross-sectional study, 32 NDM patients with chloride and 30 with sodium channelopathies, all off treatment, completed a standardised interview, the fatigue assessment scale (FAS), and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Beside formal assessment of pain, assessment of painful or painless myotonia was determined. The domain scores of the SF-36 were compared with Dutch community scores. Apart from the relationship among SF-36 scores and (1) painful myotonia and (2) fatigue, regression analyses in both NDM groups were conducted to determine the strongest determinants of the SF-36 domains general health perception, physical component (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS). All physically oriented SF-36 domains in both NDM groups (P

Re: Re: Re: Re: Social Security disability

Sorry the article was cut off when I copied it so here is the whole one:

1: J Neurol. 2009 Mar 1. [Epub ahead of print]
Health status in non-dystrophic myotonias: close relation with pain and fatigue.
Trip J, de Vries J, Drost G, Ginjaar HB, van Engelen BG, Faber CG.

Department of Neurology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 5800, 6202 AZ, Maastricht, The Netherlands, J.Trip@neurologie.azm.nl.

To determine self-reported health status in non-dystrophic myotonias (NDM) and its relationship to painful myotonia and fatigue. In a cross-sectional study, 32 NDM patients with chloride and 30 with sodium channelopathies, all off treatment, completed a standardised interview, the fatigue assessment scale (FAS), and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Beside formal assessment of pain, assessment of painful or painless myotonia was determined. The domain scores of the SF-36 were compared with Dutch community scores. Apart from the relationship among SF-36 scores and (1) painful myotonia and (2) fatigue, regression analyses in both NDM groups were conducted to determine the strongest determinants of the SF-36 domains general health perception, physical component (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS). All physically oriented SF-36 domains in both NDM groups (P

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Social Security disability

Hi again,
Apparently I cannot copy the entire study to this forum. Sorry about that. If anyone wants to read the entire article please let Jan know because she has it as well. Thanks!

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Social Security disability

Hi everyone, i have been off line for a while couldnt figure out why internet wouldnt work but Daniel fixed it in the end, also ,i have been,not myself, been in lots of pain,nothing unusual in that only the duration, months and months in the same place,my shoulder,bad headaches,but i get migrains,so didnt think much of it, however a couple of times i had a temprature which would be gone in the morning...very strange, so went to the doctors, he found it hard to understand why i had not gone to him earlier with severe muscle pain and stiffness..ha, anyway he had bloods done ,e.s.r. was 52 a month later did them again and it was 36, he wanted to wait another month and try the test again,so had another blood test friday ,will have results in 10 days or so ,but doctor says he thinks i may have fibromyalgia..Jan does our condition predispose us to other muscle complaints. dont like this ,not been myself at all,been wanting to put my jim jams on and go to bed and stay there,feeling very sorry for myself,,,any advice?

Type of Myotonia: MSN Messenger

Re: Social Security disability

That's a pretty high sed rate...it can go up after a viral infection or it can be related to a more long-term issue like autoimmune problems. But since it's coming down, I would suspect the former.

I think we are more prone to some conditions like fibromyalgia because we tend to damage our muscles by pushing against the stiffness. I came across this really great article today that I'm going to post separately...it should help answer some questions about pain and MC.

Keep in touch!

Jan