Posts
The letter I had been dreading the arrival of turned up on Saturday. I had almost begun to believe that such was the inflammatory nature of it contents that, I had been denied a copy on the grounds it would be perilous to my mental state. The letter was from the neurologist I saw at the end of July. It’s contents were only slightly better than anticipated.
I had believed that the letter would suggest CBT or a visit to see a neuropsychiatrist. It wouldn’t be the first time it had been suggested due to my obscure symptoms and the belief on the various neurologists part that because they didn’t know the answer my symptoms were psychological rather than physiological.
I have now been diagnosed with Hemifacial spasm of unclear cause. Now for those of you who don’t know what a Hemifacial spasm is, it's basically a muscle spasm in your face. Having done a little digging around on the internet I have found out that Hemifacial spasm can be due to Dystonia, MS, Compression of a facial nerve, lesion on the brain stem, brain tumour or of unknown cause. It is also an incredibly rare condition with Patient Info (https://patient.info/health/hemifacial-spasm-leaflet) stating that it affects 4,000 in the UK.
The only problem with this diagnosis is that this never started out with the twitching that is described by every website I have read over the weekend. Google Hemifacial spasm and one of the first things you will read is muscle twitching. Of course I have had muscle twitches but they have never been so bad that I have sought medical advice for them. This spasm / ptosis / condition came on overnight. Also it is the right side of my face that is affected, where this condition mainly affects the left side of the face. Hemifacial spasm is not treated by the use of mestinon so this diagnosis ignores the response I have to this medication. So it’s the usual horse shit that I have got very used to over the last ten years.
It’s not the first time I have heard of someone with ptosis being told that they have Hemifacial spasm. I can remember years ago on a forum a woman in the UK being told the same thing, despite mestinon resolving her ptosis and her not having muscle twitches. It seems this must be the go to diagnosis when they can’t admit they don’t know or if all signs are pointing to MG.
Apparently according to the letter “On observation of the facial problem today although there was some flattening around the corner of the mouth, the predominant problem is in fact of eye closure on the right hand side rather than ptosis, ie there is a contraction of the orbicularis oculi muscle rather than a weakness of the levator palpebrae superioris. The remainder of the facial movements were at times a little limited….” All this without actually doing a neurological exam, assessing the strength of my eyelid closure etc? **Sarcasm**
All the medical papers I have read so far in a limited time period have said about the corner of the mouth being pulled up by the muscle spasm in Hemifacial spasms. That doesn’t happen with my mouth, the corner of my mouth droops. I have in the past had muscle spasms where the side of my mouth has pulled back but it’s not lifted up or dropped down. It also prevented me from opening my mouth and I ended up with a NG tube in for a few hours.
I am a little sceptical at this latest diagnosis, as you have probably guessed because it really doesn’t fit properly. There are aspects of it that do fit like the muscle spasms I deal with on a daily basis in my back, hips and feet, if the diagnosis was generalised Dystonia, which can run alongside EDS. However my ptosis never resolves with heat, which if it was a muscle spasm you’d think the heat would be enough to relax the muscles? The only thing that resolves the ptosis is rest, ice or mestinon (pyridostigmine bromide).
However the doctor did pay me a massive compliment by knocking ten years of my age! In the opening sentence it says I met this 33-year-old lady…. Happy days or they were simply getting confused with the notes from ten years ago.
What really irritated me was that this doctor has claimed that there is nothing wrong with the muscles in my face, the nerves or the neuromuscular junction yet Hemifacial spasms are a neuromuscular disorder. Also according to https://www.bcm.edu/healthcare/care-centers/parkinsons/conditions/hemifacial-spasm website my EMG wouldn’t have been normal if I had hemifacial spasm “ It will show irregular, brief high-frequency burses (150-400Hz) of motor unit potentials”. When I found this out I roared with laughter, so apparently I can’t have MG because my EMG was normal but I can have Hemifacial Spasm with a normal EMG despite the fact it should show abnormalities. Welcome to the world of neurology where we change the rules of diagnosis depending on the condition.
The consultant has recommended I be treated with Botox to relieve the muscle spasms. However one of the side effects is developing Ptosis……………………...I know you couldn’t make this shit up could you? Also Botox is contraindicated with MG. So would I really want to risk a Botox injection for a condition it seems highly likely I do not have.
There is nothing worse than a doctor clutching at straws, especially in this day an age where a patient can debunk their diagnosis in a matter of minutes. I truly believe that this is what has happened here, they know they can’t get away with saying there is nothing wrong with me so come up with this drivel. I am embarrassed for them.
Other Links for information on Hemifacial Spasm
No comments:
Post a Comment