Mr. K is having tingling and weakness in his arm (we THINK he hurt his shoulder lifting weights). We went to an OsteoDude and after questions and physical tests, ordered an EMG. I looked it up, and it has an exceedingly unpleasant description involving needles and electric current and muscles. I guess it’s not terribly painful, but it looks awful.
Anyhoo, we called EMG Dude to make the appointment, and they said it’s a very expensive procedure and we should check to see if the insurance company will pay for it. So I called Aetna and the first AetnaGirl said the “main code” under that test is covered but she’s not sure about all the little “side codes” that may or may not be performed during the test. She needed to know what code they planned on billing under.
So I get the code from EMG Dude and call Aetna back, and a new AetnaGirl says that it’s considered experimental and would not be covered, but that we could ask EMG dude to submit for a special circumstance or what have you.
Now…Mr. K can get this test through the VA, but he can’t get it done for quite a while and he’s pretty uncomfortable. It seems to me that if the VA is going to prescribe this as a first step diagnostic, it’s probably not really experimental.
Anyone have experience with this test? I’m interested from both a medical/physical standpoint and insurance-wise. Is this really a big deal?
Seconding QtM. My mom’s had this done several times; the first was at least 15 years ago. It’s a pretty standard test for those sorts of symptoms. I can’t imagine how anyone could still consider it experimental.
Aetna sucks. (I say this as both an Aetna insured and as medical billing staff.)
Mom says it’s pretty unpleasant but not outrageously painful, FWIW.
I just had it 3 weeks ago. Painful did not begin to describe it, but some people cannot tolerate electric jolts, I can’t. YMMV
Resulted in Surgery I had last Tuesday, which is why I’m currently typing left handed.
BUT, I am already improving and the symptoms I had are already fading away.
My insurance (United Healthcare) did not consider it experimental in any way.
Hoooo-kay…they sent me a document that explains why they won’t use this for intra-surgical monitoring of maxillo-facial-cranial-spinal-lumbo-sacro operations. What the FUCK!
Well, it wasn’t too bad — only six phone calls and a mini-meltdown and I got them to understand that it is a diagnostic test and not brain surgery (not that I’m convinced it wouldn’t be warranted, mind you);).
I’m not a doctor, but I’d be rather startled to find it was considered experimental! (on preview, I see you’ve gotten over that hurdle, it was purely clerical idiocy). I had a nerve conductance test and EMG some years back on my legs, and there was no problem whatsoever with having insurance pay for it.
Mostly I popped in to say that it is rather more than “just a pinch”. The nerve conductance was done first and was pretty horrible - you get progressively jolted with ow[SIZE=“2”]ow[SIZE=“3”]ow[SIZE=“4”]ow[SIZE=“5”]ow[SIZE=“6”]ow[SIZE=“7”]OHGOD I SOLD THE SECRETS TO THE RUSSKIS PLEASE STOP. [/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE] (it was, seriously, worse than both childbirths). The EMG was fairly uncomfortable, quite possibly because my pain receptors had been turned up to 11 by the first step. The actual needle insertion was unpleasant but nothing I’d refuse to undergo, at least. I vaguely recall the tingling during the actual test as pretty unpleasant - but I could probably tolerate it again if I had to. What made it worse (and this is not an issue with your spouse, I assume), was that they did everything on one leg.
Unless I’ve got the two terms swapped (and I don’t think I am, I googled it) The Nerve Conductance test is the one without the needle being stuck into the muscle, it’s all done on the surface. That is the one that had me confessing to espionage that took place before I was born.
The EMG - which it seems is what your husband is having done - appears to range from “a pinch” (as QtM says) to “thoroughly unpleasant and all in all I’d rather be having dental work”. I suspect Lanzy’s experience is substantially worse than average. Mine may have been average, or maybe a tad worse than average due to my pain receptors already being widefuckingawakethankyouverymuch
Even if your husband’s experience turns out to be on the REALLY Did Not Enjoy spectrum, it’s just tolerable.
If he were ordered the nerve conductance test… well, ask around, possibly others’ experiences are less painful than mine was (I sure hope so!!!). Maybe it woulda helped if they’d been getting less “good” responses? (maybe they coulda stopped sooner? My results turned out to be negative, no problems found).
If he does need it, then it’s fair to tell him it’s painful, but the pain is very brief. My recollection is it was a brief :snap:. Just the increasing intensity… and knowing they were going to do the other leg.
He has to get both. I just checked his prescription. He makes like a tough guy a lot, but he never goes to doctors, so the true sadistic nature of testing is kind of lost on him. I mentioned your take on it to him, and he asked me if I was trying to scare him!!
He makes like a tough guy a lot, but he never goes to doctors, so the true sadistic nature of testing is kind of lost on him. I mentioned your take on it to him, and he asked me if I was trying to scare him!!