My doctor made an appointment for me with a neurologist to have a nerve conduction test done.
It started with a technician who applied electrodes on various locations of my left leg and then applied an electric shock at various levels. While the shock treatment was going on some sort of graph?? was generated. When the technician was finished with me, an MD came in and stuck what I think was a syringe into various parts of my left leg for whatever purpose. I don’t know if the MD injected anything into me or not; if he did I wasn’t aware of it being done.
When the MD was finished with me he told me he would send the results to my regular MD who would discuss them with me at my next appointment. In the meantime I have no idea why this test had to be performed and I don’t know if I was injected with any substance or not.
Will some qualified doper tell me what a nerve conduction test is and what it is for. Wikipedia is not very clear about it.
I’m pretty sure the needle doesn’t contain anything. I’ve been present at a couple of these and my layman’s understanding was that by using the electrodes - they are basically shooting electricity down the nerves of your nervous system - using them as wires.
By checking the timing/strength of the ending signal - they can determine if the wires themselves are physically ok - and if so - it means something else is the problem.
I think it would kind of be like if your body was a lamp - they could shoot electricity into the plug - and measure it at the bulb socket. Maybe your light isn’t coming on, but if that part of the lamp is ok - maybe it is the AC at the outlet itself - or maybe your bulb is burnt out.
My brother had this done and it was an assessment of nerve function, I believe, as he was applying for disability. No drugs were administered, just various types of testing. Could your doctor be using this for possible physical therapy? Or maybe drug therapy. IIRC you switched to a chair not so long ago; I hope you are getting along well and have plans to do wheelies in the snow.
I’ve had a couple of those. I find them immensely unpleasant. The part with the needle was probably an EMG or electromyelogram. EMGs are frequently done along with NCV tests, and collectively, they can help determine if your problems are with the muscles themseves or neurologic.
Some states put restrictions on who can poke people with needles, and require that portion of the testing to be done by an MD. Other states allow physician’s assistants, physiatrists, etc. to administer the test. Apparently Florida is one of the states that require it to be done by an MD.
My late husband had this done to see how extensive the nerve damage from the West Nile Virus infection had gotten. (Spoiler alert: pretty bad. Seeing as how he couldn’t walk, this wasn’t exactly late-breaking news.) We referred to it as “the stabby-zappy test” and more than one nurse knew exactly what we meant, so it must have been a common reaction.
stab ZAP!
Basically, it measures how well your nerves conduct the (artificially introduced) electrical current.
I had this done many years ago to test for problems in my arms and wrists (pain, excruciating pain. I could type five minutes then have to ice my hands and wrists). Anyway, there was nothing injected.
Another voice of experience: I had this about a year ago in connection with a herniated disc in my neck to diagnose the level of damage that had been done to my arm and hand. No injection. The needles are there, IIRC, to reach the nerves so as to apply the current *directly *to them rather than through the skin.
Thanks for your inputs; I don’t know why the test was done-----I wonder if it could have anything to do with recent fall down and go boom experiences. My last episode was in a Publix supermarket; I just suddenly fell face first. As always as soon as I was back on my feet everything was AOK. I guess I’ll learn all about it in the near future.
I think you have me confused with some one else. I’m not in a chair (wheelchair?) and I live in Florida—no snow here to do wheelies in. But thanks for you input.
LouisB, may I suggest you take some assertiveness training? Your doctors are being serious jackasses to do invasive tests (or any tests, really) like that on you without discussing it first with you, describing what they are testing, why they want to do the test, what possible outcomes they are looking for, and some explanation of how the test works. Especially, if they stuck needles in you and you didn’t even know if they were injecting stuff or not – that’s some serious failure on their part to inform you of anything.
Medical treatments, including tests, are supposed to be done with the knowledge and consent of the patient. You can’t possibly have given knowing consent to those tests, knowing as little as you did.
You need to get in the habit of asking questions of your doctors, and insisting on answers. Your doctors treated you like an inanimate piece of the office furniture.
ETA: For future reference: There are web sites, like WebMD and similar, that include descriptions of various medical procedures, that your could read. You might do that ahead of time, next time doctors want to schedule a test that involves sticking medical hardware or toxic potions into you. Hang tight a moment, I’ll come back soon with a link or two . . .
