It depends on each person’s pain tolerance. I have little tolerance to pain unfortunately.
No one warned me how painful the EMG test would be when I had it done in 2023. I strongly recommend talking to your doctor about taking pain medication beforehand. During the test, I screamed and cried every time the doctor inserted the long needle into my muscles, it was excruciating. The pain was so intense that the test couldn’t be completed fully.
According to the doctor who performed it, the partial results were probably acceptable. But I still wonder if my diagnosis was ever fully determined because of the incomplete test.
I have continued experiencing numbness and tingling in my feet and the lower part of my legs. When my circulation gets bad, my left hand also goes numb. This all started after I experienced an intense, 45-minute episode of cramping in my legs and feet following a bike ride.
If you’re facing an EMG, I wish you the best and please prepare yourself. I wish someone had told me what to expect.