Worse Neuropathy After EMG Test?

Welcome @marcel8, It looks like @joslyn may no longer be following Connect as she was last active in 2022. I've had several EMGs during the period when I was being diagnosed with neuropathy and it caused a little pain and discomfort for me during the test but I didn't seem to make my neuropathy any worse. The only caveat is that I only have numbness and some tingling with my neuropathy. I think we all worry about our neuropathy getting worse and I don't think stress helps. I also believe exercise is key to staying mobile so I try to get in an hour or so every day of some sort of activity. I sometimes overdo my activity and it causes me some joint pain when I do. I'm sure others have different experiences.

I did find a reference on pain from an EMG that provides more information on the test - https://practicalneurology.com/articles/2018-sept/when-to-refer-patients-with-pain-for-emg.
Learning more about the condition and available treatments is one of the best things we as patients can do to help ourselves. The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy is a good place to learn more - https://www.foundationforpn.org/living-well/.

You might also find it helpful to explore the different discussions in the Neuropathy Support Group here on Connect. Here's a link to the list of discussions available - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/neuropathy/.

Have you discussed the change in your neuropathy symptoms with your neurologist or doctor?

Thanks for the response/info/links. I meet back with my neurologist in early April when I have a list of questions.

I’ve had several Emg tests over the years, and I must say I ne er had worse symptoms than I had before.

For me the electrical shocks during the EMG were quite painful.

No more EMGsfor me. Most painful thing I have ever been through. This was 8 yrs ago and I can still remember the pain, Neurologist wanted me to do another, NO, I will not do it. How would treatment change? Gabapentin is the only answer to neurologists. I do exercise, 3-4 days a week, always feel better afterwards. Doctor did not want to see me again, oh well.......Best Wishes, try to keep moving!

When a doctor repeated mine he kept turning up the amps and burned my legs. He told meI was fine. I ended up in the ER. When the ER doctor called him he denied it but 40 year old son watched him. It hurt really bad. I was crying. My doctors all told me I had neuropathy and my original reading said severe axonal sensorimotor peripheral polyneuropathy. SFN the doctor wouldn’t read my medical records. He told me in order to have SFN I would have to have had biopsies. I told him if he read my medical record’s that I had all read had two biopsies two years apart. He threw me out of the practice. He hadn’t read my medical record’s. What kind of doctor says you have to provide your medical records and doesn’t read them.?

I've had 3 EMG tests performed on me by 3 different neurologists in the last 10 years, and my nerve pain never increased.

I had 40 lymph nodes removed, clavicle area left me with spinal accessory nerve partial damaged , trapezious muscle weakness and constant pain.

EMG results partially severed SAN,ever since sharp shooting pains all over my body.

What is SAN? Does that show that I’m new to this?