Nice Having an Answer while It Lasted

According to two different neurologists, the problem is not cervical spondylosis; my spondylosis is just too mild. The first neurologist was completely dismissive in general, but agreed to order a nerve conduction velocity/electromyography (NCV/EMG) study anyway. He was certain the tests would come back negative.

The NCV was negative, but the EMG was not. And the neurologist administering the test was not dismissive at all, so I'll be seeing her from now on.

I saw her yesterday, in fact. She said the tests show no sign of motor neuron disease (a very good thing), but that they show more fibrillations than fasciculations. Had they shown nothing, or fasciculations only, it might have indicated something called cramp fasciculation syndrome (CFS). In fact, the doctor still brought it up as a possibility, but I've read up on the syndrome and know that it doesn't account for some of my symptoms; when I told her this, she agreed and took that diagnosis off the table.

She's ordered a spate of blood tests that don't often get ordered, more specialized tests to look for Sjogren's, lead poisoning, sarcoidosis, and all kinds of other stuff, and she's also ordered an MRI of my lumbar spine. If everything comes back negative, she'll be ordering a muscle biopsy.