Muscle biopsy

[JoannaP79]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. I'm not currently diagnosed with sjogrens. I have autoimmune arthritis and full body small fibre neuropathy. I have progressively worse weakness throughout, it's profound at the moment. I have also noticed significant shrinking around my hips, backside and legs.
MRIs, EMG and nerve conduction all negative.
Have any of you had muscle biopsies? Could you let me know the following if you did:

Did you have sedation for the biopsy? I'm asking for this and awaiting response.
If no sedation, how painful was the actual procedure?

Did any of you have negative results like mine but then the biopsy was positive.

I saw a few threads on here about this but they are quite old and I don't believe the users are still active.

Thanks all

[irish]

When one has a muscle biopsy the surgeon that does it must be very, very proficient. I had mine about 12 years ago and it was done in the twin cities. One doc at the University of MN ordered this and their experienced surgeon was gone for some reason. There was one more surgeon in the twin cities that they referred me to that they felt was qualified to do the biopsy. I was surprised at how fussy they were about this.
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I had it done on out patient basis and was given anesthesia. I don't know just what kind, but I am thinking that they have to do anesthesia with a muscle relaxant. They do the biopsy on the front of the thigh. They have to get down deep into the muscles and get certain muscle tissue. The incision was about 4-5 inches long. My biopsy was negative.

If I was you I would do research on muscle biopsy and techniques and reason why. There is the need to have complete muscle relaxation in order to get a good biopsy. Also, there is certain muscle type that needs to be obtained. It is a more involved process than one would think. Good luck Irish

[JoannaP79]

Thanks Irish. That's a big incision! I was told approximately 1 inch. I'm confident the guy will be experienced, I've been seeing a Neuromuscular guy who uses this particular surgeon. The Neuromuscular guy just mentioned local anaesthetic to the skin.

Did you have muscular symptoms - weakness and/or atrophy?
I'm worried it will come back negative. I need an explanation for the awful symptoms

[irish]

Mine was 12 years ago so I would imagine they have improved techniques since then. Laparoscopy, etc.

I have myasthenia gravis which is an autoimmune neuromuscular disease. The muscles are not directly affected but the nerve ends are attacked by the antibodies and their ability to stimulate muscle activity is affected. I have muscle weakness in arms, legs, face, tongue, throat, etc. I have been on IVIG for going on 11 years and it has helped my swallowing, etc. I have eye droop much of the time.

I also have enough muscle weakness that I wonder about weakness that occurs when one has 5 autoimmune diseases. All the symptoms start to overlap after a while. Thanks. Irish