Hi. I developed a myopathy from AZT 7 months ago and no longer take the drug. I still have issues with exercise tolerance and random muscle fasiculations. I am getting worse, not better. However, my EMG, ESR, and muscle enzymes are all normal. I was hoping there was an inflammatory component to this issue and that taking prednisone might help my symptoms. However, given the normal ESR I am not thinking it would do any good. Is the fact I'm still fasciculating a good thing ? Would a muscle biopsy be helpful ? (my doctors are 100% sure this issue is AZT related) Have you seen anyone make a full recovery after having symptoms for this long ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

In the days when I used AZT and we encountered possible myopathy we often obtained a muscle biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. Nerve conduction studies and EMG were also often part of the work up (you had the EMG which was normal according to your note). Most cases-but not all- of AZT myopathy did improve after stopping the drug (usually would switch to another effective HIV regimen not containing a thymidine analogue). KH