Re: Muscle twitching

Posted By CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS on April 01, 1999 at 12:32:47:

In Reply to: Muscle twitching posted by bill on March 12, 1999 at 21:32:10:






:30 year old female.  Six weeks ago I developed muscle twitches all
: over my body.  It first started with a twitching right eye.  The twitching
: of the eyelid lasted for a few days then died down a bit.  But showed up in different parts of my body.  I have had twitches in my back, buttocks, thighs, around the top of my knee, calves arms and occasionally my left thumb.  I seen my family doctor who thought it was stress and anxiety and prescribed buspor.  Now four weeks later I still have twitches all over my body.  I mostly notice them at rest at night or when first waking, but they do occur through out the day.  I have also had a lot of joint popping and cracking.  I have had some pain in my hands, nothing terrible, the pain has been in my wrist and up along the pinkie side of my hand and sometimes across the top of my hand.    I know this sounds like a lot of different symptoms but I am afraid of having ALS.   I haven't noticed any weakness but all the same I am worried.  Thanks for having such a great place for information and thank you for your time.




Dear Denise:
I am sorry to hear about your body twitches.  Since I did not see the twitches and have not examined you, it is impossible to tell you what is going on to cause the muscle twitching.  Whole body twitching is very unusual, especially if you are fully awake and they are constant for days at a time.  I would recommend that you see a neurologist.  Sure, anxiety can cause muscle twitching as can stress, but not for days at a time.  Get a second opinion with a neurologist.  Sorry, I couldn't be more helpful.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro[P] MD





Denise,  I twitch also.  I have the same "eye lid" type of twitches all over my body.  Its been going on for about 18 months now.  It's a lot to handle just twitching one day and then not getting a break from it.  I understand what you are going through and you should follow the doctor's advice of seeing a neurologist.  Though I believe the doctor is wrong when telling you that what you have is very unusual.  Unrecognized is more like it.  I want to tell you a few things about twitching. Generalized anxiety is something that a lot of us twitchers suffered from before the cursed twitches came so don't take the position that anxiety treatment is a step in the wrong direction.  It isn't direct treatment for your twiching but it will help.  Also, I'll bet you any money that what you have is something called "benign fasciculation syndrome"  and not als.  What that means is that you twitch.  You twitch a lot.  But with time it seems to get a little better.  In the first few months I couldn't count to ten w/out feeling a twitch and then of course thinking "Oh my God what is this horrible thing!"  Now I go for a couple of hours on some days without a twitch.  Also, at its worst...you may experience other symptoms like I did....strange, phantom crawling sensations or the feeling that sparks are falling on your appendiges etc.  I know now that most of these dizzy spells and other body sympoms were caused by the anxiety of not knowing what the hell was wrong with me, not being able to find a doctor who knew anything that could help me blah  blah blah.  That's a bad place to find yourself in and I've read a lot of peoples complaints about peripheral symptoms and I tend to think (and this is just my opinion after 18 or months) that its just twitching.  Just twitching.  All that other stuff goes away when you calm back down.  Its amazing how the body can trick itself.  The important thing for you to know though is that this thing is not going to balloon into some degenerative nerve disorder.  See your doctor and take care.  




Dear Bill:
Thanks for your insight.  Having benign fascics is not benign in the sense what people have to go through.  It is difficult at best.  However, this diagnosis is one of exclusion.  One has to rule out the other entities.  So, my recommendation to see a neurologist for a second opinion is based on this fact.  As you mentioned, what is important is that her condition is not degenerative in nature.  But her original neurologist needed to spend time with her to explain this and not just pass her off.  
Thanks again,
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro[P] MD