muscle twitching

hey,
My bother has been twitching most of his life, he is 24yrs old now.  He told me he has been twitching since before grade school (10+ years). It has increased in regularity lately. It's daily off and on throughout the week and on it can last multiple days with high and lows or he can be unaffected for multiple days in a row.  Today when I was sitting next to him I could clearly see each of his muscles twitching hard enough to shake his whole body. It is also all over his body and one random muscle at a time for only a split second each time, from the face to the toes, the muscle contractions occur about one every two seconds. he even twitches while a sleep. he seems to twitch more when he laying down or in a relaxed state. When one of his leg muscles twitched,  it moved 2-3 inches in the air! he says they don't bother him and not to concern myself, but I'm worried about him because he hasn't told anyone else besides me, not even his doctor. he is very physically fit, and is not often sick and has not been for quiet some time (6+months), they do not appear to be a ordinary muscle fasciculations which which are as I understand are localized and short lived. I was just wondering what these twitches could be and if these are benign or a sign of something more serous to come?
-the sister

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Hi, Thank you for your question. This muscle twitching is also called as muscle fasciculation & appears when the muscle contracts on its own (without nerve stimulation).  Most of the times these symptoms occur without any underlying disorder & they are not harmful or may appear after anxiety, hormonal imbalance, viral illness or long term illness. But sometimes this muscle twitching appears as atrophy and weakness of muscle as well. Most likely cause of this twitching in his case could be with weakness or atrophy of muscle can be when the nerve supplying to muscles is not functioning properly due to any neurological disorder. Unfortunately, if he has this since last many years it will be unlikely to go away.  If he is suffering continuous weakness and notice reduced strength of muscle bulk in areas, please arrange an appointment with a neurologist right away who will evaluate the possibilities here. Hope this information proves helpful to you. Take Care & Regards!!!