muscle twitching

[Julyjoy]

My daughter is 8 yrs old. She is over all very healthy, intelligent, and active. Since age 2 she has been treated for ashma. She did not seem to out grow it so her doctors put her on singular, albutrol, and pulmacort. She developed an contsant hack this year (perssistant cough) so I took her to a pulmonologist. He gave her a allery test and said that she is allergic to cats. He took her off of the meds and stared her on a 5 day treatment of predisone and once daily puff if advair and albuterol as needed for flair ups. Approx 3 to 4 days after beganingg treatment she began to have twithchs in her arms and now it is in her legs too. Some teacher have reported it being in her face  also. This all began Jan 14, 2009. She has had an EEG which is normal and has an appointment with a local neurologist. Does any of this sound fimaliar to you. Of course I have stopped all meds. She did have a fever this weekend and sore throat this week and I think thta the twitching was much worse. She is twitching in her sleep some. (I have watched her sleep and it seems that when she gets into her deepest sleep that the twitching is not as bad). Please help if you have any thoughts as to what I should know or if you know of a specialists I can travel too...No problem.

[ugates]

My daughter too has muscle twitching all over like you described after taking a new seizure medication.  She had some small twitching before, but after taking the medication it got progressively worse.  She is now on Clonidine for her twitching and her twitching is currently under investigation by her doctors.  I dont think they will ever say it was caused by the medicine.  In my childs case it could be Tourette's or something.  I hope everything worked out for you.

[ILADVOCATE]

I looked up those particular medications and I believe they can cause tardive dyskinesia, a neurological disability that is a form of Parkinsonianism. I have tardive dyskinesia and the treatments that have been most helpful to me are Zofran, the natural remedy as identifed in clinical studies rhodiola and Clonidine. I don't know if the first two are used in children but the Catapres (Clonidine) patch is and it can be very helpful. Go to a trained movement disorders specialist and ask for a test for tardive dyskinesia. Its not reversible in general but in mild cases (unlike mine) and if caught early may receed over time. For more information google "patient education tardive dyskinesia".