undiagnosed muscle twitching

[Pippi1996]

I am a 31y/o black female and for the past 6 months I have been experiencing facial twitching (mainly on the the right side).  Initially, the twitching occurred around the time I started having dizzy spells or bouts of vertigo where everything appeared to be spinning around me.  The dizziness finally ceased a few months ago but the facial twitching continues.  The twitching is centered mainly around my right eye (the eyelid, eyebrow, and the area directly under my eye).  Unfortunately the twitching doesn't stop there.  It also occurs on the apple of my right cheek, the right corner of my mouth, my lips (mainly upper), under my nose, and my chin.  I also believe there to be some slight twitching near the tip of my tongue because on occasion, I feel a slight tingling sensation in that area.  I can sometimes start the twitching around my right eye by rubbing the area.  However the twitching does not need to be instigated.  The twitching around my mouth and chin sometimes becomes present during and after I eat.  My deepest concern is that the twitching has progressed throughtout my body- the back of my head, my neck, back, my limbs, abdomen, and just recently my fingers (mainly my right index finger and thumb).  The twitching has become more frequent and is most noticeable when I am trying to sleep/relax.  There are times when it feels my whole body is vibrating (again mainly when I am trying to sleep).  There's not a day that goes by that I don't have muscle twitching.  I have no muscle weakness or pain.  My recent MRI of my head was clean but I do have empty-sella syndrome.  I have been recently diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.  I am taking Vitamin D3, Calcium, and Garlic (for cholesterol control) supplements, and Prenatal Iron- I am not pregnant (and never have been), just anemic.  I am obese (5'8"/240lbs) but I am not hypertensive or a diabetic but recent lab results showed my sugar level was borderline.

Any idea of what may be causing the widespread muscle twitching or what tests I should have?  Any info anyone can provide would be of great help.  Although I am not experiencing any pain with the twitching, it's still causing me great discomfort or unease.  It's to the point where I have trouble sleeping due to my worrying over the potential causes and effects of my involuntary muscle movements.  I feel like I don't have any control over my body anymore.  
    

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there.  There are certain causes responsible for muscle twitching like diet deficiency, drug overdose, and side effects of diuretics, corticosteroids, estrogens, exercise, benign twitches, and nervous system conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, muscle dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy and myopathy. Your neurologist needs to look into these conditions one by one. The other possible cause could be multiple sclerosis and is a diagnosis of exclusion. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis are loss of balance, muscle spasms, numbness in any area, problems with walking and coordination, tremors in one or more arms and legs. Bowel and bladder symptoms include frequency of micturition, urine leakage, eye symptoms like double vision uncontrollable rapid eye movements, facial pain, painful muscle spasms, tingling, burning in arms or legs, depression, dizziness, hearing loss, fatigue etc. The treatment is essentially limited to symptomatic therapy so the course of action would not change much whether MS has been diagnosed or not. Apart from clinical neurological examination, MRI shows MS as paler areas of demyelination, two different episodes of demyelination separated by one month in at least two different brain locations. Spinal tap is done and CSF electrophoresis reveals oligoclonal bands suggestive of immune activity, which is suggestive but not diagnostic of MS. Demyelinating neurons, transmit nerve signals slower than non-demyelinated ones and can be detected with EP tests. These are visual evoked potentials, brain stem auditory evoked response, and somatosensory evoked potential. Slower nerve responses in any one of these is not confirmatory of MS but can be used to complement diagnosis along with a neurological examination, medical history and an MRI in addition, a spinal tap. Therefore, it would be prudent to consult your neurologist with these concerns.Take care.

[anxiousan]

I'm a 29 male who weight lifts 4 times a week. Over the past year, I have been experiencing symptoms which seems to excerbate during times of increased heart rate (happy, anxious, post-exercise and etc...).Examples: 1) Bodywide twitching - Single fire pop like muscle twitch, rapid irregular pop like twitch when at rest. 2) Right heel plantar fasciistis 3) Painful bone at lower right butt - it flares up when i sit down for too long. improves with movement. manageable pain. I feel it if i flex my right but or when i run as well. 4) Right Top of the shoulder bone pain - improves with movement. if i were to let it rest, i will get this dull aching pain when i flex it forward. 5) Fast single twitch - both right fingers and left fingers 6) Rhymthmic pop twitch of the right forearm that moves my right index finger up and down which is my PRIMARY concern - It happens after action (pick up a mug, pull ups, opening a refrigerator, moving my arms, walking) and at rest. it feels like a pop in my right forearm at a rate of 1.5 -2hz (for 30sec to a min) which makes my right index finger goes, up and down, rest for a millisec, then goes up and then down. When this happens, i can make it happen again (most of the time) by flexing my arm, clinching my hand into fist or stretching my right arm. it first manifested when i was walking back to my office after gym 1 year ago. 7) Irregular rhythm right forearm muscle popping twitch - if i were to rest my arm in an uncomfortable manner (resting my arm off the arm rest of my chair so that my arm is dangling, or twisting my arm while resting in an uncomfortbale manner), my right thumb and fore finger will tingle, pins and needle sensation and then my forearm will have this popping irregular twitch. It will go away if I remove my right arm from that position I visited 3 neuros (2 of them are Movement disorder specialist) who ran bloodworks, MRI and neuro physcial test said that i am fine. Am very worried of parkinson's, als, MS and etc…

[msbettie]

My eye started twitching about 6 mos after my second child was born.  It went on with few exceptions for 18 mos and then stopped suddenly.  My doctor tried beta blockers, and I tried vitamins, rest, and it didn't matter.  I'd wake up with a twitch and go to bed with it.  Now I only get it occasionally, but it still can last a month or more.  Sometimes if the left eye twitches a lot, I get a migraine soon after.  Excedrin, which gets rid of my headaches also stops the twitching.
The only other thing I would add, if it's in your fingers especially is to get your thyroid checked. Mine started suddenly and it would interfere with typing. Your thyroid may be overactive. It took nearly two years to diagnose, but I had thyroid cancer.  After my thyroid was removed my fingers stopped twitching completely.  The eye twitching for 18 months was 6 years before the cancer, so I don't think it was related.  The only thing I can say about that is it will eventually stop, but I nearly went crazy with it.  If it happened again, I think I'd go the Botox route.

[Debbie121]

I can relate to what you are going through. If you are taking any sort of anti-depressant, see your doctor immediantly. This happened to me back in 2000 after a hysterectomy. I started taking Zoloft and my eyelid would start twitching for no reason.  Then later I started having uncontrollable full-body temors.  I'm now on SS and disabled. I can't work or even walk but for short distance. If I tire at all I fall down and risk having an attack. Hopefully, this won't happen to you. There was no family history of seizures in my family and I've had MRIs which should no diseases. I can't help thinking this is a result of Zoloft.  So check you medicine cabinet and do your own drug research!