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Undiagnosed Muscle Cramps, twitches, and spasms. Need relief...
Hello,
I am a 22 year old female. My illness started just under a year ago. I woke up in the middle of the night with a severe "charlie horse" cramp in my right calf. It lasted 15 mins, and returned again for a second time half an hour later. The next morning i had sever bruising where the cramp was from what appeared to be torn muscles. I was fine for a few days, but then began experiencing a shooting pain whenever i stepped on the outer pad of my right foot. This lasted a week, and from then on my symptoms began to expand.
I started feeling a constant twitching in my right calf muscle, like when you're tired and your eye twitches. It was not visible to the naked eye as it was far enough under the skin to not be seen. I began to notice that any strain on the muscle at all would cause it to seize into a charlie horse cramp. I slowly over the next month began to notice this up my entire right side. A yawn would cause my neck to seize up. Bending over would cause my side to seize up. Writing too long would seize my hand up. And even the slightest movement of my foot would send my leg into the most severe of cramps. When my calves cramp up it looks as though there is water boiling under my skin. It bubbles, pops, ripples, and spasms in an utterly painful and disturbing display.
I had bloodwork done which revealed everything was normal and I was sent to a neurologist. My neurologist preformed an EMG and NCS, which came back normal. I was then sent to have a c-spine MRI done. It revealed that my spine was begining to curve in the wrong direction which i'm told is common for people presenting with muscle cramps. I had an MRI done, with and without contrast, revealing nothing. I had an angiogram done which also revealed nothing.
I was sent to physical therapy which only proved to make my condition worse. By this time the sypmtoms had progressed through my entire body, not just my right side. they tried several medications, none of which helped. I also began to notice rapidly decreasing vision, incontinence, abnormal hair growth, difficulty swallowing, inability to concentrate, ringing in my ears, exhaustion, inability to fall asleep, and stiffness in my joints.
I saw a neuro-muscular specialist at a large presitigous medical college who suggested i inject botox into my legs to stop them from cramping. I have seen so many neurologists now that i'm beginning to feel its hopeless. This illness has comepletely taken over my life and I am so tired from fighting it 24/7. It affects every decision i make and follows me everywhere relentlessly. I am currently on a trial of baclophen which seems to be making things worse, as did most the muscle relaxants i was put on. My new neurologist told me that my best bet is to simply try medications untill i find one that treats the symptoms well enough to make it from one day to the next. This was the most devistating blow yet. I cannot accept that i may suffer from this for the next 60 years of my life with no answers. It cant be normal for a 22 year old to pray to god every night that they find something in her blood work or MRIs... so that the mystery can be solved.
Please, if you have any notion as to what may be causing these ailments, or if there is another doctor i should be seeing, please let me know. I am so despirate for answers.
-Adriane
I am a 22 year old female. My illness started just under a year ago. I woke up in the middle of the night with a severe "charlie horse" cramp in my right calf. It lasted 15 mins, and returned again for a second time half an hour later. The next morning i had sever bruising where the cramp was from what appeared to be torn muscles. I was fine for a few days, but then began experiencing a shooting pain whenever i stepped on the outer pad of my right foot. This lasted a week, and from then on my symptoms began to expand.
I started feeling a constant twitching in my right calf muscle, like when you're tired and your eye twitches. It was not visible to the naked eye as it was far enough under the skin to not be seen. I began to notice that any strain on the muscle at all would cause it to seize into a charlie horse cramp. I slowly over the next month began to notice this up my entire right side. A yawn would cause my neck to seize up. Bending over would cause my side to seize up. Writing too long would seize my hand up. And even the slightest movement of my foot would send my leg into the most severe of cramps. When my calves cramp up it looks as though there is water boiling under my skin. It bubbles, pops, ripples, and spasms in an utterly painful and disturbing display.
I had bloodwork done which revealed everything was normal and I was sent to a neurologist. My neurologist preformed an EMG and NCS, which came back normal. I was then sent to have a c-spine MRI done. It revealed that my spine was begining to curve in the wrong direction which i'm told is common for people presenting with muscle cramps. I had an MRI done, with and without contrast, revealing nothing. I had an angiogram done which also revealed nothing.
I was sent to physical therapy which only proved to make my condition worse. By this time the sypmtoms had progressed through my entire body, not just my right side. they tried several medications, none of which helped. I also began to notice rapidly decreasing vision, incontinence, abnormal hair growth, difficulty swallowing, inability to concentrate, ringing in my ears, exhaustion, inability to fall asleep, and stiffness in my joints.
I saw a neuro-muscular specialist at a large presitigous medical college who suggested i inject botox into my legs to stop them from cramping. I have seen so many neurologists now that i'm beginning to feel its hopeless. This illness has comepletely taken over my life and I am so tired from fighting it 24/7. It affects every decision i make and follows me everywhere relentlessly. I am currently on a trial of baclophen which seems to be making things worse, as did most the muscle relaxants i was put on. My new neurologist told me that my best bet is to simply try medications untill i find one that treats the symptoms well enough to make it from one day to the next. This was the most devistating blow yet. I cannot accept that i may suffer from this for the next 60 years of my life with no answers. It cant be normal for a 22 year old to pray to god every night that they find something in her blood work or MRIs... so that the mystery can be solved.
Please, if you have any notion as to what may be causing these ailments, or if there is another doctor i should be seeing, please let me know. I am so despirate for answers.
-Adriane
Well , my wife actually started having this "EXACT" same problem queenlian a couple of months ago , also started with very strong cramp in her calf. We went to some doctors . and they put jer on cyclobezapar or something , we went to a nerologist , and put her on bactoban or something , which seemed to make it worst , so we decided to stop it (she only took it once) , and kept the previous med. I became very scared when I saw this progress , from one leg to the next , then to her face , and to now , we dont know whats wrong with her , but I can tell you what I believed has helped some.
I after we went to the doctor , somewhere online I read diff vitamin deficiencies can couse similar problems , I read a post of a woman with similar problems that used Vitamin B1 and it helped (will look for link on post later)
so I took my lady to the store , and bought her a bunch of SmartWaters (for electrolites), bannanas (for potassium) , Pinaple (for magnesium) , avoavatos (they are just very healthy) , and a one a day women's multivitamin. So every day , she started drinking a smart water , eating a bananna , a slice or 2 of pinaple , invluding avoacate in her meals , and drinking her multivitamin. We also threw away any diet and sugar free stuff we have (look into the symptoms of aspartame poisoning if you intake that and you will be shocked).
And , since she has been doing all that , she has gotten better. She is not 100% , but , she hasnt had any cramps since , her trembeling has almost completely stopped , a little here and there , she was able to continue going to school , and is living a more or less normal life. We still keep the cyclobenzapar in case she ever needs it , but very rarely uses it. I also notice she sometimmes gets bad if she doesnt sleep enough , or if she is under a lit of stress , or diff situations sometimm*es trigger it , but she is doing much much better after we included those foods and multivitamin. Some days ago , I bought her a bottle of Vitamin B Complex , it has all the Vitamin B's which are essential to the brain/neuro muscle functions.
Now I'm not saying this will cure you , but I would sujest at least trying it , it has certainly helped my wife a lot , as her twitching was almost constant , and her tendancy to want to spam as well ( We controlled this by rubbing theragesic ointment on her calf when she felt her muscle starting to contract , or when she felt she might have a spasm , this itself has helped control the number of spasms she's had by stopping them before they started) , and now it's very little , usually only when she over does it (sleeping only 5 hours or overworking her body).
So , I hope this is helpful to somebody , as most of the stuff you read on the internet is horrifying , so , even though we havnt founnd out what she has , or a cure , we seem to have found something that up to know seems to help, and I hope it can help somebody else.
If anyone tries this out do post if it helps you out at all.
Let me add , I forgot , we also bought some Pomegranate juice (I hear it's very good) , and some Green Tea Decafinated( must be decaf , as cafeine could start the twitching) and not hte lipton drink , the tea bags.
Also , she stopped drinking coke because of the caffeine.
Hope this helps somebody , pls comment back if anyone tries this, I will find the post by the other lady taking the Vitamin B1 , where she says how it's helped her a lot, but I would sujjest everything I posted , since it could be many different things causing the problem , an array of nutrients might be the best way to start treating it.
I after we went to the doctor , somewhere online I read diff vitamin deficiencies can couse similar problems , I read a post of a woman with similar problems that used Vitamin B1 and it helped (will look for link on post later)
so I took my lady to the store , and bought her a bunch of SmartWaters (for electrolites), bannanas (for potassium) , Pinaple (for magnesium) , avoavatos (they are just very healthy) , and a one a day women's multivitamin. So every day , she started drinking a smart water , eating a bananna , a slice or 2 of pinaple , invluding avoacate in her meals , and drinking her multivitamin. We also threw away any diet and sugar free stuff we have (look into the symptoms of aspartame poisoning if you intake that and you will be shocked).
And , since she has been doing all that , she has gotten better. She is not 100% , but , she hasnt had any cramps since , her trembeling has almost completely stopped , a little here and there , she was able to continue going to school , and is living a more or less normal life. We still keep the cyclobenzapar in case she ever needs it , but very rarely uses it. I also notice she sometimmes gets bad if she doesnt sleep enough , or if she is under a lit of stress , or diff situations sometimm*es trigger it , but she is doing much much better after we included those foods and multivitamin. Some days ago , I bought her a bottle of Vitamin B Complex , it has all the Vitamin B's which are essential to the brain/neuro muscle functions.
Now I'm not saying this will cure you , but I would sujest at least trying it , it has certainly helped my wife a lot , as her twitching was almost constant , and her tendancy to want to spam as well ( We controlled this by rubbing theragesic ointment on her calf when she felt her muscle starting to contract , or when she felt she might have a spasm , this itself has helped control the number of spasms she's had by stopping them before they started) , and now it's very little , usually only when she over does it (sleeping only 5 hours or overworking her body).
So , I hope this is helpful to somebody , as most of the stuff you read on the internet is horrifying , so , even though we havnt founnd out what she has , or a cure , we seem to have found something that up to know seems to help, and I hope it can help somebody else.
If anyone tries this out do post if it helps you out at all.
Let me add , I forgot , we also bought some Pomegranate juice (I hear it's very good) , and some Green Tea Decafinated( must be decaf , as cafeine could start the twitching) and not hte lipton drink , the tea bags.
Also , she stopped drinking coke because of the caffeine.
Hope this helps somebody , pls comment back if anyone tries this, I will find the post by the other lady taking the Vitamin B1 , where she says how it's helped her a lot, but I would sujjest everything I posted , since it could be many different things causing the problem , an array of nutrients might be the best way to start treating it.
I also want to add , Lyme disease seems like a candidate as well , I need to have my lady checked out for that , as it ;s symptoms sounds similar.
Thank you all for your replys.
Since the time of my original post things have not gotten any better with my muscles. However, some light was shed on the situation. As my hormones grew even more crazy I finnally sought out an endocrinologist thinking that it all was related. He did two boughts of testing on me. One to test for PCOS which would explain everything BUT the muscle cramps. The second test was to test for Cushings Syndrome, which would have explained ALL my symptoms.
Unfortunately it wasn't Cushings, it was just PCOS. The strange weight gain, hair growth, irregular periods, incontinence, and several other smaller issues are all in relation to that. The PCOS didn't start untill Winter of 2007-2008 so we know the muscle problem isn't related. Its good to have some of my symptoms handled though so that I can no focus on just the muscular issues alone.
I have stopped seeing my neurologist. He was continuing to try medication after medication with no releif and I was starting to feel like a walking pharmacy. I was paying 50 dollar copays for him to talk to me for 5 mins, write me a prescription, and send me out the door. All of which he could have done over the phone.
Since the last time I posted I have been having increasing difficulties with any activity leaving me basically useless for days. If i'm on my feet and walking too much my legs get really bad by the end of the day and then theres a corresponding issue with my hip. It feels like theirs sandpaper in my hip joint. But only on days when the muscles are bad as well so I know its related. I've started using a cane more days than not to help prevent spills. I had my legs lock up really bad one day in walmart while grocery shopping, and totally collapsed in the isle breaking a glass jar that was in my hand. It was embarrassing so I bought a cane that day so I'd have some support when things were bad like that.
I am going to give the specialized diet you mentioned a try and see if I can gain any releif from that. If I could just get it manageable that would be nice. I havn't been able to find work that is willing to work around my problem. My doctor wont give me a note because i'm un-diagnosed. *sigh*. I'm beggining to really dislike doctors in general. At least my endocrinologist is semi competant!
Again, thank you all for the support and help. I really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Since the time of my original post things have not gotten any better with my muscles. However, some light was shed on the situation. As my hormones grew even more crazy I finnally sought out an endocrinologist thinking that it all was related. He did two boughts of testing on me. One to test for PCOS which would explain everything BUT the muscle cramps. The second test was to test for Cushings Syndrome, which would have explained ALL my symptoms.
Unfortunately it wasn't Cushings, it was just PCOS. The strange weight gain, hair growth, irregular periods, incontinence, and several other smaller issues are all in relation to that. The PCOS didn't start untill Winter of 2007-2008 so we know the muscle problem isn't related. Its good to have some of my symptoms handled though so that I can no focus on just the muscular issues alone.
I have stopped seeing my neurologist. He was continuing to try medication after medication with no releif and I was starting to feel like a walking pharmacy. I was paying 50 dollar copays for him to talk to me for 5 mins, write me a prescription, and send me out the door. All of which he could have done over the phone.
Since the last time I posted I have been having increasing difficulties with any activity leaving me basically useless for days. If i'm on my feet and walking too much my legs get really bad by the end of the day and then theres a corresponding issue with my hip. It feels like theirs sandpaper in my hip joint. But only on days when the muscles are bad as well so I know its related. I've started using a cane more days than not to help prevent spills. I had my legs lock up really bad one day in walmart while grocery shopping, and totally collapsed in the isle breaking a glass jar that was in my hand. It was embarrassing so I bought a cane that day so I'd have some support when things were bad like that.
I am going to give the specialized diet you mentioned a try and see if I can gain any releif from that. If I could just get it manageable that would be nice. I havn't been able to find work that is willing to work around my problem. My doctor wont give me a note because i'm un-diagnosed. *sigh*. I'm beggining to really dislike doctors in general. At least my endocrinologist is semi competant!
Again, thank you all for the support and help. I really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Another thing I would sujest queenlian is , when your legs are really tired or hurting , is to rub either some theragesic ,or some icy hot gel on your legs , this really makes my wife feel much better. Usually , her legs start to feel bad at night , specially if she has been moving too much during the day , when this happens I usually rub some icy hot gel or theragesic on her legs , and she goes to bed , the next day she wakes up feeling much better. You can try one or the other , see which you like best , they are different but both seem to help a lot , though the icy hot gel is much less messier to apply. I hope we figure out what this is , and that this does not turn out to be a progressive dissorder, since thats what scares me the most , but for now we are just trying to live with it and hope for the best. Good luck queelian.
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