Twitching for One Year - Female

I am a 31 year old otherwise healthy female who started twiching one week before giving birth to my second child. The twitching started in my face, then my calves and the week after my I gave birth there were twitches all over my body. It is going on one year now and every part of my body has twitched, face, neck, back, stomach, arms, legs, feet, and even my hiney.

I went to the Doctor who referred me to a neurologist. The neuro did bloodwork--normal, EMG--normal, cervical spine MRI--normal.

I realize men get BFS too, but in doing some research I have found several other examples of pregnancy bringing the symptoms out. I have two questions. 1. Could the pregnancy have brought existing symptoms to the surface? 2. Had the EMG one month and a half after noticing the twitching. Is this too early to pick up on ALS.

Ashley, it is very common for people that aquired BFS to have had some kind of trauma, infection, flu or whatever that "brought it all on", or at least that's what most people think anyway. No one really knows for sure whether this stuff is actually "triggered" by some kind of illness or not. People get sick every day. Your body is fighting-off viruses and nasty bacteria by the second and when you get sick, you tend to remember it more. I'm not saying that BFS isn't brought on by being sick or anything, but there are as many people that don't recall being sick or having a trauma before getting BFS as there are people who do remember something that "may" have triggered it. So basically, it is inconclusive at this point in time.

As for the EMG being too early.. no way! Twitches (in ALS) are a SECONDARY biproduct of the dying nerve edings, so by the time you notice twitches with ALS, you already have nerve / muscle involvement and it is all over your body, both upper and lower motor neurons become involved. It may not affect certain areas for some time, but that doesn't mean that the root of ALS isn't present throughout the body. There is a hard fact and it is simple math; a clean EMG = NO ALS.

As ANY good neuro will tell you, fasciculations without the presence of weakness is NOT ALS. Fatigue is NOT and does NOT count the same as "clinical weakness". When ALS sets-in, you lose muscle control. Your brain becomes disconnected from your muscles. Without the ability to "command" cartain muscles to do certain tasks, (such as holding your coffee cup) you start dropping things and become weak. It spreads REAL fast and there's no going back with ALS. Nerves can not and will not be disconnected one day and not the next. Ther are no good days and bad days. Once you lose the ability to control a muscle, it is over. You won't be able to use that muscle again, ever and it starts twitching as a last ditch defense to try to re-connect itself (which it can't) so the twitching is secondary to something that is already there, which in turn, answers your question that it can't be too early for an EMG if twitches are already present and NO... the EMG doesn NOT have to be performed in the same limb as the twitches. It WILl pick-up ALS in the left arm, even if you are only twitching in the right arm... see what I mean?

You have been twitching for about a year now you said. If you had a motor neuron disease or some kind of neuro muscular disease, things would be profoundlt woirse by now, especially iof it was ALS... you'd most likely be in a wheel chair by now. Enjoy your kid and welcome to the BFS club

Thank you for your prompt and detailed reply Alonzo. You have no idea how much it has helped to ease my mind and calm my nerves!

Hi Ashley! I was diagnosed just yesterday by a neuro as having BFS. And I've wondered the same thing as you... did pregnancy/childbirth bring it on? I had a baby in December 2000 and began noticing the twitching shortly after that. I've not read anything that says there's a connection, but if anyone out there has, I'd love to see it. It's been such a relief to read everyone's postings here. I, too, was convinced I had ALS, MS or some other dreaded disease. I'm so happy to have found all of you! Thanks for the reassuring words.

Hey girls, just keep in mind that most BFS cases have been thought to be triggered by some kind of trauma or stressful situation. Now I know I am a man and have no idea what child birth is like except for the descriptionn that it is like pooping a watermelon.. Ha-ha!! So, with that, I'd say that is a pretty stressful and traumatizing situation to say the least! Also, I know I have seen other ladies post that their twitches started right after child birth too, so you are not alone. I read literally thousands upon thousands of posts on these subjects and I can't really say where I saw them, but I KNOW I did and it wasn't just once, it was several times.. you are not alone and it is not strange to consider that kind of body trauma triggering BFS, if infact anything at all actually "triggers" it in the first place. It is still just speculation. Glad to hear the both of you are doing well

Ashley,

I think that pregnancy has a lot to do with the onset of this and other things. My daughter was three months old when my life went to hell! Not only did this whole twitching things start, I also was diagnosed with thyroid disease, which the doctor told me was brought on by the pregnacy! I think that the body has to go through so many changes, hormonal or whatever, that some people, possibly with not the best imunne systems, get smacked with different things. I really dont know for sure, but my story sounds like yours. I drove my self crazy for the past year and a half, and sometimes still fall into that black hole of worry, so try hard to hang on! This website is a lifesaver. Anytime you feel like you might be going crazy, log on, and join the crazy club!

my first twitch started while 7 months pregnant plus pins and needles and numbness. But I didn't twitch often enough to notice until nearly a year later.

dddd

Hi!

My BFS started when I was 8 weeks post-partum. Could have been sooner, but I am not for sure. I have talked to other women on this site who have reported that their BFS started during or immediately following pregnancy. My son is 7 months old and I am still twitching. It has actually worsened with time, but I am less worried about it.

I really truly believe (as my ob/gyn does), that hormones can cause all sorts of havoc in your body (including twitches)

I experience all types of pain, tingling, etc., every month, the same time of the month, etc. When my sister was perimenopause, she had constant pain in both arms, along with major twitch thumpers, etc. She went through a plethora of tests for RA, scleroderma, thyroid, even saw a neuro (he recommended a EMG/Nerve conduction study, which she declined). After menopause, all symptoms disappeared. Literally. That was over 8 years ago.

I'm sure your hormones are like a roller-coaster at this point and I wouldn't discount that being the cause of your twitches.

I agree with the hormone idea. I definately see the connection.