Twitching Nonstop - Stress Related?

Hi everyone,You have probably read some of my posts over the last 12 months.I have been into so many doctors and had so many EMGs and was not taken seriously anymore from anyone. The diagnose was that everything is related to stress.Suddenly since yesterday - the last 24 hours i am dealing with the worst twitching i ever had. Left arm bicep unstoppable twitching almost continuously when my arm is at rest.I even feel the "pain" and the tiredness of this area after hours of twitching.Has this ever happened to any of you?How long would it last?Until now i only had random twitches and the worst would be a specific area for 4-5 days but NEVER so much and rapid.Coincidentally i had an EMG which included the left bicep 1 month ago. It was clean but that period there was no twitching.Please advice as i am in a very scary and panic mode...

Why panic? You have benign twitches (confirmed by EMG and time-elapsed) and are twitching. Not saying it is easy to accept but that is what is happening here. Annoying but ultimately harmless. I thought my right leg would never stop but it did (after 3 weeks) and I am absolutely fine.Your anxiety makes your current situation extremely unpleasant, I hope you are able to feel better soon.GlowGreen

Thank you GlowGreen,It is the first time in 12 months i am experiencing something like this.My twitches were normally random with a few exceptions that were present at the same spot for a few weeks but not firing constantly 24/7.The doctors who examined me all those months were very rarely witnesses in any of my twitches.The last 24 hours this thing doesn't want to stop. It is scary to watch.The funny thing is that yesterday i went to have another EMG in the legs.While the neuro was performing the EMG i was feeling the twitches in my arm but i was too scared to mention to him anything.In the legs he totally checked 6 muscles (to both) and a few of them were making sounds while i was at rest. This was scary. He said that its not fibrilations but those sounds were because my muscles were not relaxed. I am trying to accept this because he is one of the best (if not the best) in my country and his signature is very important.In addition, one month ago i had another EMG on my right arm and right leg (again) and i remember that he also put the needle to my left bicep (the one which is currently twitching crazily) and it was quite and fine.The only logical explanation i can find is that 1 day before this twitching started i had a long trip with too many luggage to carry plus the anxiety on the day of the EMG.I am going to use some Xanax today so i can relax and see what happens. The twitching is pretty annoying but the fear of ALS is what makes me crazy...

Clean emgs. You don't have anything bad! Benign. Wish my emg was clean. I'd be dancing and celebrating.

Hi LKP,Thanks.I read a few of your past posts and i can't see where your EMG was not clean....??? Has something changed?Anyway i think i hold the record of EMGs in this site. Maybe because it is easy in my country to go in private and not really expensive.I have done many EMGs, i think around 25 over the last 12 months. All of them because of my fear. No doctor ever asked me to do so.I was freaking out when i heard some noises to any muscle "suppose-singly relaxed" - and even though doctors were clear that this was not fibs and my EMGs were totally clean i never believed them. So i went again for an EMG to this muscle and again and again...When i felt strange to a part of my body i went to EMG that part. Tongue, legs, arms, masseter, bulbar... you name it!I read articles stating that EMG is an objective test etc and i was freaking out more.The truth is that ALS is diagnosed easily by even a young doctor who performs EMG. I realized that they could make a wrong ALS diagnosis but NEVER a mistake telling you the opposite...I hope you find your peace very soon because i have also similar problems with my wife as she can't stand anymore my obsession with this fear.

My emg results were told to me without a lot of info at first stating just fascis in left thight and right calf. The neuro made some other comments that confused me and I pushed for more information. Wish I had left it there. They were not fascics they were signs of motor denervation. I think because he felt they could be from the issues picked up on the MRI from my lower back he just gave me the least info he felt necessary. But bc of that he left me confused. I did then see a neuromuscular specialist who agreed with the current diagnosis but also said the emg should have been more extensive to determine the cause. Nothing was tested in my back to support the back theory. So I'm doing physical therapy (and btw I never had any pain numbness or tingling either to support the back diagnosis). I go back to the first neuro Nov 20. I do have an appt with an *** clinic Dec. 22. I'm pretty terrified. Thanks for reading.

The first neuro said fascics but when I questioned him he said denervation as if it were the same thing! The supposed diagnosis is lumbar radiculopathy but the emg did not test the spine so it's hard to say for sure. The denervation was not called chronic which is why without a recent known injury I can't understand that this all just started happening? So you can see why I don't feel safe.

Just an update --- Today twitching on my left bicep seems to be much much less than yesterday. Almost disappeared. I have though a pain in the muscle probably from the overuse because of the yesterday twitching.If it doesn't come back (i hope it won't) then i guess this twitching was a combination of my long trip and lifting luggage, baby etc., the lack of sleep and the extra stress i had yesterday morning.Lets see.I believe once we realize from where this thing comes from then it would be much easier to calm down and stop being scared

Happens to me pretty often and I've been twitching for 6 months, but haven't been to a neuro. If I twitch consistently in any area for a while that muscle will get tired until the twitching finally subsides. Right now I have near constant twitching in all the fingers in my left hand for the past 3 days now and my hand feels very awkward and slightly painful. Seems like a pretty normal thing for muscles to get tired if you get a hotspot. My first hotspots were my elbows and they ached for a while then it went away. Second major hotspot I had was the arches of my feet...ached and went away. Seems pretty consistent so far, but who knows .

Hi d4,I also had/have this feet arches twitching especially on my right foot.Anyway the reason i got so scared was because it was the first time i had so much twitching in the same spot (right bicep) and to be honest it was very aggressive too.Gladly it lasted for only 24hours... i hope it won't come back again as it was really scary.Another strange thing is that during those 12 months of my ALS concerns there were times that my right arm felt weaker and times when my left arm felt weaker (which is normal because i am right handed) - I cannot really judge if this is real or it comes from my mind.Additionally i have just now found an article (i am not sure if i am allowed to post a link - I'm sorry if i am not) which basically states that men under 40 who present with fasciculations and no other symptoms (like weakness, atrophy etc.) they shouldn't even be advised to go for an EMG. Based on the studies it is sure that this is a benign condition.Cheers Pascal

A small update.Tomorrow morning i am going for an EMG of my arms.After this extensive twitching my left bicep, tricep and deltoid feel strange. It doesn't twitch so much anymore but i feel a bit weaker... I checked my medical reports and my left bicep was checked with an EMG on the 16th of October so i hope that i won't have any unpleasant surprises. There will be a new doctor (never had an EMG there) and highly qualified so i hope this story finally ends.I am not prepared to continue fearing the whole of my life. I hope i can get some good answers tomorrow.

Your left bicep was checked two weeks ago? I doubt there will be any changes!

You know in my country it is quite easy and not so expensive to have access to EMGs.During the last few times of my EMGs there were muscles that the machine was noisy even when my muscles were supposed to be relaxed.The doctors were claiming that it was because my muscles weren't fully relaxed. That it was movement and not any pathological issue.The truth is that both of the Doctors who performed the last two EMGs are the top in this country but still because they are monitoring me since the beginning of this situation i felt like arranging an appointment with a different doctor and see what she has to say after the EMG.I really want to end this story. I can't live in fear and panic all the time.I will see tomorrow and i hope that i won't have any unpleasant surprises

Adding to my previous post i really wish i could turn the clock back to the 20th of November 2013 when i firstly checked on the internet because i felt a twitch on my right bicep. I wish i would have never checked and found out about this terminal illness.Since then i had sooooo many tests and neurological visits in 3 different countries every time for a different symptom, so many EMGs, so much money spent, started benzos, started but stopped quickly antidepressant pills, hours of internet searching reading stories about people with ALS, panicking about everything was happening on my body...And now after all medical reassurances i arranged another EMG for tomorrow morning and my fear is like it is my first one. Like i never checked any of my muscles before...Apologies for opening my heart to all of you guys but i really suffer here. And together with me my whole family.I try to think logically but the fear doesn't let me believe it!!!

I agree if I could turn the clock back I would not have had an emg at all

Dear All,Thanks for the interest. I just finished with my EMG in both arms and it is totally clean.Will come back later with more detailsCheers

Hi Pascal,I had really bad twitches on my left arm, specifically on my brachialis (under the biceps). It lasted a few months, and your description is like mine. Check out my first post on this forum (), I think you will see similarities. So far I had to deal with my anxiety and fear, but my exams are also clean. I'm just trying to forget my fear and move on. Hope this last EMG will give you some reassurance and calm you down.

Hi again and thanks for your interest,Even though i had so many EMGs that were clean by the doctors i have never had confidence over the people that performed those. I am a really difficult person and because my fear was so big i wanted answers which in some cases i wasn't getting. I felt and i was right that in many cases the EMG was not performed correctly. For example in some cases they only cared to check spontaneous activity and there was no control of the motor units, in other cases i was listening to sounds during the time that the muscles were relaxed and i was afraid that these were fibrillations etc. I couldn't convince myself for the opposite.Yesterday i had an extensive EMG on both arms (i had fascics as described in this thread) with a very determined doctor. She paid attention in every detail.Good news was that there was nothing pathological to the totally 10 muscles checked. She was also trying to provoke muscle twitching in order to examine it electromyographically but we didn't even get it in the EMG.Based on the fact that i have muscle twitching in several parts of my body (mild and moderate) over the past 12 months and there is still no evidence of any EMG muscle damage (arms are also more sensitive) i believe that i now have to move on and let those fears pass by. I hope i don't wake up next day with bulbar issues....lolI will stay at the forum and try to share all the knowledge and experience that i gained (and will gain) in order to help people with similar issues and give proper advice as to when and what to check

Hi PascalIt's great that you found a determined doctor, even better the result. Congrats. Where you've been is right where I'm at right now, full of doubt. EMGs done too quick, not in the right place, not enough muscles tested, etc etc etc. I have an undiagnosed swallowing problem for 10 months and I have weakness in my right arm/hand (not clinical so I'm told though), and it feels like my right shoe is too big and now I'm getting burning and pain in my right foot.The doubting is horrible and just adds anxiety fuel to the forest fire burning! Of course I'm very relieved that I've not been diagnosed with mnd, and I have to admit that I've had symptoms for too long now for me to not be disabled in some way, but does that help to ease the doubt - no way. Now they think I've got fibro, if this is all part of getting old then I'm in for a bumpy ride. Anyway the moral of my story - we have to get over the doubting - and so far I haven't learnt the skills to do that.I'm very very pleased for you and wish you the best.

Hi "readytocheckout",Thanks for your kind words.Well based on my experience i would like to add some comments for your situation.Regarding the "too soon" factor... I believe that once the ALS Fascics start it means that there should be fibs in the EMG. Otherwise those fascics are not pathological.Also after 6-8 weeks the Motor Unit Potentials should start to change due to denervation if there is ALS.So basically after 2-3 months of twitching if the EMG is clean then in theory all should be fine.With regards to the swallowing issues. Have you checked GERD? Have you visited a doctor for that?By the way. How old are you?All the best