sailinglady
Active member
As if they will be new to any of you !I've been twitching for 8 weeks. Started one morning in my left triceps while in the bath, just one or two whole muscle contractions. Over the next 3-4 days I had many more, many times each day, in widespread areas, but it is now mostly symettrical, calves nearly constant, occasional thigh and around knees, one or two scalp twitches, and once even my right eardrum (well, it had the frequency of a twitch and felt like something contracting in my ear canal). I also have a feeling that the muscles around my mouth sort of want to twitch but don't quite get there ! Standard stuff I guess.I've read widely on this board and on the internet and textbooks about one or two other diagnoses you may have heard of, and aside from the twitches I have no motor symptoms. This hasn't stopped me getting totally preoccupied and obsessed however, as I'm sure you all understand. My GP did thyroid, calcium, potassium, and blood counts - all normal, and did some basic neurology - also normal. Interestingly the twitching was NOT my first symptom. I was already in a state of quite high anxiety (not sleeping well, adrenalin rushes at night, poor appetite) about some other totally unrelated symptoms (now completely gone) for a month or so, when I felt dizzy and slighly sick (nausea) rather suddenly, which lasted maybe a week. I had a very slightly rasied temperature the day that began. The twiching started four days into that illness. Maybe that supports a viral cause ? I read somewhere that sudden, widespread twitching (rather than evolving slowly from one place) was suggestive of a metabolic cause (which could include infection by extending the logic) rather than a more malignant (neurological) cause. Also curious that I was convinced I had cancer for some weeks prior to the twitching, and now of course I have something else entirely !Anyway, sleep has remained poor. I am still highly anxious. My resting pulse is normally 50. Anxiety has put this way up (70-80) much of the time. I think my body is flooded with stress hormones. This is not like me at all to suffer physical illness with stress, I am usually a very togther sort of person.I think I need my head sorting out. This forum has helped quite a lot - but sometimes reading posts full of anxiety kind of fuels your own fears too. I typical BFSer kind of thing happened to me yesterday. I looked up neurological strength testing in a textbook, did all the stuff, actually I could do it all easily, I can get up off the floor one ONE leg ! Then I did the hand things. Spread the fingers. Found my little finger left hand felt weak. Pushed in more easily than the other side. (Well of course it does, I'm right handed). Noticed how the side of the hand kind of dips in when the finger is spread out. TOTAL panic for several hours until I realised the right hand was the same. Both hands look normal when relaxed. Of course after several hours of strength testing that finger it got weaker and weaker. How often does it get that kind of exercise after all ?. Today it is twitching a lot, and is crampy and sore. Not a hint of that before I read the neuro exam book. Your body and mind can play horrible games with you.Do muscles twitch more when they are used more ? Is that why soles and calves twitch so much - since we are all still walking. I did read somewhere that motor nerves in the extremities are less well myelinated naturally, so might be less protected from influences like stress hormones ? - just a thought.Another thing about my calf twitching (and this is the MAJOR area by far) is that it really only gets going like crazy when I have my legs under my desk at work, almost immediately I have my feet flat on the floor, off they go. Lying on my sofa at home with them out straight (but still relaxed) its still there but much reduced. Why does it depend on leg position ? This is very perplexing. And again, its worse after a ride on my bicycle. Incidentally I still feel very strong on my bike, and it does kill them off for 30 minutes or so before they reappear, worse for the rest of that day.I am supplementing with Mg, Ca, and K. (My K was borderline low).So, I had pre-existing anxiety for some weeks (medically focussed), then some sort of acute illness, and THEN started quite widespread twitching without any loss of muscle function. I know its BFS. Yet I know it isn't. Amazing how your mind can hold two opposite ideas quite strongly at the same time. Does this make sense: 1. Whatever is causing my calf twitching is also the cause of the less frequent twitches elsewhere (as they all began over 3-4 days of each other). 2. My calves are still fully strong, and measure the same (and equal to each other) as before I got this twitching (I know this for a fact). 3. Constant calf twitching if caused by (you know what) would over 2 months have caused either detectable weakness or at least some shrinkage in measurement. 4. Therefore I don't need to start reading wheelchair catalogs.You are all a great bunch of guys. Thanks.