Benign Fasciculation: Page 211 Insight

[ionyZarrion]

Nothing at all scary. Particular attention is drawn to the bottom of page 211 where it is explicitly said (now over 60 years ago without refute): That fasciculation without ASSOCIATED weakness especially when present for over three months is a CLINICAL factor in the diagnosis of benign fasciculation.It is also quaint to notice the worry and focus about and on the "morale" of patients...the quaint old days when medicine wasn't a business.Just adds to everything this site stands for: if you have been twitching for a reasonable amount of weeks without clinical weakness then mnd is not what is going on with you. Darragh*Sighs*Some bright spark over at bmj is playing silly buggerstry this link if the above asks for registration

 

[SecretAgent007]

Very interesting indeed. I find it fascinating that they trace cases of benign fasculation to 60+ years which is not too long after the first antibiotics were prescribed in the late 1930's. Just something I noticed. Thank you for sharing this article. This should give a boost of confidence to anyone who still has fears that what they have is not benign.

 

[AllGoodHere]

I didn't have time to read the entire paper but it is interesting that most subjects in the study were doctors and the authors thought this due to the doctors knowing about neurological disorders and misdiagnosing themselves & also that laymen would make nothing of a twitch here and there. Enter Dr. Google and easier access to health care & the bfs dx spreads to the masses.

 

[ionyZarrion]

Haha yes Imok I agree! we are all phds now in google medicine!!!It is fascinating that over half were docs and all the rest bar 2 laymen were patients with the now defunct diagnosis of hysteria...brings up the old ghost of the mind body connection....It also should be said that the fasics that they experienced were constant, sometimes widespread and obvious both on the emg and clinical exam.

 

[AussieSurvivor]

Thanks Darr,was good to read something postive for a change. Keep up the good work!Worth a pint of guiness or two!cheersRodger

 

[FantasticFurball]

Finally something solid... Best thing that I have seen in a long time. Not only is our twitching benign but the twitchings themselves are a clinical proof that nothing is wrong. Could this be a sticky?

 

[ionyZarrion]

Yes Fox2run it is a particularly good article ...I found it very reassuring.Because my uni has a (sub-standard) medical school I have access to pretty much every article ever published.I have a few others in pdf that are really fascinating.One is the emg reults of 121 healthy people with no history of Nuero problems...pretty much everyone had fasciculation potentials and there was a dx of bf for 2 people who had never noticed/complained of their fasics. Its conclusion was that fasciculation was very common in the general populace with an average of about 60 fasics per minute being observed on emg in the two that were diagnosed.The second sets out that bf (again constant and observable fasciculation both clinically and under emg) is a somatization disorder particularly common in middle class white people with pressure filled occupations.I have others too, I had planned to put them all up on a basic website that people can access but with everything thats gone on and with the dominant discourse of onanism I have decided my time is better spent playing fantasy football.If you want them pm me and I can email them.

 

[MovingLess]

Great, now I have peripheral muscular atrophy... my hands go nonstop