WizGinger43
New member
Hello to all,
I am a 31 years old engineer who spends most of its time behind a computer screen. I am not saying this in a negative way. I love my job. I am a tense and nervous person by nature. I eat my fingers away all the time. I have been astigmat since my early childhood, thanks to mom, and I wear heavy duty lenses. I used to be a heavy coffee drinker. Three months ago, I decided to reduce to 2 mugs per day of double brewed coffee. I plan to further decrease consumption. What else? Thanks to God I have not had any serious health problems so far. I should mention however that I have had consistent pain in my upper back when I wake up in the morning. This pain has become an old friend of mine as I have had it for more than a decade now. I saw several chiropractors without success. I just started physical therapy.
On September 18th, 2003 I experienced fascics in my legs and arms while hurricane Isabelle was paying a visit to our neighborhoods. Those fascics lasted for a few days and I grew worried. I decided to search for answers in the web. I discovered ALS and I freaked out. I could not sleep for four days straight and I ended up in the ER on the fourth night. My wife went crazy worried about me but she made it through all right in the end. At this point of time at the ER I had heavy fascics all over my body. I also had jerk movements in the legs, arms and shoulders. I was scared and exhausted.
My PCP performed blood drives and urine sample testing. Everything was normal. He prescribed me Zoloft, which made things worse. I then decided to consult a neurologist. First the neuro performed a reflex and muscular strength exam, which was normal. He prescribed 1 mg/l of Klonopin to take at 9:00 PM daily. Very shortly, I recovered my sleep and the jerk movements disappeared. Over the long term, the fascics decreased in number and intensity. Last week I stopped playing the Playstation 2. Surprisingly, I read on the last game I purchased that a small percentage of users can experience seizure-like symptoms such as muscle twitches. OUPS. Too bad, I really liked playing to relax after work. I used to play everyday for a few hours. May be that was too much for a 31-year old brain.
OK, it has been 4 months now that everything started. As outlined above, the symptoms improved but I still have about 20 fascics per day that I can notice, especially in the evening when I rest in the couch or in the morning when I wake up. Sometimes I have a hot spot like on the left ankle one time, under the right arm another time and lately in my upper lip. Except for the hot spots the fascics seem to occur anywhere, although predominantly they are in the legs. They are very short like a little jump and then gone. I have never had pain associated with any of the fascics. I have not experienced any new symptoms like muscle wasting or loss of equilibrium or other. I feel in good health. The neuro wants to discharge me now. He has seen progress with the taking of Klonopin and he thinks that I am cured of whatever I have had.
Does anyone relate to the same symptoms and similar experiences. Is this BFS? My neuro never mentioned about this syndrome. I found out about BFS on the web.
I am new here and I was hoping to get some insights from some more experienced twitchers.
Thanks.
I am a 31 years old engineer who spends most of its time behind a computer screen. I am not saying this in a negative way. I love my job. I am a tense and nervous person by nature. I eat my fingers away all the time. I have been astigmat since my early childhood, thanks to mom, and I wear heavy duty lenses. I used to be a heavy coffee drinker. Three months ago, I decided to reduce to 2 mugs per day of double brewed coffee. I plan to further decrease consumption. What else? Thanks to God I have not had any serious health problems so far. I should mention however that I have had consistent pain in my upper back when I wake up in the morning. This pain has become an old friend of mine as I have had it for more than a decade now. I saw several chiropractors without success. I just started physical therapy.
On September 18th, 2003 I experienced fascics in my legs and arms while hurricane Isabelle was paying a visit to our neighborhoods. Those fascics lasted for a few days and I grew worried. I decided to search for answers in the web. I discovered ALS and I freaked out. I could not sleep for four days straight and I ended up in the ER on the fourth night. My wife went crazy worried about me but she made it through all right in the end. At this point of time at the ER I had heavy fascics all over my body. I also had jerk movements in the legs, arms and shoulders. I was scared and exhausted.
My PCP performed blood drives and urine sample testing. Everything was normal. He prescribed me Zoloft, which made things worse. I then decided to consult a neurologist. First the neuro performed a reflex and muscular strength exam, which was normal. He prescribed 1 mg/l of Klonopin to take at 9:00 PM daily. Very shortly, I recovered my sleep and the jerk movements disappeared. Over the long term, the fascics decreased in number and intensity. Last week I stopped playing the Playstation 2. Surprisingly, I read on the last game I purchased that a small percentage of users can experience seizure-like symptoms such as muscle twitches. OUPS. Too bad, I really liked playing to relax after work. I used to play everyday for a few hours. May be that was too much for a 31-year old brain.
OK, it has been 4 months now that everything started. As outlined above, the symptoms improved but I still have about 20 fascics per day that I can notice, especially in the evening when I rest in the couch or in the morning when I wake up. Sometimes I have a hot spot like on the left ankle one time, under the right arm another time and lately in my upper lip. Except for the hot spots the fascics seem to occur anywhere, although predominantly they are in the legs. They are very short like a little jump and then gone. I have never had pain associated with any of the fascics. I have not experienced any new symptoms like muscle wasting or loss of equilibrium or other. I feel in good health. The neuro wants to discharge me now. He has seen progress with the taking of Klonopin and he thinks that I am cured of whatever I have had.
Does anyone relate to the same symptoms and similar experiences. Is this BFS? My neuro never mentioned about this syndrome. I found out about BFS on the web.
I am new here and I was hoping to get some insights from some more experienced twitchers.
Thanks.