Computer Science Proves Distraction from BFS

[EyeoftheWild]

Professor,

You certainly provide the board with a considerable amount of information regarding ALS and benign twitching. I, for one, have read your posts with interest and at first, believed you were a health professional. You have found a way deal with your BFS through the gathering and disseminating of information, which sounds very much like your chosen profession; that of computer science. I, on the other hand, having spent a lifetime in the arts have approached it from a different aspect, one which leans towards a combination of the physical and metaphysical. The beauty of this board is that seemingly disparate points of view can coexist here, for the most part, harmoniously.

I must confess that I too was a little perturbed when reading the above post, not for myself but for the many who struggle with anxiety on this board. At first blush, when read quickly, it seemed to indicate that BFS twitching was the one to be afraid of, as it "moved around." A careful second reading revealed that this was not the case at all.

As Dave y and zenzeo have shown us, information alone is not enough to cope with the bizarre sensations that those of us with BFS suffer under. Logically, we can all understand that twitching without weakness is just that: twitching. No biggy!! Logically, we know that worrying about worse case scenario is defeatist and puts our lives on hold. Logic, it would seem, is not enough for the human mind to set things right, it needs something else, something beyond a clinical laying out of the facts. I believe it needs the spirit.

When it comes to healing we need a wholistic approach, one that encompasses all aspects of our humanity. Facts, without spirit, are cold comfort and "feelings," likewise can prove self-centered without fact.

So where does that leave us? I guess where we were before, stumbling around with the best of intentions, leaning on each other, offering help: in other words doing our best. It is not the messenger or even, sometimes the message, that is important,as words can be miscontrued. Rather it is our sense of humanity, our love which is important.

Basso

PS: Don't shun the frumious bandersnatch

 

[BandersnatchF]

This is from few of the best NM specialists in the country (at UCSF and Stanford) :

Hotspots are benign.

What may or may not be benign are profuse fasciculations in various parts of the same muscle (note : not limb).

One can never tell whether fascics are benign or ominous. However, when found with atrophy (or weakness) they are ominous.

 

[Drewbacca]

Does this mean that roaming twitches that show up as repeated twitches in exactly the same place are also typically benign? I have the usual wormy calf and instep twitches, but my migratory twitches often fire off 2-10 quick twitches in the same spot.

As a note to guest10, the reason for reposting this information is that many (though not all) of us experience hot spots or twitches all over our bodies. Knowing that these two patterns are typically benign is helpful information, especially in those days (weeks?) before the first neuro appointment. This can be reassuring for someone whose bicep has twitched in exactly the same place for an hour. Knowing that twitching in different parts of the same muscle can be benign as well, especially if there's no weakness, is also helpful information.

As for classifying twitches, as done in a different thread, most of us have twitches that range from little ones that we can barely see and feel to thumpers that move limbs. Twitches can come from many different mechanisms ranging from ion channelopathies to muscle irritation to mechanical nerve damage (peripheral or spinal) to central nervous system issues to problems in the brain. Only one of these processes is at all related to ALS, and many (though certainly not all) BFS sufferers might like to know if twitches from different sources look or feel different, or have different EMG signatures.

 

[BandersnatchF]

On EMG, you cannot distinguish twitches coming from different sources.

The benign ones are "stable" fascic. potentials whichever source they are coming from.

The pathological ones are "unstable" potentials on the EMG.

If twitches are in the same place (roaming or repeated), they are benign unless the area around it in the same muscle also starts off and slowly spreads in the muscle. AND EVEN then it may be benign (as is usually the case for calf and feet).

 

[SgcPuppy567]

You're correct in that you can't always distinguish different types of twitches, but you can distinguish some of them. says that different kinds of abnormalities have different signatures. Myotonic discharges sound like a "dive bomber." Bizarre high frequency discharges have "continuous high-pitched motor-like sounds." Fibrillations sound like "crackling cellophane." Positive sharp waves look different again. Fasciculations look like normal motor unit potentials; it's the company they keep (like PSWs, for example). Electrically, a myotonic discharge can look different from a fasciculation, but both may produce a twitch.