Hello my name is Donald. I'm in Chicago,Illinois and I'm having trouble putting myself at ease about what I've been going through for about 8 months now. One night I was sitting in my bedroom playing videogames when all of a sudden my right index finger started twitching like crazy. The twitch was so strong my finger was actually moving. Not soon after that my right tricep muscle started going off strong as well. With my tricep I could actually see it twitching through my shirt and soon enough it spread like wildfire. It's pretty much everywhere including my buttocks, right eyelid, and occasionally my tongue. I've also been experiencing cold spots, mild burning sensations, and a lot of myclonic jerking(thats what its called isnt it?) when I try to go sleep. Sometimes the jerking happens when I'm wide awake. I'm also going through lower back pain, and my joints all pop when I stand up or move. Even my jaw pops when I open my mouth. I've been to see a neurologist three times. A guy a Rush University Hospital and another at Saint Anthony Hospital here in Chicago. One at Saint Anthony diagnosed me with neuropathy(never said which kind) the other said BFS. I've been put on Gabapentin 900mg 3 times a day and it does absolutely nothing for me but make me drowsy during the day and it keeps me up all night. I'm really scared about all of this because I don't know if I'm coming down with MS, ALS, or something else entirely. I'm 30 years old and I'll admit I'm overweight and an off again on a again smoker. I've tried telling the neurologists this but they keep telling me Gabapentin is the safest thing I can take for the spasms, jerking, and parathesia or whatever its called. The big strong twitches now only seem to happen in my hands but everywhere else I get these tiny ones which has had me on edge because it gets me to thinking about ALS. Should I seek out yet another opinion or should I just stop bothering with this altogether? I don't know what else to do. I'm tired of switching doctors and feeling like a ticking time bomb.I apologize in advance if I'm in the wrong forum.
Constant Unpleasant Twitches - Help!
- Thread starter D2Donald
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YellowWolf
Active member
Welcome! rest assured that you are most definetely in the correct place. Yours is a pretty typical story of bfs and no you do not need to seek out another dr. By reading the posts on this forum you will soon see you are not alone and many others share your symptoms.
Hi Donald,I was on Gabapentine for 3 month for twitches but I was taking only 300 mg once a day (actually before going to bed) - and after week of walking like zombie, i become more or less fine. You probably might ask your doctors if the dose is a bit high... I mean considering you mention owerweight, it might not be 300 mg per day in your case but still not about 3 grams too... More gabapentine is not better in our case, as we are not have seizures.I hope the following short notes would put you to the peace of mind:1. Widespread twitches are a good sign (indicate on BFS rather than on anything else). It means your whole neuro system is just firing up, but this is not typical for ALS. ALS ususlly picks up a finger, a limb, a part of limb and then spread more or less slowly but constantly - and it strats with inability to use affected body part. If you twitch today here, then there, or have a hotspot twitch (local one) without clinical weakness in that part of your body - it is still good. it is BFS. ALS differrential sign is weakness (clinical weakness) - i.e., loss of motor ability, not twitches, while for BFS differentail sign is widespread twitches with perceived weakness but pratically motor abilities are preserved.2. BFS twitches are various. They could be tiny, strong, wavelike, rumbling, jerking, electrical jots whatever. MND tremors are often specific (like in PD for example).3. All the rest of your symptomes points out to BFS rahter than to anything else. Widespread twitches, bodywide pains, even popping joints (this is often caused my strained muscles) are so common here 
)))welcome on board, read this forum, find the fellow twitchers. BFS sucks and sometimes hurts, but never kills.
)))welcome on board, read this forum, find the fellow twitchers. BFS sucks and sometimes hurts, but never kills.Thanks for your explanations guys. I will take your advice and browse around the forum to see what's what and communicate to better get an understanding of BFS. The biggest mistake I ever made was consulting Dr. Google rather than seeing a doctor in the first place. So much misinformation on the internet.
christinasgirl123
Well-known member
Hi Donald, well, is this normal? I don't think so. But it is DAMNED BFS-NORMAL what you are describing. Check out my thread , I bet you will find some of the things bugging U. i have had hard times with all that jerking in the beginnings, falling asleep and awake. That was really weird. And then be reassured that there are soooooooooooo many members on this forum that share some or many of those sx, and there are even members that show the exact same list of sx I mentioned in this post. So stay calm, you are all right 
BTW with BFS my joints started popping like mad and I know that there are totally many BFS sufferers that complain about the same. No doc can tell us WHY we pop, but it just happens.Chrissi
BTW with BFS my joints started popping like mad and I know that there are totally many BFS sufferers that complain about the same. No doc can tell us WHY we pop, but it just happens.ChrissiNinjiaFury
Member
My own Bfs, started like this , lots of jerking in 30min , like I couldn't stand or set for mint, so far I am still new here , but my own exprerians , I can say yes all this normal. Sorry for bad English 
yes because twitches are muscle activity, however involuntary one... On my high twitcing period i felt myself like (i was used to say) I was working for pixies all night - wery tired with sore muscles all over the body.Usually stertching helps.I use old good Jamie (here are arms but there is a stretch workout too, very gentle and efficient)