Dealing With Unwelcome Symptoms

[zEarthyRanger]

Sad to be posting this. Have been largely symptom free for years - or at least fear-free.Over the last few days, however, I've noticed a 'hot-spot' twitch towards the side of my palm, on the 'pinky' side. It's always in exactly the same place and while it doesn't seem to be there all day, it's there for a large part of the day. The twitch is strong enough to be seen and felt.At the same time, just today, I noticed a cramp-type pain on the back of my wrist on the same hand. It basically hurts when I (for example) bend the fingers back slightly. I can provoke the pain with movement - it doesn't happen randomly.I'm increasingly convinced the outer fingers on the hand in question are a bit weak/clumsy, although not in any clearly demonstrable way. When I look closely at the hand it seems like it might be smaller/thinner/less muscled than the other. But again I can't be sure.Anyone ever had anything like this? I'm really keen not to get dragged back in to the fear, but it is difficult.

 

[zEarthyRanger]

Thanks for the quick reply - really appreciate it, and what you've said.The 'cramp' is a strange one. Maybe it's the wrong word. I've never really understood what people mean by 'cramp' (in this context) - my only other experience of it is when playing sport etc. That's a very different kind of pain.This is a fairly searing pain over the back of my hand/wrist when I twist the fingers/wrist in a certain way. I'm sort-of hoping it suggests I might have damaged or twisted the ulnar nerve (or some other nerve). But I really don't know.Thanks again,

 

[JohnnyRocket]

Everything you are experiencing is common among worried twitchers, and absolutely nothing to worry about. If you had any idea how many times I've read/heard those exact same concerns then you'd understand. You are not unique, but merely a clone just like me. The cramp feeling you describe is very common and not a true cramp. Many people have described it as a "pre-cramp" feeling, but whatever you wanna call it doesn't really matter. Even true cramps are fairly common, among twitchers and non-twitchers alike. Feel like something is clumsy and weak?....you'd be a rare one if you DIDN'T think this at some point in your BFS career. If you have to wonder if something is "weakness", then it isn't. That's a good rule of thumb. You're good.

 

[zEarthyRanger]

Thanks. The twitch itself is really quite worrisome because it is so constant - I can see and feel it every few seconds. And it seems to be fairly settled. I just went to sleep with it there, and have woken up with it there too. It is not something I used to get with BFS. Is that what others sometimes mean with a hotspot - a spot that twitches every few seconds, maybe for days?

 

[Gracer]

Cramp is a pain caused by uncontrollable muscle contraction. it is very sharp and one can feel muscle contracting. Cramps are result of intoxication (especially with alkaloids due to lowering excitability thresholds), or neural damage (like it happens in the stroke), or due to changes in the electrolyte balance (most often) or they could be a result of sharp spasm of capillari and abrupt ishemia (that is what happens in the cold water for example). many people have calf cramps mostly becasueof the fact that lower legs have impaired circulation.twitches often cause muscle pain becasue it is a movement and muscle loadm however involuntary. it is the same as you would try to do someting with this muscle. it causes same processes as normal contraction and the most unpleasant feeling is just becasue you never expect mucle tiredness pain in that type of muscle.When I was vigorously twitching, I fel that pain every time I had new twitch.

 

[zEarthyRanger]

Well, I've decided to see a specialist so I guess we'll see what happens.Saw a general doctor - first time I've been able to demonstrate my twitching, with absolute confidence it would be happening.There's something very unnerving about a 'constant' twitch - it's not something I've experienced before.

 

[Gloria123]

You have a hot spot.If it makes you feel better, my thumb has been twitching for almost two months now. Same as you describe. Usually once about every five minutes. Recently, it may go hours without twitching, but inevitably it twitches during the day usually when I'm resting. In the beginning, it was non stop unless I used it.And I have been fretting over how my right thenar is definitely smaller and less defined than my left. I'm right-handed.This is my theory: somehow (you and I) have strained or done something to the muscle/nerve involved and instigated a twitch that wasn't there before. Probably easy to do because we have hyperexcitable nerves. I played ping pong right before this happened. While I would never ever have attributed ping pong to twitching before, nowadays I guess a game of ping pong can wreak havoc on my body! You actually made me feel better with your post. I'm realizing how common this is amongst us twitchers. I felt silly about stressing over it, after 2 years of twitching, but feel better when I see someone who has been twitching for 8 years worry about the same. It makes me realize that it's natural to worry, but that there likely is no reason at all for us to worry about a twitch.Mitra

 

[zEarthyRanger]

Thanks Bill.It's actually settled down a bit today. Still going to see the neuro to talk it through, but feeling a fair bit calmer.It's strange. I've years and years of occasional twitching and never given it a thought. Guess it shows there's always a chance something new and unexpected can come along and knock us back a little bit, for a little while.That said, I've no plans to become a regular here again! Love this place, owe loads of perfect (wonderful) strangers here a huge amount, but the best feeling in the world is the feeling of being able to leave.

 

[zEarthyRanger]

Neuro spectacularly unconcerned. Twitch has basically disappeared, too. Left with perceived weakness but have been there before, and no evidence of it during my exam.In return for your help with my uncharacteristic panic here's some useful info which - while said by many other neuros to many other people - bears repeating again:*People with *** don't present with twitches, and (in his experience) don't feel their twitches.*Twitches in *** are accompanied by weakness and clear evidence of atrophy.*The weakness is noticed through clear functional deficit - not being able to lift a cup, for example. It is rapidly, demonstrably progressive in almost all cases.*A twitch in a single muscle isn't indicative of ***. On the contrary - it's likely to be benign.*If your clinical exam is completely clean, you don't NEED an EMG. You can have one if you must, but you don't NEED it.*While it's difficult to formally diagnose ***, it's not difficult for a neuro to see, and strongly suspect. Thanks and see you all in eight years or so(!),D