First Time Poster: Neck Twitches

Highlights Only
T

Taptozzer95

New member
Hello everyone. Im a "long time reader, first time poster". Anyway, I'm just hoping this is the place for me. I'll throw my experience out there and hopefully get some incite to what's going on. Sorry if its long i just don't want to miss anything. Some time around early February I started getting thumping neck twitches that would some times wake me up. Didn't think much of it until I was getting them randomly all over (i think i've always twitched more than most people but this was getting ridiculous!). So (and i smile whenever i read this cause it seems so many have done the EXACT same thing) searched what could be causing this and found ALS and you know what happened next. My age of 26 and the randomness + no weakness kept me positive. Then i noticed the arches of my feet were on fire with them, especially after walk/run or just a long day of work. Lost my mind, went to the doctor and was told most likely benign, nothing to worry about and to keep and eye on it. Now, my twitching has gone down considerably the less i focus on each and every one, I can get outside and go fishing and all those things i like to do to try and take my life back. Just when i think I'm cured... AHHH! I start buzzing. First my left foot, like a cell phone, intermittent. After a week of that slowly going down... my right thumb... now all over, comes and goes. Nothing violent or anything, just irritating. Ok, its been just over three months. Does this sound like BFS? Im reading things SO similar, then i read something and my mind twists it to contradict what i just read. Physically I'm no different as far as strength (hurt myself doing strength tests at first lol) If it helps anyone, I THINK this all started after a stress full time at work. However Im always stressed with bills, job, going back to school and now my health. Could this have just pushed my nerves over the edge? I have good days with a couple dozen twitches and days with hundreds of twitches. Mostly legs, feet seem easiest to fire up, then arms and so on.. but all over. Sorry to ramble on as the new guy, Im just really looking forward to talking with some people who experience these types of things. This has been hard to explain to others, my fears, irrational thinking at times and so on... thank you all so much for the community you've all created and the stress so many of you have relieved me of.
 
Thank you both for your quick responses. Does it matter what kind of twitches I get? I get a lot of these little one or two time thumps. Usually in my calf of just above my heal. My feet vary. Some are very fast one timers, others are slow muscle movers that i can fire up by pointing my toes and almost cramping my foot. The majority of those i can't feel but i can see. I have a real muscle mover in my leg right now. Just above my knee on the inside. I can see my jeans moving. I get these every once in a while, a big slower twitch that makes itself at home for a few days. Does it mean anything if i can cause a twitch by flexing? It doesn't happen often but for instance if i turn my head to one side, ill feel a small neck muscle thump two or three times. Or if I stretch my arm out I some times get one. I've had my lip do it when I smiled before. My ability to do this has gone down as well but its definitely a strange and startling reaction to something so normal. Either way, glad to be here and hope I can learn a lot!
 
Arin,First off, I'm not sure if you know but there is a great BFS chat site with many many BFSers on there all day long who can talk to you live about your symptoms. They are very knowledgable and can make you feel better instantly. Here is the link:Secondly, and you are going to think I'm nuts, but I'm going to send you all the different vids of my twitches that I've taken over the past year. I started doing this because I know it helps to actually see other people's twitches rather than read about them.... NO twitch is any more concerning than another. Hopefully these will give you an idea of the many, many different types of twitches out there.....
 
Bobajojo, I will have to check that site out cause this can definitely be hard to put into words at times. And your youtube vids, yes, this is exactly it. I think my tongue does it but i've never seen it or had a 100% guaranteed twitch there, but pretty safe to say it happens.
 
Arin,I think you summed up my BFS experience pretty well in your first post. My story is very similar. I had some random twitching experiences before this nagging twitch in my calf started which led me to google...you know where that went. I visited my GP who wasn't concerned (because he and the NP all think I'm just a raging hypochondriac), so I went to a neuro and after my clinical exam he told me I was fine. Annoyed but fine. I kept thinking I needed further testing despite his insistence I didn't, but it's been 9 months and I'm still twitching but stronger than ever both mentally and physically. So here I sit, never having an EMG and pretty darned content with the benign nature of BFS. PS-I see you like to fish. I do too and in the beginning of this I would go out to the lake to the day just to remind myself I was fine and could still do all the things I could before.Frances
 
Hi Frances, when I finally broke down and went to the doctor about this, I asked if I needed to see a neurologist for an EMG and he smiled and said no. He said the twitches were not concerning to him. "Now if you were complaining of weakness I'd be more concerned" were his words. So thus far I have not had an EMG. I called him up when this buzzing/vibrating started and he said he had that too in the past and not too worry but the next step would be an EMG. He made it sound very dramatic, probably to make me think twice about something he was very positive would come out normal if I went through with it. He had me push and pull against him and he checked me reflexes and did some other little things and did some blood work that all came back normal and recommended an anti anxiety medication. I have tried to stay away from any medications in fear it may effect the progress i've made. On another note, the buzzing that started out in my foot. It was very odd. It was just like a cell phone. About 3 seconds ON... 10 seconds OFF.... Now its faded quite a bit but I get it in my hands and other foot, but not as perfectly intermittent or powerful.
 
Arin,I get lots of "buzzes" in my hands and feet. Sometimes they move up to my calves and thighs too. This is one of the weirder things about BFS to me. I don't understand all the sensory issues. It does feel just like a vibrating cell phone doesn't it?My neuro was much like yours. He said he would be wasting my time and money if he did an EMG, because the symptoms I was having were not indicative of something bad. My clinical exam was squeaky clean...so was yours. That's great!!! He knows about my health anxiety too and thought it most important I deal with that. I'm working on it, but don't expect your symptoms to disappear when your anxiety lessens. I made the mistake of thinking this would all go away once the anxiety let up. When it didn't, I freaked out all over again, so please don't do that to yourself. About meds....well, I took them for awhile, but now am off of everything. I would never tell someone what to do with regard to medication. I believe it helped me through the worst of times, but I feel strongly the key to long term healing is changing the way we respond to the anxious feelings. Do I have the magical answer...man I wish I did. I will tell you the support and laughs I have shared with the people here and on chat have been the best medicine for me. Frances
 
Hi Arinfor me it looks like the more variable twitches you get, the more you could be sure it is nothing sisnister beneath. maybe I am not right with that but I was digging the board deep back to the early days and i have seen that variety of twithcing is rather common for BFS. I still have short pulsation-like twitches few times a day and intermittent buzzing in legs and arms, and sometimes i have jolts (big one contractions, but only if Itake specific position).However my point No.1 is now perseived weakness, crampies etc.
 
Im not sure if i've experienced perceived weakness or not. I've had it where I can be doing something and my arms feel tired and heavy, then within a few hours or so, feel fine. Seems like i've woken up before with tired limbs but as the day went on it got better, but nothing disabling or anything. In the early days of this I found myself doing strength tests all the time. I couldn't do anything without making sure it was "to the max" just to make sure I still could. At times driving, my leg feels kinda fatigued and sore, then driving home from work its fine. Perhaps this is perceived weakness? I figured if it was true weakness it would be the other way around. I had myself convinced I was stronger before all this started and it took me a while to realize Im the same.I really found out just how asymmetrical the human body is too and I am definitely right side dominant. I ended up hurting my calf and both arms during these tests and I remember thinking it was definitely weakness when all it was, was my body trying to heal itself from the damage I did trying to test myself. It was a vicious cycle :rolleyes:
 
Arin,I went through the same thing, noticing all the asymmetry in my body which of course had always been there, just never noticed before. My chiropractor laughed at me during a visit after I noticed how much more muscular one arm was than the other (it wasn't mean spirited, he is a good friend). He then took the time to show me his arms and legs and how different they were which was an immediate anxiety reliever! I too fell into the cycle of strength testing, to the point I was so sore it hurt just to get out of bed. At the time it made sense to do it, but I learned my lesson and refuse to play those mind games with myself any more. Frances
 
Hi Arin -I have buzzed on and off in my foot for many years. I'm having some continuing buzzing right now and while it's strange, I also know that many others have it.For some folks, the buzzing can be a sign of nerve compression as well.Cynthia
 
I saw a youtube video of someone's twitches that had the serious disease we all fear. Question for anyone that would know the answer. . .the twitch I saw on this man was a ripple. . . is that always what that kind of twitch looks like?
 
Hey dude,All twitches look alike and you cannot differentiate bad twitches from friendly ones by sight... It is impossible! ALS twitches are generally very very fine and almost invisible to the eyes(until the disease has progressed) although I have these types of very fine twitches and I am fine...
 
I had ripples in my calves and I am fine still.I think there is no distinct way to say - this twitch is for ALS, this is for MS or PD,and this is benign. The difference is only if the same neuromuscular reaction is caused by hyperexcited nervous system (like in BFS), by perifreal nerve damage (like in various perineuropathies wich are unpleaseant but never kill you, and also could be a part of BFS picture) or by a combination of periferal and upper (brain) motor center damages, like in ALS. That is why we are going through EMG for. The difference is seen only on EMG.Another difference is also that in ALS twitches occur to the muscle which is already disabled, however in BFS we still can control our muscles, even after years of twitching.For me on my own experience general rule for BFSer is maybe the more different and various twitches he or she feels, then probably the more chances that this is BFS
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top