LindsayCohen7
Active member
I promised myself I'd log in after my four year "anniversary" of this BFS stuff. I remember how much these posts helped me when I first found this site. This began for me with an awful stomach virus or food poisoning - I'll never be sure which - the stomach pain/dizziness/flu symptoms lasted 12 weeks but the twitching stayed. After being worked up for every disease known without answers, the panic attacks began. Finally landed at neuro and had clean exam, MRIs and EMG. Doc didn't have a name for it but said twitches were benign, and if I could do my regular activities (jogging, tennis, etc.) then I was fine, and to go live my life. Easier said than done, but here's what I've learned. 1) Anxiety over this can harm you more than the condition itself. I have been in COMPLETE panic over symptoms. The people here are wonderful and will talk you down when you need it. But learn from your experience - if a twitch in your right thumb subsided after 1 month, don't go nuts when the left thumb starts. It'll go away too. 2) PLEASE believe your docs. They don't call this "pre-name your awful condition." It's benign. Annoying but benign. 3) BFS symptoms will change. I've had many, many symptoms, and I'm sure I'm not done yet. Began with twitching and jerking, moved onto tingling, numbness, parethesia, floaters, dry eye, on and on. I almost think we should have a checklist of symptoms that can be considered BFS normal that we can reference when something new pops up. Thank goodness for the search feature! 4) You are NORMAL as much as any other individual on this planet is normal. Your nervous system is HYPER. If you're like me, the rest of you is too! Do NOT let BFS define you. It's not worth it. 5) Things get better. My twitches are minimal right now. I began gluten free 6 months ago and it really helped. I think a lot of my problems are related to inflammation (some sort of auto-immune response?) and have tried to react accordingly. I really believe BFS is caused by different things in everyone.Thanks for letting me ramble!