Outlook1958
Well-known member
Hello dear community,first of all: Thanks to everybody of you who initiated this project and participate in the forum. I had no idea that so many people suffer from all sorts of fasciculations and are as worried about it as I am. And thank you for the "BFS in a nutshell" thread. It provides information on a more detailed level than the 1-2 paragraphs of most medical pages.Well, let me introduce myself and tell my story: I'm a 22 year old guy from Germany, I'm studying linguistics at university and doing a part-time job as a software developer. I suffer from a disease (or pseudo-disease) called "vegetative dystonia". This is a sort of nervous disorder that makes my body over-react to negative emotions like fear and anxiety and possibly long-term stress, which results in a high blood pressure and pulse, excessive sweating, tickling in the chest and in the belly, diarrhea and even reflux (in rare cases). In addition, I've always been precautios about my health and body signals since I was a child. For example, I had some stomach ache as a child and was afraid of having appendicitis. I was checked for heart defects by several doctors and even had a short hospital stay (of course I was terribly afraid of a heart disease or something), but nothing was found. My physical condition and my ability to do sports without breaking down or something confirmes that my heart is OK. So they all agreed that it was my over-reacting nervous system. A further interesting indicator is that I have a highly sensitive sleep. I immediately wake up with a high pulse if I hear a noise that I'm not used to.About 7 weeks ago I came up with the symptom that finally brought me here: fasciculations. It all started at the worst possible moment ever: My cardiologist prescribed me a beta blocker called Metoprolol 25mg retard (it has nothing to do with mentally retarded people - I think it means that the medicine is released over time in the body or something) which lowered my blood pressure to a normal level. Before: ~ 145/85, Now: 125/75. The pulse (when relaxed) went down from approx. 95 to 80. This is quite surprising because 25mg is a very low dose for a guy like me (1,78m, 83 kilo). Even the cardiologist was surprised because he actually meant to increase the dose because such a low dose should not have such an effect (usually people get 150-250mg). I do not experience any of the side effects listed for the medicine. Unfortunately I had an accident just three days after starting to take the beta blocker - I severely cut my hand on a metal fence and was taken to ER to stitch it. To avoid infection, the doctors prescribed me an antibiotic and gave me some pain killers.The day after the accident I developed fever and immediately went to the see my GP because I was almost sure that this was related to the wound. The doctor however detected a slightly sore throat and said that is had nothing to do with the injury. This also was the day the fasciculations started. I thought that this was somehow related to the fever. The twitching occured in very different parts of my body - legs, arms, belly, back, shoulders, but only when the muscle was relaxed, e.g. when lying still in bed. Sometimes it was a single twitch, sometimes several of them one after another. The face and neck muscles and the tongue remained unaffected. At first I wasn't worried at all... I thought it might be a minor side effect of the antibiotics or something. At first.The sickness developed on a little like a common cold, but not exactly the same. The fever and weakness were much more excessive than during a common cold, whereas the typical symptoms (sore throat, running nose, cough) were far too mild. Well, fortunately, the mysterious sickness disappeared after five days or so. During this time, I had been to the doctor's several times to check the injury and the sickness, but nothing abormal was found. The fasciculatios however did not cease and the doctor recommended taking magnesium pills (no blood check was done yet). The magnesium did not help however, and so I asked my cardiologist whether the twitching could be a side effect of the beta blocker. He denied that and told me to make a blood check at my GP and especially have a look at the potassium. A lack of potassium may be responsible for fasciculations, he said. Well, my potassium is at 3.68 mmol/l, the normal range is 3.60-5.00. Low, but not too low. Hmm. He told me to eat bananas, apricots and tomatoes... OK, a banana a day keeps the doctor away... NOT. Not funny, I know -.-The cardiologist and my GP both also told me to see a neurologist (my appointment is next Wednesday, Feb 4) This was last week - and at that point, all my fears and horrors started. I spent hours and hours on the internet and quickly came to the conclusions that I am experiencing a symptom of ALS. This of course scared (and still scares) me to death... I think I don't need to depict all the things that wander through my imagination since most of you know at least the basics of this horrible disease. Now I'm waiting for Wednesday and just can't get my mind off the stuff... The fasciculations seem to have decreased in my arms and upper torso, but still are very persistent in the large leg muscles. I can't stop concentrating on my legs, checking and verifying every movement. When I walk through my room and look in to the large mirror, I ask myself whether my legs always move exactly this specific way when I walk. Is there any difference? Do my legs always feel the way they feel when I walk up the stairs? Do I actually walk slower than usually? How long can a normal person actually walk on his toes? Some of these "tests" cause a normal, very slight muscle fatigue, but I can't tell whether this is within normal parameters because I haven't observed my muscles so closely before. There might be slight differencies I haven't noticed... However, I have done some workout at the gym recently and haven't noticed any muscle weakness, loss of stamina or other strange things. I can perform all of my excercises without any restrictions. The precision is also OK, I haven't noticed any clumsiness while driving my car with manual gear shift (i.e. with a clutch pedal that needs careful and well-controlled movements of the left leg). Sometimes I feel some sort of subtle tickling throughout my legs, especially when I concentrate on them. Does this concentration cause the tickling or is it actually always there, but perceivable only if concentrating? I do not know... Same for the arms and hands: Strength and precision are okay, but I have this feeling of uncertainity whether they "feel" the same as usually when used.*sigh* It seems like my mind is looping through some sort of diagnostic program, again and again. And each time the result is non-conclusive (after all I'm still not SURE about having ALS), my mind "transferres" more concentration and mental power to the diagnostics. First I only thought about the fasciculations and ALS only in idle time, but now I can hardly concentrate on anything else. Activities that are thought to be pleasant and relaxing (movies, music, talking to friends, going out) only disturb me. I often just sit around and wait for the next muscle to twitch or spend hours on the internet reading things about ALS. After all, some sites say that fasciculations are the first symptoms that may occur long before any weakness is felt. It's so scary... You know, I'm a person who has his life under control, sees things with analytic eyes, knows exactly what to do and what it results in and is ready to challenge difficulties. But having a terminal illness is different. This is nothing you can prevent through cautiousness, nothing you can change, no matter how good you are informed and how carefully you place your decisions. These thoughts make me feel extremely weak and depressed, but I can't cast them aside. All this stuff literally steals my mental power. ALS, fasciculations and their causes and varieties are the last thing I think about before falling asleep and the first thing that gets into my mind when I wake up. I wasn't able to relax and "feel good" at all for about a week now.I want this all to be over...
And I have the same problem like you, however I have never visited doctor about my bad reaction on the stress or fear (yeah I would sweat and shake terribly!).Maybe this disorder just make our peripheral nerves more sensitive and likely to fasciculate...I would agree with theory that anxiety and stress is trigger for BFS in some cases. You definitely sounds like clever person (I understand that German universities are pretty hard) and knowledge, especially in medical field, is pretty bad for BFS or anything, since you still can find relations...With you age and onset, I think you have nothing to worry about just like we all.Na was noch kann ich sagen? 
Maybe nervous people like us somehow like the feeling of creating great things while just sitting in front of screen and a keyboard. If programming work goes on well and you're not on a tight schedule, it can be real fun and can distract oneself from fears and anxieties.Your German is fine by the way! I haven't been to the Ostsee yet, however to the Nordsee... It's beautiful. It is good idea to have a nice vacation and relax. Even if it might not cure the fascics, it will surely help an upset nervous system calm down and regenerate a little. Have a nice time there!Well, Sunday evening something strange happened regarding my muscle twitching: It stopped and didn't come back for the whole evening and even today morning, except for maybe 2-3 RARE, single twitches here and there. I was so glad and hoped so much that it's over finally, but today towards noon the twitching returned... Again first of all in my legs, but also here and there randomly (arms, belly, back). This hope-breaking relapse made me extremely sad and anxious, I'm kinda going all over the whole thing again and again *sigh*...36 hours to go until my appointment at the neuro's. I do not even know whether to look forward to it or to be afraid. I already imagine the horror scenarios like the doc looking at some monitors and devices and saying "Well, this doesn't look good... Look, the waves strongly deviate from the norm - they should look completely different. I think we'll have to do some additional tests and just wait and see how it develops... "