Somethingylikeybilly
Member
To all,
Now that I am closing in on 1 year experiencing BFS, I thought I would share my experience with these strange symptoms and how I am coping with them on a daily basis. The twitching began about a little over 10 months ago and started with a slight buzzing in my left leg proceeding to an all out frenzy of twitches all over my body within a couple of days. Like most of you I was completely freaked out and immediately made the mistake of trying to self diagnose myself through online medical web sites which of course led me to believe that I had the worst of the worst ahead of me. I then made an appointment with my doctor who told me that it was basically stress related and should subside within a couple of weeks. Of course that didn't happen. I spent weeks trying to understand why and what was happening but to no avail. The first month was the worst since my anxiety level was peaking and caused me to lose lots of sleep which seemed to intensify my twitching. I became desperate in trying to find someone or something which could lead me to believe that this would all go away shortly and I could move on with my life. Unfortunately, I began to realize that there was no ready solution to this problem nor a time frame of which I could rely on. In the interm I also tried all sorts of vitamins, dietary changes, lifestyle changes etc.., but at the end of each day nothing was changing. There were of course days where the twitching was more or less intense than the previous, and that gave me some degree of relief, but ultimately the only thing I wished is for this whole thing to go away, at least for a while anyway. After a number of months of dealing with these symptoms, I realized a few things that allowed me to make an attempt on moving on with life and not spending each moment of every day dwelling on this condition. First, I realized that the more active I was during the day, whether through work or recreation, the less I thought about my BFS since the symptoms don't normally occur unless you are completely still. While I have the occasional twitch on my upper body, the twitches in my legs, particularly the calves, are basically 24/7. When lying down at night, the twitches in my legs flare up but I have found that lying on your stomach when trying to sleep is the best position since there is less pressure on the back of the legs and the sensations are minimized. I have also found that when I'm lying on the couch but are distracted with the television or with my family, its as if the twitched did't occur since I didn't pay attention to them. So I started to spend less time focusing on the twitching and I would go longer periods of time without being aware that they are happening. As far as the twitching itself, I noticed that certain hot spots would last for days or weeks but would ultimately end at some point. That made me think that if those could end, so could the other constant twitches at some point. It's only a matter of time. The ultimate success that I have had in dealing with BFS is also getting into a mindset that 1) For many people the symptoms have come and gone. 2) There are endless amounts
of conditions that are much worse than BFS. 3) BFS symptoms affect you to the extent that you pay attention to them. 4) You eventually get used to them over time allowing you to focus on more important aspects of life. Ultimately, I feel that dealilng with BFS is more of a mental game than a physical one and once you get your mental state in order, you're 90% on your way to overcoming this unexplained condition. Its easier said than done but its helped me deal. Good luck to all you BFSers!!
Now that I am closing in on 1 year experiencing BFS, I thought I would share my experience with these strange symptoms and how I am coping with them on a daily basis. The twitching began about a little over 10 months ago and started with a slight buzzing in my left leg proceeding to an all out frenzy of twitches all over my body within a couple of days. Like most of you I was completely freaked out and immediately made the mistake of trying to self diagnose myself through online medical web sites which of course led me to believe that I had the worst of the worst ahead of me. I then made an appointment with my doctor who told me that it was basically stress related and should subside within a couple of weeks. Of course that didn't happen. I spent weeks trying to understand why and what was happening but to no avail. The first month was the worst since my anxiety level was peaking and caused me to lose lots of sleep which seemed to intensify my twitching. I became desperate in trying to find someone or something which could lead me to believe that this would all go away shortly and I could move on with my life. Unfortunately, I began to realize that there was no ready solution to this problem nor a time frame of which I could rely on. In the interm I also tried all sorts of vitamins, dietary changes, lifestyle changes etc.., but at the end of each day nothing was changing. There were of course days where the twitching was more or less intense than the previous, and that gave me some degree of relief, but ultimately the only thing I wished is for this whole thing to go away, at least for a while anyway. After a number of months of dealing with these symptoms, I realized a few things that allowed me to make an attempt on moving on with life and not spending each moment of every day dwelling on this condition. First, I realized that the more active I was during the day, whether through work or recreation, the less I thought about my BFS since the symptoms don't normally occur unless you are completely still. While I have the occasional twitch on my upper body, the twitches in my legs, particularly the calves, are basically 24/7. When lying down at night, the twitches in my legs flare up but I have found that lying on your stomach when trying to sleep is the best position since there is less pressure on the back of the legs and the sensations are minimized. I have also found that when I'm lying on the couch but are distracted with the television or with my family, its as if the twitched did't occur since I didn't pay attention to them. So I started to spend less time focusing on the twitching and I would go longer periods of time without being aware that they are happening. As far as the twitching itself, I noticed that certain hot spots would last for days or weeks but would ultimately end at some point. That made me think that if those could end, so could the other constant twitches at some point. It's only a matter of time. The ultimate success that I have had in dealing with BFS is also getting into a mindset that 1) For many people the symptoms have come and gone. 2) There are endless amounts
of conditions that are much worse than BFS. 3) BFS symptoms affect you to the extent that you pay attention to them. 4) You eventually get used to them over time allowing you to focus on more important aspects of life. Ultimately, I feel that dealilng with BFS is more of a mental game than a physical one and once you get your mental state in order, you're 90% on your way to overcoming this unexplained condition. Its easier said than done but its helped me deal. Good luck to all you BFSers!!