New Here: Twitching & Worried

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avidgamer198

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I've lurked here for a while but here's my story:A few weeks ago I noticed a little bit of twitching in my index finger on my right hand....it all went downhill from there haha.... I'm twitching now mainly in my calves. Went to my GP and she did the strength tests and such and said I was fine and shouldn't even waste the money to go to a neuro (I still am..haha). Anyway..I go tomorrow and I'm just a little nervous about what he'll say... I'm one of the dumb ones who googled their symptoms... and of course I flipped and had an emotional breakdown (I'm 21 years old, so my parents had to hear it for a good two weeks).I think it's interesting how you guys have made connections with BFS beginning occasionally with a viral infection or stress. Well I have no idea what caused mine after the twitching started I started having dizzy spells and then had a CT scan to reveal I have a severe sinus infection (bad enough that my doctor scheduled me for sinus surgery this coming Wednesday). On top of this I've been so stressed because I'm applying to medical school, I studied 4-5 hours a day for six weeks straight to study for the Medical College Admissions Test, and then stressed the entire month I had to wait on my score. After I got my scores I had to go through the whole app procedure and interviews (still going on).... I know this interests none of you... but I just want to prove my point that BFS to me seems to really be fueled by stress and illness.I freaked out and went to the ER once because I was so scared and the ER doc examined me and then yelled at me (basically), but I'm glad he did. He made me tell myself that it's just a lie -- twitching is not what defines ALS -- weakness is. He said he twitches... he said I should promise myself to run a mile everyday and to forget all this...I'm going to hopefully get the last bit of confirmation from a neuro tomorrow, so just keep me in your prayers.
 
You don't need prayers, you just need thick skin. Because when the neurologist blows you off and implies that you are wasting his time, you're going to feel sort of embarrassed about it. So there, that is what I give you. I give you the gift of thick skin. May you not take it personally when your neuro tells you to get the hell out of his office. :D) And you aren't stupid for googling your symptoms. That's what all of us do. It's just human nature, it's why we ended up in this frazzled anxiety state we are in. The "stupidity" comes once you realize it is bad for you, and you still do it anyway. That's when we reserve the right to call you names. No one will call you stupid until you start posting things like "Well I did it again.... why oh why do I do this? Now I'm all freaked out again." Until then, you're just part of the BFS club.Welcome to bfsforum.com. You stories are welcome here. P.S. And no I'm not calling anyone stupid. I'm just making a point. If it hurts when you repeatedly hit yourself in the head with a hammer, try stop hitting yourself with a hammer. There, problem solved.
 
One of the first things neuro said after examining me is - "There is this disease called benign twitching..." I felt a little relieved when he said that. He tested my strength and reflexes and said he didn't find anything abnormal and I shouldn't worry. He is doing and EMG and NCD just to be sure... but he entered his diagnosis into the computer as BFS...I guess I'm okay?
 
Well "okay" is kind of an open ended term but yes, it means you are part of the club. Now you just need to learn the secret handshake.Seriously, there's no chance in hell you have ALS. You'll be fine. Now you just get to play the fun game of symptom management.
 
I'm thankful that I'm in this club....after being scared for so long.The doctor told me this guy kept coming into his clinic for 3 years because of his twitching and he kept telling him nothing was wrong. Finally the guy accepted that he was alright and stopped coming. I think this problem is waaayyy more common than I thought...I do have to say though... this twitching is benign in a sense that it isn't going to kill me, but I think it does have a cause... maybe one day someone will figure it out. But until then, I guess I'll be twitching my way through medical school soon :)
 
Good job Ncguy1987, fellow nurse speaking here hon. We are not IMMUNE to being scared out of our wits of the fear or thought of death because we have ONE symptom of something tragic. There have been a handful of doctors and nurses pass through here.My neuro also had ALS patients and was very secure in writing down and typing into her computer (b/c I later went and got the emg report which you will find in my archives I posted on here is: Diagnosis: BFS . Plain and simple..Your young..I was and am 28 when I went through all of this. Its a stupid worry yet soooo understood when you go through it.I totally understand. Although, stop and get off the rollercoaster before another go around..Accept that dx and run like......Lovely
 
So...just so I can hear a little bit of encouraging words... do you guys feel really confident that after a normal neuro exam my emg will be normal as well? It's on Nov 19th...
 
Yes. In fact I'm of the opinion that if you passed the neuro exam, you don't even NEED an EMG. That's how confident I am that yours will be fine. When your doctor is saying "just to be sure", that's more for your mental health than for anything. Listen to the tone he used when he spoke to you. He's done this before. He already knows what the result will be.Here's my advice: Plan a big pizza party for the night of Nov. 19.
 
Yeah, one of the things that always comes up in stories like yours (and mine, and everyone's) is that a neuro has to be very careful how he words certain things to a patient. Because there's nothing quite like a hypochondriac's ability to pick out one tiny little word or one tiny little pause, and freak out and run with it. A neuro could tell you 99 positive things, and one slightly negative thing, and most BFSers will take that 1 negative thing and go crazy with it. I've seen it happen time and time and time again. So if you're nervous about the way your neuro worded something, don't stress out too much about it. We all have done that in the past, and it never turns out to be anything important. Remember, doctors and patients essentially speak a different language most of the time. They have as hard a time explaining things to us, as we have explaining things to them.I read one quote on this board from a neurologist that I have always loved. It went something like, "I'm going to ignore you now. And when a neurologist decides to ignore you, that's a very good sign." What your doctor said was essentially the exact same thing. "Here, I'll do an EMG to shut you up, but when it comes back negative, I don't want you to ever call me again." That's really the best thing a neurologist could ever tell you. Hope this helps!
 

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