Numbness and Twitching: Help!

[ellezNaniWanda]

Hi, It all started in autumn 2012 with a stiff neck. 2 month later i started to feel buzzings in my limbs and a lot of twitches so i went to the doc and told him about my symptoms.He checked my reflexes and took some blood tests but did not find anything wrong except for brisk reflexes in my knees. In April 2013 i started to get numb spots on different parts of my body, and I also noticed that my muscles began to tremor after exercise. I started googling my symptoms and you all know what you'll find if you search for "twitches" and "numb"!!!! I called my doc and said I either have ALS or MS. and he said what? and laughed. I was so stressed that I could barely talk. I started to tell him about my new symptoms and demanded that I would see a neurologist as soon as possible! Okay okay, calm down now he said. I will send a referral to a neurologist so that you get a detailed examination. I continued my googling and became more and more sure that I had one of these diseases. I read about something called lhermittes sign and BANG!!! As soon as i bend my head forward I get buzzing/tightening sensation on various part of my body. I can feel it in my leg one day and the day after in my fingers or toes. I have no electrical radiates in my spine or something like that, just a buzzing and a strange tightening sensation in diffrent muscles??? Now it was finally time to meet the neurologist. She did some various examinations but could not find any evidence of any neurolgis disease. However, since I experienced L'hermitt sign (my point of view) she ordered an MRI of the entire spine and some blood tests. She also said she will do an EMG to calm my nerves. A month later i got my results from my EMG examination and it looked really good, no signs of adverse neurological diseases.A week later i got my results from MRI. She told me that i have spondylosis/bonespurs in my neck on the vertebra C6-C7 and a trapped nerv. Aaaa ok i said, is it because of that i twitch and have strange feeling when I bend my head forward and some numb spot from time to time? No she says you dont get widespred twitching because of spondylosis you have something we call BFS! Ok i said, what is that? and she replied benign muscle fasciculations.Is there anyone in here who can relate to what I experience when I bend my head forward?I'm not so good at English, so I hope you understand what I mean.//Chapp

 

[ListlessOne]

HI Chapp! I have C6-C7 issues - very bad in fact and spinal narrowing. My orthopedist said the twitches were not coming from there however, I don't believe it. A lot of my twitches and problems are in my upper body where I have burning pain. I do not have the L'hermittes sign. I still believe the neck issues contribute to a lot of what's going on below in my body - there has got to be nerve impingement somewhere. Good luck!

 

[Shawn87]

Cervical myelopathy shouldn't cause diffuse twitching. Your neurologist is on the money with that. What I suspect happened was that you presented with typical BFS symptoms, and you went searching and found something else wrong. Now with that said, pain, parasthesias and weakness can certainly happen with cervical disc issues. Disc issues in the back and neck are the most common cause of asymmetrical reflexes. The fact that you didn't describe asymmetrical reflexes and you have diffuse twitching I would suggest most of your symptoms are BFS related. With that said, your nervous system is in hyperactive mode and that can aggravate minor rubbing of a cervical disc on the spinal cord. It turns up the volume on minor irritation. So it is indeed possible that this is a mixed bag. My suggestions...1) Stop googling...seriously stop.2) Your new full time job is to turn down the volume on your nervous system. Relax, Epsom salt baths, mediation, church, therapy, long walks on the beach whatever you need to do to get this under control.3) Ask about physical therapy. If there is some cervical contribution this should help.4) Accept the fact that you are healthy but anxious...and enjoy your life. Give yourself permission to live again.