Return of the Twitches - Help?

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nibdenice

Well-known member
Hi all,

Haven't been here in a while. A couple of years ago I was having rather bad twitches, and went through the battery of tests and everything came out okay. My anxiety has heightened lately as a result of a few different stressors hitting at one time. I've noticed an increase, or rather a return of the twitches, especially in my feet, over the last week or so.

Today, I was outside chasing my 2.5 year old son, who constantly runs away from me. I caught up to him and started to walk back and just as I was about to step down a curb, I felt a twinge/spasm in my back and my left leg just gave out on me -- no strength there at all -- and I went flying to the ground. I've had back problems on & off for the last 20 years, so having a twinge in my back is nothing new. But my leg collapsing on me ... that's never ever happened before. I'm feeling lots of twitching in that leg and ankle/foot tonight -- don't know if it's from my anxiety about it or what. But of course, this scary event brings me back to this site for some support. I am trying not to test the strength in my leg or foot, because that seems to make things worse when I repeated do that.

I just have never had this kind of event happen before, ever. It was scary to just fall down like that -- not from tripping or my ankle turning or anything else. Just my leg gave out on me.

Could someone tell me -- if this was ALS, would I still be walking around on this leg tonight? I had read things in the past that people would still jog and fall down once in a while before they even knew that their leg was really weak. Obviously, I'm nervous about this. I even called my neuro to make an appointment for next week. I had an EMG done last year and everything was okay.

Thanks for any advice.

Kate
 
Katie,

I can tell you this. My sister (38 yrs old) just had a laminectomy done on her back (L4-L5) because of a ruptured disk. I was amazed at how much her left leg cramped and twitched.....almost like BFS. What really was freaky was the total lack of control she had over her big toe. It was like rubber and she could not lift it up at all. She had experienced her leg giving out on her a number of times in the last couple of months and just fell down.

I guess the telling thing with you is the fact that your back spasmed and you went down.....sounds like disc problems to me. The fact that you had a negitive EMG should also put your mind at ease, although I certainly can understand your concern. Go to the neuro and get checked and I'm certain you will feel better.

Paul
 
Thanks for responding, Paul. It does make sense it's related to my back -- I had this really bad spasm -- felt like a knife in my back -- then my leg gave out.

Probably good I go to the neuro anyway. Hope I don't have another ruptured disc -- I had one of those a few years ago and had surgery for it. It was no fun.

How is your sister now?
 
Katie,

the fact that you were able to run across the yard and get you son before falling would more seem to indicate that you pinched a nerve or something rather than anything like mnd. It sounds like maybe something related to the sciatic nerve. Trauma to nerves (like bulging disks, pinched nerves) can cause sudden loss of use of different body parts. I played college football and would commonly suffer from what we called "stingers". They would happen after impact, and many times my arms/legs would give out for a moment. Most of the time they would be followed by temporary numbness and weakness.

Get you back checked out, but don't let this worry you. After all this time, you don't have anything degenerative (except for maybe bulging disk,etc).

Take care,

Gary
 
No doubt about it. Classic sciatica. that nerve (one runs down each leg) is the largest nerve in the entire body. If it is pinched or aggravated by muscle spasms you will lose function on that side. I can tell you this from first hand experience. I have had two back surgeries,both of which a disc was crushing the sciatic nerve. I had no strength or reflexes at the time on the affected sides.Not to mention what is probably the worst pain I have ever experienced.
 
The fact that the pain occured right before your leg giving out tells me that the two are related. If your leg gave out for no reason, then I would worry.
 
Katie, my mom just had a spinal fussion.

Her primary symptom was weakness in her left leg (hardly any back pain).

When the doc was performing the surgery, he said a disk was pressing against her sciatic nerve, thus causing the leg weakness.

Since the surgery----no weakness, no pain.

Good luck
 

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