Seeking Help for Stress-Related Twitches

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DaveBRzDavesumo

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I firstly would like to say this site is fantastic.I am a male aged 33. The last 5 months have been very stressful for me. 2 months ago i started with eye and cheek twitching and then a week later after a hard cardio session in the gym my calves satred twitching in bed. I didn't look up google because I new it was a bad idea but only lasted a day before I checked the symptoms. I now have twitches all over (feet, calf, thigh, hamstring, knee, arms, shoulders, back) but they only twitch once or twice like a pop and then it stops. I would have 3 or 4 and then maybe not any for 2-3 hours and it is worse in bed. I have been to my doctor who knows about my stress and health anxiety and has put me on meds to help. He did full blood check including calcium and electroyltes which where all clear but he told me he knew they would be. Did a full strength test and reflex all over body and says everything is 100% normal. I asked him do I have als and he didnt tell me no but said I had more chance of a helicopter falling on my head in the carpark the symptoms wouldn't start like this. Twitching in cheek has pretty much gone now for a week but the last few days my jaw has been sore and my throat dry and of course I'm now worried about Bulbar. Does this sound like BFS to everyone else and is the jaw thing anything to worry about. I have no problem with speech or swallowing. Im thinking i have maybe been clenching my teeth which i sometimes do with anxiety. Also I only notice the twitches when relaxed, when im at the gym or playing golf i don't notice them. I played 5 rounds of golf last week and 3 long runs and felt fine strength wise.So to some up do you think I have BFS and nothing to worry about.ThanksWorried Dave
 
Dave,Everything about this (History of anxiety, no weakness [as judged by a health professional], no suspicious reflexes [as judged by health professional], your age, "dry throat" etc NOTHING like bulbar onset etc etc etc) just screams benign.Get the anxiety under control (As if that is easy and you hadn't thought of it!!) or at the very least do your best not to focus on the twitches, especially in the way where your mind starts creating stories about what they mean, because they don't.GlowGreenPS My favourite quote from a medically-reviewed site:I am experiencing fasciculations, (muscle twitching), does this mean I have MND?Fasciculations (muscle twitching) are experienced by up to 70% of the general population. Sometimes the twitching can be confined to one area of the body, at other times they may be felt in several areas at once.Fasciculations on their own can be a consequence of stress, viral infection, or general ill health. They can also be present in the body for no known reason and many people live with them on a daily basis for much of their life. Fasciculations are usually only associated with a neurological condition when other symptoms are present.
 
I know deep down your right but it's hard to get your mind off it. I take it jaw pain has nothing to do with Bulbar. My anxiety now that i think back started last April on holiday. I saw my 5 year old son run into a glass door that wasn't safety glass and rip his stomach open, we didnt have time for an ambulance so had to drive him to the hospital while my wife lay in the back with him holding towels on him to stop the bleeding. He was so lucky to have no organ damage and survived it. But it didn't really hit me until July this year. I then had a suspected urinary infection but antibiotics didnt work and was constantly told by my doctor it was stress. Of course I insisted on seeing a specialist who did a camera investigation and the conculsion was stress. Symptoms disappeared with 2 days after hearing that. I know i need to believe my doc because he is very good and im sure after 2 months of twitching something else would have been picked up by the doctor.
 
I went through a similar experience when my daughter was 11 months so I know how awful you must have felt AND how it continues to have an impact for long after the traumatic event. Your problem, and I say this only trying to be helpful, isn't your fasciculations, it's your anxiety.A study found that the people with benign fasciculations were much more likely to have a history of psychological stress. What really matters though, in terms of your fears, is that a normal neurological exam (plus a load of other factors) means that your doctor is absolutely right about needing to worry more about that helicopter!For the record though... No, bulbar-onset presentation is NOTHING like you describe (inc. the jaw pain).
 
You know that comment about the helicopter falling from the sky...you have me worried now. On 29th of November I was out for a night out through in Glasgow visiting friends there. While walking along a street on our way across town, a helicopter fell right out of the sky ...It landed a short distance away on the roof and car park of a bar called the Clutha Bar. Killed 12 people.....Thought it a strange coincidence your neurologist used that example, I am not really worried ( hopefully not that self centered), just feel sorry for those it did fall on, and their families.Helenps I have read lots of literature on the subject of fasciculations ( too much). I have read everything from patient pamphlets to peer reviewed science journals..i.e. a range of different levels, but one of my favourate is the simple leaflet from neurology department which I will copy and paste below. It is standard to give this to patients in our position.pps Talking about strange things neurologists say, mine races greyhounds and said that just before a race when they are waiting, the excitment sends ripples of fasciculations across their muscles. Anyway here is a copy of info on leaflet, very basic but written by professor neurophysiologist and I like it.Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Information for patients NeurologyNeurosciences Directorate BENIGNFASCICULATIONS Produced: October 2009 Review: October 2012 With acknowledgment to Karen Morrison, Professor ofNeurology, Head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Honorary Consultant Neurologist, Institute of BiomedicalResearch, The Medical School, University of Birmingham. Neuro muscular Nurse Specialist 01772 523412 Sources of further information: Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust isnot responsible for the content of external internet sites. English Please ask if you wouldlike help in understanding this information or need itin a different format What is the cause? The cause is unknown. The fasciculations representspontaneous contractions of muscle fibres in a small part of a muscle and are thought to arise due to overexcitability in thenerve fibre. One study reported an increased incidence of respiratory orgastrointestinal infection in the month before onset of fasciculations, suggesting that an immune response to suchinfection might result in nerve changes and fasciculations. Does it resolve or is there treatment? There is no treatment to reduce the fasciculations andreassurance that they are not sinister is usually the only therapy required. Awareness of fasiculations often comes and goesover time, and in some patients they may go away. What is benign fasciculation syndrome (BFS)? Fasciculations are spontaneous, irregular, involuntary andpainless brief twitches in a muscle. They may generate concern because of their known association with motor neurone disease(MND), although they are an uncommon presenting symptom of this condition. Studies of people with BFS, followed in somecases for over 30 years, show that none of them went on to develop MND or any other serious neurological disorder. Most healthy people notice occasional fasciculations. Some willexperience these more frequently than others. Diagnosis of benign fasciculation syndrome (BFS) is appropriate whenindividuals have prominent, frequent fasciculations occurring over months or years. Fasiculations may occur in any muscle butseem especially common in the eyelids, calves and other leg They may be provoked by stress, fatigue, exercise, alcohol orcaffeine. Some drugs, including beta-agonists (used for asthma), D-penicillamine and levothyroxine therapy have also beenassociated with fasciculations. Sufferers may have minor cramping, tingling, muscle pain orfatigue in addition to painless fasciculations. Neurological examination is normal, with no reduction in muscle strength.Neurophysiological examination (if required) reveals fasciculations on needle electromyography, with no otherabnormalities. muscles.
 
Dave, you survived a MAJOR STRESS, so you really need a professional (psychological) advice in that field. After you will find a way to calm down your fears about the hell survived, you will definitely see that fasciulations will subside or vanish, as well as other symptomes. It is also normal to have a gap of few weeks or month between the stressful event and onset of acute anxiety precede or followed with fascics. This site is full of such storeis - from car crash to family deaths, from entering the collede to getting married etc. No matter if the stress is positive or negative, it is stress.Time might be healing too... but issues like yours usually tend to 'incapsulate' inside the mind and will jump out at each more or less significant stress further and on, and it is better to know how to deal with that.
 
Based on your story, you are the poster child for BFS. :) I have read variations of what you just wrote 100s of times here. I hope you find a way to deal with your anxiety, so that you can tackle acceptance of your BENIGN condition. Also, I would suggest you stay far far away from Dr. Google, and trust your doctors. Take care.
 
listen to the two posts above...or take my dr advice (who i might add is an interesting character) she said "hey its the end of the day and i'm stressed out. want to have a glass of wine" i said sure she locked her door and cracked open a bottle of wine...we drank have the bottle and then at the end said "all you need to do is relax. you have health anxiety and thats ok but you need to get a hold of this and enroll in cognitive behavioral therapy...just relax" emmie - i see that your from Texas...i'm in Dallas and a few other place this week...good luck finding anything gluten free
 
My twiches so far have been random pops everwhwere but in the last few days I had a twitch in the same spot on my hamstring that lasted a day and my hip is now sore and it was twitching all night in bed last night. This is a new type of twitch and is freaking me out. When a tense the muscle however it stops. Does this have any significance. I'm only into this 2 months and a full strength test and reflex where 100 % normal. I actually thought I was coping a lot better and only getting 10 to 15 twiches a day and this has set me into full anxiety again.
 
Hey Dave, thanks fir the message, you've read my story and I have just read yours...We live in the same area and are almost the same age and we both have health anxiety as do a lot of people with BFS...I also had stress in the months leading to the twitching similar to you although I was in a car crash with my 14 months old daughter and the car was written off, all the airbags went off and my car was hit into the on coming traffic and it was her door that took the impact ! I was very stressed...Then we had another baby and my sleep and routine was changed up ... It was the week I went back to work after having the 2 weeks off for paternity that I started to twitch on my tongue and a few weeks later for to stress and anxiety I was twitching head to toe !! This is a great site and a lot of helpful people there is also a Facebook page called BFS - benign fasciculation syndrome .. I'm on the closed (private) one and there's a lot of good people on there too ! I would have went mental with out the help of everyone here and on the FB page I just mentioned... Pm me anytime if you want to know anything about the local neuro I seen or anything else I may be able to help you out with... It sounds classic BFS !!
 
This sounds like typical BFS if I were you I would try not to get carried away thinking it is something else and looking thinks up. Resist the erge of looking for dents and weakness, it just makes things worse. Your fine!
 

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