Twitching Muscle & Anxiety: Help!

[Claire6085]

Hi everyone, I've been daignosed with BFS and have posted here before...I am writing today because I am having a very nerve racking day...My muscle in my left hand just under my baby finger...called the hyopthenar eminence...has been twitching constantly for two to three days....it just won't stop....it's twitch after twitch in the same spot and the more anxious I get the more they seem to appear....it's freaking me out!!! Anyways I'm just writing to get some support from others who may have felt twitched constantly in the same area for a long time like that...thank you all so much.

 

[charlotte]

Hi Anxious, I can relate to the constant twitching. I have had BFS for over 3 yrs now and this has happened more times than I care to count. Some twitches have lasted for weeks in the same spot exp in my feet and calfs. Just recently I had one in a large muscle in my shoulder that lasted 3 days before finally going away. The key to dealing with this is to be aware that it will stop. One minute it will be there and the next ......gone as if it never happened. Sometimes using an ice pack or pinching the area seems to redirect the signal but usually time is the only cure. Hang in there It Will go away!

 

[twitchjake]

Left Shoulder twitched for 3 months, 2 weeks on 1 week off, 2 weeks on 1 week off and so on. Now I just get the odd random twitch there. It is a *beep* when you have a single spot going on and on as it is difficult to think of it as benign. However....

On the second week of constant twitching in my shoulder I went and saw my GP. He was slightly freaked, never having seen anyone twitch that regularly that strongly. He sent me back to my Neuro who look so bored when I told him. He said "Benign, you will twitch when you are stressed, you will twitch when you are not stressed but you will certainly twitch more when you are stressed". and out the door I went.

 

[PassionatePlatinumD]

I've been twitching non-stop, 24/7 in the insteps of my feet for 3 years in November. I'm still kicking & stronger than I've ever been. Every year that goes by reassues me it's benign, although in the back of my mind I'm constantly wondering what the heck this crap is.

Enjoy everyday! Chances are something else will get us before a neurological ailment...hopefully it'll be old age.

Good luck to everyone & keep posting.

 

[Alonzo]

constant twitching in one spot is known throughout the BFS world as a "hot spot" and you will see countless BFS sufferer's talk about hot spots lasting anywhere from an hour or so, to a few days or so, to a few weeks to even months on end. It is normal for BFS to do this. Yes, it is scary sometimes to people early-on with their BFS diagnosis because ALS settles in one spot and spreads from there. Not all over your body but more like a migrating spread, say from your hand and then up your forearm, then into your bicep, then into the shoulder and so on in a continuous and progressive spread WITH severe and PERMANENT weakness along with the twitching. BFS hot spots are noting like that at all... they start, twitch for a long time and are gone, with NO migrating or weakness. Hope that helped...

 

[PassionatePlatinumD]

The slithering in the arches of my feet has not stopped for 3 years, not even for a minute. I just wiggle my feet continuously while sitting so I don't feel it happening. My calves are the same way and I just choose not to notice them. I also have twitches everywhere, but those don't worry me at all because I know they will stop after a few hours, days or weeks. Those don't seem like they happen as much anymore.

The way I figure it, if the continuous slithering, twitching in the arches were ALS, I would have severe weakness after 3 years. Even though it looks like atrophy in my feet, they don't necessarily feel weak. They hurt sometimes, but I can walk, run, etc. with no problems. Maybe they've always been boney, skinny feet, but I just never had a reason to look at them closely.

Anyway, the arches of my feet are my only concern. After all I know now, the twitches all over my body, do not concern me in the slightest. Those are classic BFS.

The good thing is, I don't worry about it anymore. I still research & visit forums, but I'm not at all bugged out or obsessed with it like I was the first 2 years. Even if it is ALS, it seems slow moving.

One thing I've neglected to mention is I had a back operation 7 years ago(Laminectomy Discectomy) on L-5, S-1 disc. It was sending severe pain & numbness into my feet, legs & buttox. It was BAD. I couldn't have lived with the pain much longer. This could very well be the root (nerve root that is, ha ha) of the problem.

Good luck to everybody.