Welcome! Experiencing Hand Twitches

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masteroflifey2y

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Hello everyone! I'm new here - and boy am glad to have found this place! I'm 35 years old and a mother of 3 wonderful kids. My twitches started about 5 weeks ago in my right hand in the area between the thumb and the forefinger. Just as everyone else, I thought nothing of it, it was just a bit irritating. It lasted for 2-3 days and went away- only to return a week later, exactly in the same place. A day after the "comeback" I started feeling "grapepie" and "electricity" in my legs and some occasional twitches. Going to sleep was hell - lying in bed listening to all of the new sounds and feeling the jerks in my body. By this time I had already done what pretty much everyone here has - looked up "twitches" in the net. And what do you get - you have ALS and that's basically it.

So I contacted my doctor, who didn't really examine me at all (I could show him the twitch on my hand, though) and he immediately sent me to a neurologist (usually he prescribes something...) So I was petrified. Sure I was going to die and I have been ever since. The fear is subsiding a bit now that I found the rest of you :) .

I started thinking of how to write letters to my 3 children, which they could read when I'd no longer be there and that I ought to buy a video camera to film myself, so that they could see there mother at point in her life when she was still able to move...Great. Can count the hours of lost sleep etc...

Sorry about blabbeling, but I really need to get this off my chest. Now to the question.

I had an EMG 2 weeks ago(together with a regular neurological exam), 3 weeks after the first time the twiching started. The EMG was OK. The REAL twitching, however started only afterwards.I have twitches all the time and feelings of numbness, electricity in the body etc. What scares me, however is the most recent addition to all of the symptoms, a feeling as if someone was trying to strangle me. The muscles aroung my throat are pulling and feel very tight. The glands feel as if they were pulsating. I constantly keep testing for swallowing difficulties. I don't have a problem of swallowing food, but my throat feels really strange and my mouth is almost constantly dry. Is this still OK? Am I still part of the BFS group??Oh, and I also have occasional pain in different muscels in the body. The pain is "cramp-like" , sometimes I have aches,too.
 
HOwdy...

Welcome to this forum! I am fairly new too, but have had BFS for 4+ years....I think we can all relate to exactly what you are feeling. No fun, is it? I really think you are suffering from exacerbations of extreme stress, esp. the dry mouth makes me think that. As for the strange feeling in your throat, I think that is probably stress related too. If you think about a part of your body a lot and "fixate" on it, it is going to feel strange. It's called somatization, and it's a form of Hypochondria. Maybe talk to your doctor about some anti-anxiety meds or some anti-depressants. In the mean time, relax! You are fine, try to believe that. You are much more likely to die in a car wreck, but you don't loose sleep over having to get in your car everyday, do you? Hang in there!
Peace, Jen
 
i don't have a strangling feeling, but i have fixated on my tongue and the muscles in my face. no objective test shows any problems with these areas, but in times of fear and anxiety i could swear that they are afflicted. i guess i have to learn not to be dominated by my fears. good luck with your difficulties -- you aren't alone.
 
Fastpage here: I have had similar sensations in a couple of different parts of my body, including neck, ribcage and hands. I am also experienceing the "electric" or prickly sensations right now. I think JennFiction is right. This is probablym muscle spasms or some such caused by stress and your mind fixating on the issue. If you start to think about one symptom or part of your body it will inevitably respond with the exact dreaded symptom.

For example, the first couple of days when I thought I had ALS my fingers felt a little weak. Suddenly I couldn't move my fingers much or pick up anything for two days-my hands would just not work right. I could only type by hunt-and-peck with my right index finger. Talked to Dr., got Ativan and a good night's sleep and got lots of support here and I was typing 75 words a minute again the next morning. I have had no hand symptoms since. I think this will go away in a while-just don't replace it (like I have done on occasion) with a new fixation.
 
Funny you should mention the strangeling thing. I got that too! I wasn't sure if it had anything to do with BFS, or just swollen glands.or thyroid problems. I seem to get swollen glands alot ! I mentioned it to the Dr. and they found nodules on my thyroid. Your thyroid can cause some of the other symptoms you describe too! It's worth looking into to rule stuff out or in!

Good Luck!

Kim
 
Thanks everyone for your encouragement! I still think about ALS alot, especially with this throat thing. Last I had some chicken. After having chewed my food for a while, my jaws got REALLY tired (you know the feeling you got as a kid when you chewed on an enourmous lump of chewing gum) - and I panicked - once again. Could sleep, kept thinking about my throat and jaws and ALS. Today's not much better, feel rubbery all over, fingers are weird when typing this and the jaw/throat feeling persists. I scared, because I read that in ALS the symptoms won't go away... :crying:
 
Hi Alive,

Are you lying awake at 2 am?... thinking about this? Did you doctor give you any medications for anxiety. I take xanax and it helps tremendously. I'm not trying to push you onto the "drug path", but just giving you a suggestion. I obsessed for a while about the the "throat, jaw problem" but after I got my mind focused on something else it seemed to fade. I would watch a tv program and eat and the symptoms would go unnoticed. I think the bulbar worries are very common for BFS. We have to remember ALS is very, very rare and bulbar onset is even MORE rare.
Also I have cramps and muscle aches(like you).

I hope you can get some relief from your worries as worrying only makes the symptoms worse. I know, I know it's hard to relax when the twitches are popping everywhere but med's helped me. I try only to take them on bad days because xanax is addictive.

Blessings,

Renee :)
 

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