To be worried about muscle twitches?

[DoggyPaulAnka]

The muscles in my left thigh and left arm visibly twitch. This has been happening on and off for about a month. This weekend it seems worse. So far I’ve put it down to stress but now I’m just getting one big pulsing feeling at a time rather than little twitches I’m more concerned.

AIBU to be spending what should be nice Christmassy time off with my children worrying I have a brain tumour?

@DoggyPaulAnka
That sounds worrying, however probably it’s best to reach out to someone with medical knowledge AFTER the Christmas holiday if it’s been going on for a month.
None of your mentioned symptoms would indicate a brain tumour, but more likely stress and nerves being overworked
Maybe try to rest and see your GP / call 111 in the new year

I had that and my, Vit B and Folate levels were really low. It might progress to really painful cramps.

You could start a multi vit/mineral.

OP please don’t worry. I get this often, sometimes for weeks. Is is generally brought on by stress and fatigue

Benign fasciculation

Thanks guys. I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of Googling Myoclonic seizures. Because a few days ago I had an incidence where my arm kind of jolted. It hasn’t happened since. But ever since that happened I’ve convinced myself I’m about to have a massive seizure that I won’t wake up from and will ruin my children’s Christmases forever. Which is absurd i know.

Dr Google is not your friend. I get these spells of twitchy muscles now and again, and have done for a long time. So far they've always petered out without developing into anything inconvenient or painful. Absolutely get it checked out if it's still going strong after the holiday period, but try to put any disaster scenarios out of your head for now. They're hugely unlikely to be accurate.

I can watch my legs for ages whilst lying down twitching and pulsing like there is some sort of otherworld creature under the skin! Cramps in my toes too now and then. Ouch!

It comes and goes. Found taking an electrolyte fizzy tablet with potassium sodium and magnesium very helpful.

Will try a multivit and see how I get on. Will try and put thoughts of seizures out of my mind for now.

Lots of very benign things could cause this!
I'd get yourself to the GP to get your Vit D, B12, folate, iron & ferritin tested. Even sub-optimal or borderline deficiencies could be to blame.

Meanwhile get a good, excipient free magnesium supplement, one with a decent elemental mag content, I suspect it may help! X

This has reminded me that my eye was doing it on and off for ages but it just stopped eventually. I was stressed at the time.

I use a magnesium spray

I should say I know from blood tests I’m low on vit D and calcium. But I’ve been taking them for 3 weeks with no improvement and would it cause the arm jerkiness?

Hiya, it could be many many things- I’ve had lots of testing done over the years for muscle spasms (from MRIs to nerve tracking where they put a needle in your muscle to listen for the electric currents from your brain signals) yes it could be a form of epilepsy (I have that too- barrel of laughs me!) or many things ranging from horrid stuff like MS (HIGHLY unlikely) to Functional Neurological disordering. FND is probably the most likely as it’s basically a fancy name for muscle twitches/spasms- this is what my spasms/twitches are classed as. It’s really annoying and distracting but it doesn’t interfere with my life so I try not to take any medication for it or worry about it. See your GP and get a referral to Neurology- they’ll figure it out and put your mind at rest! X

If the twitching is in your outer thigh, it could be a trapped nerve in your back

It’s mid thigh and mid bicep twitching. A few days ago I had it where my arm jolted away from me. Felt a bit like when your falling asleep, if that makes sense? That’s what is worrying me. I actually have an MRI booked for January.

My doc told me anxiety, lasted a few weeks then went.

A vitamin d deficiency caused me some twitchiness as I recall (along with another host of things that made me also think there was something far worse going on). It sounds like you need magnesium as I think it’s needed alongside vitamin d and calcium.

You really really need to take magnesium if you're supplementing with D as vitamin D increases your serum calcium, which will be depositing in all the wrong places and causing problems, including with your parathyroid gland.

Your calcium is likely low because your D levels are; once your levels are up, it will allow your body to use calcium more efficiently. If you've got some calcium in your diet, stop the supplements and take your D alongside a good level of elemental magnesium and vitamin K (K2mk7 is best).

There's an excellent Facebook group called Vitamin D & co factors UK which has a really effective protocol (based on latest research rather than anecdotal evidence) that raises D levels safely by balancing supplementation with co-factors like magnesium, K2 and boron. Cannot stress enough not to take calcium but replace with magnesium! I'm obvs not a medical professional (tho GPs tend to be woefully ill-informed about D supplementation), but I suspect this might be behind (or contributing to) your symptoms.

Thank you for advice. GP prescribed Vit D and calcium. I think anxiety has a big part of it as I’m now on a train looking round at fellow passengers wondering who would most likely help me if I had a big losing consciousness seizure. (I don’t rate my chances).

Hope you made it off the train and onto the couch, OP!

GPs are notorious for prescribing this combo without proper understanding of how vitamin D works. Either that or they don't recognise the need for supplementation. Do you know what your D levels were?

I do think that if you're supplementing with D AND calcium you are at risk of Hypercalcemia, one symptom of which is muscle twitching. Before you panic, I'm NOT saying that's definitely what's happening, I've no way of knowing that (tho if you had full blown Hypercalcemia you'd be much sicker). However, it is an interesting coincidence... And there's research to suggest D supplementation can create a magnesium deficiency (a mineral most of us are low on in the first place). Twitching and muscle spasms are also a sign of low magnesium. If you're going to try magnesium, get glycinate or citrate that has a good level of elemental mg. I hope you feel better soon so you can stop worrying!

Not sure why someone said only get checked after the holidays. The NHS is very far from a 24/7 service but on every thread here seems like they are all working. Hope you get it sorted very soon.

Thank you. I have a MRI booked for early January. Hopefully that will rule out the big nasties. I’m really hoping it’s a stress/ anxiety thing.

EllenRipley the muscle twitches were there before they prescribed anything. Seem worse not better now though!

Hi, just found this thread as muscle twitching and jerks are some of the symptoms as well as tingling in hands and feet etc. I’ve been experiencing. What was your findings? Hope you’re ok? X

Please don't jump to the worst possible condition. The tiniest percentage of people in the world are sadly diagnosed with the worst possible things, so you're highly unlikely to have any of these. MS, MND etc all have very specific deterioration and symptoms, (none of which you have) There are a number of relatively harmless causes that you may have. I have been diagnosed with Benign Fasciculation Syndrome... it causes twitches all over my body and does affect my sleep on a bad day. Anxiety and caffeine makes it sooo much worse!

I have this too. Wtf is it?