Scared. Anyone had twitching that wasn’t serious?

[Skidmarink]

I’m doing a marketing course which talked about the ice bucket challenge. It mentioned the guy with ALS who inspired it, and discussed his story. I freaked out because it said his illness started with twitching, and I have had twitching and some muscular stiffness and soreness which has lasted a few months.

See the link below - what freaked me out was this “It all started with some twitching in my upper body and arms. Drinking some Gatorade or throwing a few more bananas into my diet would surely fix that.”

I am shitting myself. I saw my GP today and she said my symptoms don’t match ALS, she thinks I need vitamins and reduced anxiety. But I’m still terrified.

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2109533-my-journey-from-baseball-star-to-als-patient-75-years-after-lou-gehrig.amp.html

I developed twitches about 10 years ago whilst in a really awful relationship.

My head would go, my hands. Totally at random with no control. It stopped by itself later that year and I believe it was caused by my heightened stress levels/ trauma of everything that was going on at the time.

Thanks. I’m driving myself insane with worry. Good to know that yours was nothing and went away.

Yes it went away

NHS says that twitching is v common and in most cases, harmless. Constant twitching for more than 2 weeks duration is worth raising with the gp, but is still likely to be benign.

I've had very long-term twitches, but mine started when I began taking a new medication for my TN, so it is a side effect. It's lessened over time, thankfully as it was very annoying.

I have twitches brought on by tiredness/anxiety/whatever. I too was terrified of ALS.

Thing is, in the absence of a loss of strength and muscle atrophy twitching isn't really indicative of ALS. Look in to benign fasciculation syndrome.

My eye twitched for two months straight a couple of years ago and I'm still here with no neurological deficits, touch wood.

Anxiety is a bitch and it makes you twitch. I hope you can calm down a bit x

Also if you are anywhere near perimenopausal age it could be a symptom of that too. Get some magnesium supplements and up your water intake.

Mine has gone on for four months now. Accompanied by muscle pain and stiffness, and occasional pains like a little electric shock. I’ve seen a couple of doctors who just gave me some vitamin supplements and told me there was nothing wrong, all the blood tests are clear.

I don’t see how these symptoms can be “nothing”. I’m driving myself mad thinking I’m terminally ill. Tonight I had an electric shock pain in my leg while I was cooking dinner, and I became scared and hysterical so I couldn’t eat anything.

I’m 44. I did ask the doctor if it could be hormonal but she said no you’re too young.

Dr is talking rubbish, it is exactly peri age.

I have had all your symptoms and it drove me to distraction with worry and anxiety. I had MRI on my brain and spine and there was nothing to note. Most of, if not all actually thinking about it, have now disappeared without any interference from me.

I wish I knew what caused it. I am clutching at straws and saying it was part of Long Covid as it all started in the months after being infected. Whether or not it was I don't know.

Stress and anxiety about the symptoms definitely made them worse. Vicious circle entirely.

Mine has now gone on for about two years. Waxes and wanes but I have developed zero other symptoms.

If you aren't seeing muscle atrophy or losing strength then it's NOT ALS.

Trust me. I spent about six bloody months of my life wasted time investigating this and I am an HCP so could assimilate the info.

Please research benign fasciculation syndrome.

If you are seeing atrophy or losing strength then push for an MRI. If you are not then please calm down.

My eye twitches with stress, I think magnesium can help, I always take it when they start.

me, in sporadic places, on-off for decades. Mostly off. No ALS.

Def not too young for HRT.

I started at 44, restless legs were one of my main symptoms (caused in part by flooding periods and subsequent low iron - have they checked your Vit D and Iron levels?)

Thank you guys. This is very reassuring. I feel wobbly and sore but I don’t think I’ve lost any strength. I just don’t know what’s wrong and I’m worried. Doctors are not worried at all and told me to relax and take vitamins.

My D and iron are low. But they’ve been lower than this a few years ago and I didn’t have this twitching and electric shocks and muscle pain. The doctor reckons deficiencies could cause it and I’m like, if I didn’t have these symptoms when my iron was 12 then why would I have them when it’s 18?

I have benign fasciculation syndrome. Mainly twitches/muscle spasms but can be soreness too.
I get them all over my body and they last weeks at a time. I’ve currently got one internally that feels like the first flutters of a baby moving!

18 is horrifically low!!

Take ferrous fumerate as soon as you wake up, along with a high strength vitamin C tablet - every other morning. Don't eat or drink anything else for 2 hours.

This gets your levels up super quickly. I went from 16 to 72 in three months doing this.

Yes, benign fasciculation syndrome. Happened more when I was stressed. Still happens a bit but less so now that I'm not anxious about it.

@Jojobees oh I get that! I didn't know it had a name. I quite like it, reminds me of being pregnant!

I also get a very fluttery uterus. And eye twitches. And weird ones on my ribs. I just ignore them and move on OP.

You should try the vitamins and if they don't work, then you can get worried and go back to the GP.

Make sure you get a follow up check on your vitamin levels.

Following with interest, I've had a twitchy eyelid for a few weeks! Also coming up to peri menopausal age...

I often get this, have done since mid 30's. 41 now and am getting lots of peri symptoms. Mum started menopause quite young so
Looks like I'm going down the same route. Good quality magnesium supplement stops most of the twitching and aches and pains for me and does wonders for my sleep - I take Solgar magnesium calcium and Zinc.

18 is horrifically low!!
NHS doesn’t agree. It’s over 15 so it’s “normal”. But I was prescribed ferrous fumarate just in case it helps. I’ve taken it for 6 weeks but it hasn’t helped so far 😢

OP please read all the iron threads on here.

Mine was 16 and my blood results had a line - 'non anaemic iron deficiency, investigate cause' (our docs print out our results for you).

My GP was very concerned about that level.